Utah's 38 New Captives Licensed in 2020 Bring Year-End Total to 396

Utah, continuing recent trends, licensed one of the largest numbers of new captive insurance companies in 2020 among US domiciles with 38.

The 38 new captive insurance companies licensed in Utah last year brought the state's total to 396 captives at the end of 2020. The 2020 figure compares to 42 new captives licensed in 2019 and 38 in 2018.

State captive regulators expect Utah's trend of a high number of new captive insurance company formations to continue this year. "We expect to see more of the same," said Travis Wegkamp, captive insurance director with the Utah Insurance Department in Salt Lake City.

So far this year, Utah has licensed one new captive insurance company with five applications pending, Mr. Wegkamp said.

In recent years, Utah legislators have passed measures to keep the state's captive statute up to date. For example, in 2019, state lawmakers approved legislation allowing captives to move into dormancy and, as a result, allowing those dormant captives to meet much smaller capital and surplus requirements. Last year, legislation was passed to allow Utah captives, with regulatory approval, to reinsure third-party risks.