What can the European Captive Industry Learn from the U.S.? Captive Live UK London, 23 January 2015 Steve Kinion Director, Delaware Insurance Department Delaware is the 3 rd Largest U.S. Captive Domicile and the World s 6 th Largest Captive Domicile 1
What can Europe Learn? Understand what is insurance in the United States - Decentralized 1. The U.S. is composed of many different types of captive jurisdictions. 2. In 1869 the U.S. Supreme Court decided that insurance is not interstate commerce and not subject to federal regulation. Since 1869 the system is a state-by-state regulatory system. 3. State based regulation means that state laws, not federal laws from Washington, D.C., control and regulate insurance. 4. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a private corporation, sets standards for a uniform system of laws, but not for captives. 2
The United States 50 Insurance Domiciles plus D.C. 31 are Captive Domiciles 3
The U.S. Territories Captive Domiciles - Guam, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands 4
The United States 566 Recognized Indian Tribes One Active Tribal Domicile 5
The United States 36 Captive Insurance Regulators There are 50 U.S. states. 31 states and the District of Columbia are now captive insurance domiciles. There are 15 U.S. territories. Of the 15, three are captive domiciles. - Guam - Puerto Rico - U.S. Virgin Islands Native American tribes are becoming captive domiciles. There are 566 recognized Native American Tribes. 6
Comparing European and U.S. Domiciles Guernsey the largest European domicile - over 300 captive insurers and 450 cells writing 4.63 or $7.4 billion of annual premium. (Source A.M. Best Captive Update, December 2014) Delaware ranks as the third largest U.S. captive domicile in terms of captives by having licensed more than 320 insurers and 500 cells/series. 2013 Captive Insurance Premium Ranking 1. Vermont had $25.5 billion of premium 2. Arizona had $12.4 billion of premium 3. Delaware had $6.6 billion of premium For comparison, in 2012 Delaware s captive premium was $2.4 billion and it was ranked 7 th in the U.S. 7
Indian Tribal Domiciles Indian/Native American tribes are nations. The U.S. Constitution recognizes Native American tribes as a sovereign nations. For insurance purposes it s like being off-shore, but onshore. Tribal domiciled captives follow U.S. tax laws, but are not subject to state insurance regulation. This is an emerging field of captive insurance. Delaware Tribe of Indians is the most growth oriented. 8
What can Europe Learn? A Decentralized System Encourages Captive Growth 70% of captives are domiciled in the U.S. In terms of numbers of captives and premium, U.S. captives increased by 17% from 2012 to 2013. In 2013 the number of U.S. captives was 2,271 compared to 1,933 for 2012. The 2013 premium was $58.58 billion compared to $49.89 billion for 2012 which is a 17.4% increase. 9
What can Europe Learn? Encourage Captive Growth - U.S. Captives A Growth Industry Each U.S. jurisdiction writes its captive insurance laws as it wants. What motivates the writing of the captives? Competition, revenue growth, and economic development. - U.S. captive jurisdictions compete for business. - Revenue growth means taxes. - Economic opportunity means clients for accounting, actuarial, asset management, law, and service providing firms. 10
What can Europe Learn? U.S. Captives A Growth Industry, but... there will be changes. Will the U.S. continue to be a fully decentralized captive system? No. Over the next decade uniform standards will be developed for some sectors of the captive insurance industry. More federal government scrutiny. Examples are Financial Stability Oversight Council, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and IRS. NAIC will become more active in captive standard setting. 11
Questions and Answers Steve Kinion Director Delaware Department of Insurance 1007 North Orange Street, Suite 1010 Wilmington, DE 19801 302-577-5280 302-222-7181 Cell steve.kinion@state.de.us Please copy our office manager, Jamie Bafundo, jamie.bafundo@state.de.us on all correspondence Delaware is the 3 rd Largest U.S. Captive Domicile and the World s 6 th Largest Captive Domicile 12