Vermont Postpones Mexico City Captive Insurance Forum over COVID-19

The COVID-19 outbreak continues to interfere with captive insurance company scheduled events, the latest being a captive insurance educational forum in Mexico to which the state of Vermont and the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) planned to send a delegation of captive experts.

A statement said the forum, scheduled for March 24, has been postponed.

"We have been closely monitoring the situation around the COVID-19 virus, and after many hours of conversation internally and consultation with state and federal government officials in the United States and Mexico, we have decided to postpone the event out of an abundance of caution. This difficult decision was made out of deep concern for the health and well-being of our registrants and colleagues," the statement from the Vermont Department of Economic Development said.

Conference organizers said they intend to reschedule the event in Mexico City once the coronavirus public health emergency ends.

Earlier, Vermont captive regulators expressed several goals for the educational forum. One objective, according to Ian Davis, Vermont's director of financial services, was to "increase awareness of Vermont as the leading US domicile for captive insurance and highlight our state's mutually beneficial trade relationship with Mexico."

Another objective, David Provost, Vermont's deputy commissioner of captive insurance, said when the forum was announced, was to help ensure, "at a time of growing interest in captives" in Latin America, that captives would be better understood, "including the benefits of being in a reputable onshore jurisdiction like Vermont."

The postponement of the Mexico City captive insurance forum follows the earlier cancellation of the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) 2020 International Conference, which had been scheduled for March 8–10 in Rancho Mirage, California.

CICA also cited safety concerns related to COVID-19 for the conference cancellation.

CICA President Dan Towle said, if feasible, the conference will be rescheduled for later this year.