By John Talley
Welcome to Missouri. As those of you that have worked with us before know, Missouri is a great state with a pro-business climate and we have built an exceptional market for the development and establishment of captives. Missouri has a strong offering for captive owners and I thank the Missouri Captive Insurance Association for their efforts to promote Missouri and the benefits of captive insurance in our state.
The department works closely with companies to accomplish their goals for their captive. Unlike some domiciles we only use internal staff for the licensing and regulation of captives. You’ll find this makes us responsive to the needs of our captives and keeps examinations costs extremely low compared to other domiciles. Although I’ve been a captive regulator for more than six years, I’ve never been with a department that has so many people, at the highest level, who truly understand captive insurance. My Division Director, John Rehagen, was the first captive manager in Missouri and started the program in 2007. Prior to joining the Missouri department, Director Chlora Lindley-Myers was actively involved in the successful resurrection of the captive insurance program in Tennessee. This is what Director Lindley-Myers has to say about the captive program in Missouri: “Upon my arrival in Missouri I was pleased to see that the captive program was well established. I am eager to work with staff and industry to continue to improve our offerings in Missouri for the benefit of our captive owners and Missouri businesses. I look forward to welcoming the conference attendees to Missouri and learning how the department may better serve the needs of the captive insurance marketplace. ”
The captive program in Missouri has been successful. At the time of this writing, Missouri has licensed 59 captives. They primarily consist of pure captives but have licensed association, special purpose life reinsurance and branch captives as well. Captive insurance has become a substantial industry in our state, with $3.4 billion in total premium and $25.5 billion in assets under management reported in 2016. Missouri’s captive laws offer several options for businesses and are specifically designed to minimize the need for mandated regulation and oversight. The department has the experience and flexibility to provide the level of regulation needed for nearly any situation. Captives of all sizes and complexity have the opportunity to be successful in Missouri. Captives in Missouri range from those with well over a billion dollars in assets writing dozens of lines of coverage to small single line captives with less than a million dollars in assets.
If your company is located in or near Missouri, you have the opportunity to keep your captive close to home. If you are not located in or around Missouri, there are daily non-stop flights between our two major metropolitan areas and most major cities across the country. In most cases, there’s no need for connecting flights and all-day travel for a simple meeting with our staff or with your captive company management or service providers.
We are here to provide solutions to those owners that are weighing their captive risk financing alternatives. With offices in St. Louis, Kansas City and Jefferson City, we’ll meet where it’s most convenient to you, or we will travel to your office and we are always just a phone call away.
John M. Talley, JD, Captive Program Manager Missouri DIFP
Email: John.Talley@insurance.mo.gov
Website: http://insurance.mo.gov/captive/index.php
Phone: (573) 522-9932
