May 31, 2016 (Houston, TX) – Capstone Associated Services, Ltd. proudly announces that it has been approved as a captive manager by the Texas Department of Insurance. This is the 8th jurisdiction where Capstone is licensed.
“With the recent favorable state legislative changes, the captive insurance landscape in Texas is changing. Texas is now advancing as an acceptable domicile for the mid-market,” commented Stewart A. Feldman, CEO and General Counsel for Capstone. “Texas has not traditionally been a recognized captive domicile. Only in 2013 did Texas enact any captive legislation. As a result, Texas has a mere 29 licensed captives, with most captives affiliated with large companies, like AT&T."
Recent developments, such as allowing captive insurers to pool risk with other captive insurers, has made Texas more captive-friendly for mid-market businesses. "As we’ve done over the past 18 years, Team Capstone will continue to work with domiciles that provide a favorable regulatory infrastructure for our captive clients,” Feldman added.
In affiliation with The Feldman Law Firm LLP, Capstone has championed a successful turnkey approach to captive insurance planning, which includes leveraging the expertise of tax and corporate lawyers, CPAs, and insurance professionals (CPCUs, ARMs, and AICs). The initial design and implementation of captives involves anticipating changes in laws that may affect captive owners or their affiliated businesses. Additionally, Team Capstone monitors domiciles (onshore or offshore) to identify those that best align with the varying needs of our clients.
“Team Capstone is ready to embark on this new chapter in our service offerings,” said Feldman. "With its new enabling legislation recently extending to mid-market clients, Texas can now offer a credible alternative to more traditional domestic jurisdictions. In choosing to work with the Texas Department of Insurance, we remain steadfast in our objective of only providing top-level domiciles for our national client base.”
Texas legislation passed in 2015 includes allowing reinsurance (risk reinsured to a pool and risk reinsured to an affiliated captive) and a clarification that captives may pay dividends to shareholders with prior approval by the Commissioner. More legislative amendments for captive compliance are slated for 2017.
Editor’s Notes: As of CURRENT_YEAR, Capstone has been in operation for CAP_YEARS_NUMBER years and has formed over CAPTIVE_FORMATIONS captives. As of CURRENT_YEAR, The Feldman Law Firm has been in operation for LAW_YEARS_NUMBER years and has successfully resolved TAX_CONTROVERSIES tax matters. As of CURRENT_YEAR the cap on 831(b) captive insurance premiums is CURRENT_PREMIUM_CAP million.