Luxembourg Congress, Luxembourg – November 8, 2016 – The State of Vermont has won the top award at the first European Captive Services Award Ceremony in the category of ‘Non-European Union Captive Domicile of the Year’. The award ceremony was held the night prior to the start of the European Captive Forum and organized by Captive Review Magazine, a trade journal headquartered in London. The award is given to the top captive insurance domicile in the world outside the European Union that has “outperformed their competitors and demonstrated the highest levels of excellence in the captive insurance industry,” in servicing the European marketplace.

“I am proud of Vermont’s international recognition as a global leader of captive insurance,” said Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin. “This award reinforces Vermont’s ‘Gold Standard’ reputation.”

The award criteria stated that the winner must have a proven track record of appropriate regulation of European-owned captive insurance companies with a first class regulatory environment, an advanced local captive infrastructure and a willingness to adapt to the unique needs of European owners. The awards were judged by an independent panel of 12 captive owners and risk management professionals based in Europe.

Vermont has over 60 domiciled captive insurance companies with European parent companies. Vermont’s captives wrote over $27 billion in gross written premium and had assets over $197 billion in 2015.

David Provost, Deputy Commissioner of Captive Insurance and Dan Towle, Director of Financial Services accepted the award on behalf of Vermont. The European Captive Awards Reception kicked off the start of the European Captive Forum, the largest European Captive Insurance Event, held biennially in Europe. The two-day conference, held in Luxembourg, draws over 1,000 attendees and brings together Risk Managers from throughout Europe and beyond. Provost is participating on a “US Regulatory Update” panel during the conference.

In declaring Vermont the winner, the Judges commented, “The State of Vermont clearly demonstrated a high standard of regulatory regime that was utilised by a significant number of European multinationals to write American and/or international risk. The judges were impressed by Vermont’s versatility and knowledge of the broader captive insurance landscape, as well as its commitment to the global industry. The ability of captives to adopt different international accounting standards also stood out as appealing for international captive owners.”

“Our entire staff works very hard to provide the best possible service while maintaining the highest regulatory standards in the world,” said Provost. “It is an honor to receive the highest U.S. and European Captive Awards in the same year.” Vermont edged out finalists: Bermuda, Cayman, Delaware, and Guernsey to win the top honor.

This award comes on the heels of Vermont being named the Top U.S. Domicile of the Year for the fourth time in August. “This is not only a reflection of our team at the State but also of the many hard working Vermonters that work in this highly specialized industry. Our infrastructure of captive professionals is the best in the world and they should all share in this prestigious award,” said Towle.

Vermont’s Provost and Towle, were recognized earlier in the year by Captive Review Magazine as the 1st and 19th “Most Influential” individuals respectively in the world in captive insurance as voted by their peers in the annual Global “Power 50” list.

“It has been quite a year for our captive insurance industry in Vermont,” said Governor Shumlin. “Having Vermont win both the top U.S. and Non-European Domicile of the Year Awards along with Dave and Dan winning individual awards, should leave no doubt to anyone why Vermont is considered the ‘Gold Standard’ of Domiciles.”

The State of Vermont continues to lead the U.S. Captive Marketplace in numbers of captives, gross written premium and assets. Vermont also is the industry leader in the number of Risk Retention Groups (RRG). Vermont’s RRG’s make up over 60% of all RRG gross premium written, more than five times the next largest domicile.

Captive insurance is a regulated form of self insurance that has existed since the 1960’s, and has been a part of the Vermont insurance industry since 1981, when Vermont passed the Special Insurer Act. Captive insurance companies are formed by companies or groups of companies as a form of alternative insurance to better manage their own risk. Captives are typically used for corporate lines of insurance such as property, general liability, products liability, or professional liability. Growth sectors of the captive insurance industry include professional medical malpractice coverage for doctors and hospitals, and the continued trend of small and mid-sized companies forming captive insurance companies.