AzCIA
The ACIA’s newly elected president, Richard Amoroso, is hoping to play a significant role in further developing Arizona as an attractive domicile for captives
Richard Amoroso was recently elected as the new president of the Arizona Captive Insurance Association (AzCIA).
The insurance recovery litigation attorney for US law firm Polsinelli previously served as president and CEO of Republic Western Insurance Company for 10 years, as well as litigation counsel for U-Haul International for seven years. Amoroso focuses his practice on reinsurance litigation, arbitration, and asset recovery. He practices in local, state and federal courts as well as the US Supreme Court.
He reveals what is on the horizon for Arizona, and how the AzCIA is working to develop the domicile’s captive programme.
What is new for Arizona in terms of captive laws, and is there anything on the horizon?
The AzCIA is in the process of undertaking a survey of its members, so that we can determine what new legislation, rules and business practices our members would like to see for Arizona’s captive insurers going forward. We are in the process of putting that together now.
Are there any new types of captives being licensed in Arizona?
The Arizona Department of Insurance recently approved its first segregated cell captive insurance company in the US, so that’s a positive.
The head of the captive division for Arizona Department of Insurance, Vince Goth, comes to our association meetings and he has given some indications the department is open to new types of captives, so I would say that there is an opportunity for other companies or groups that want to propose new captives to possibly bring those before the Arizona department.
Since your domicile began licensing captives, how does today’s rate of growth compare?
The Arizona Department of Insurance has approved 13 new captive insurers in the 12 months ending 2014 and has approved four new captives so far in 2015 to date. The department has indicated that there is an additional three or four new captive insurance companies that are going through the approval process as we speak.
What future plans are in place for further developing Arizona as an attractive domicile for captives?
In addition to surveying our members, the AzCIA has recently contacted the office of our newly elected governor to schedule a meeting to discuss potential changes to the Arizona regulations governing captive insurance companies. The association anticipates that the meeting with the governor’s office will take place later this year, after we have received our responses from our membership to the survey we are preparing to send out.
The AzCIA believes that we can be proactive, and with a very business orientated governor in office, now we believe that his staff will be receptive to pro-business type changes to the Arizona insurance regulations.
Our hope is that we can get some significant changes made which will then, we believe, will attract new companies to the state of Arizona.
AzCIA is very active, both with its state members and in the western regional captive insurance association. We look forward to the growth of captives in Arizona and believe that the association can play a role in helping the state grow that area.
