North Carolina regulators licensed 21 new captive insurance companies in 2025 and approved roughly 80 additional cells and series, insurance commissioner Mike Causey said.
The licenses issued included both newly formed insurers and the relocation of existing captives from other domiciles, the North Carolina Department of Insurance (N.C. DOI) said in a statement.
The state’s domiciled entities now comprise 188 pure captive insurers, 48 protected cell captives, nine risk retention groups, and 18 special-purpose captives. They span industries including financial services, insurance, transportation, health care, construction, and manufacturing.
By the end of 2025, the N.C. DOI reported more than 1,000 risk-bearing captive insurance entities under regulation, including 263 captive insurance companies and 746 cells and series, factoring in conditional licenses and approvals.
“North Carolina is a great choice for captive owners to call home with its prudent regulation and dedicated team of financial analysts, examiners and actuaries,” Causey said. “I strongly encourage businesses evaluating self-insurance options to consider North Carolina’s business-friendly environment when choosing where to domicile their captive insurance company.”
The department noted that the 2013 North Carolina Captive Insurance Act gives the commissioner broad discretion in regulating captives, allowing the state to respond to evolving business risk needs.
Captives, a form of self-insurance, have grown in popularity because they offer flexible solutions for emerging risks and technological change, AM Best reported. The DOI described the industry as a “nimble” alternative to traditional risk-transfer markets and said North Carolina is well-positioned as a domicile for such companies.
According to Marsh’s 2025 Captive Benchmarking Report, gross written premiums for Marsh-managed captives rose 6% to $77 billion in 2024, driven by firms retaining more risk amid market volatility. The report noted that captives are increasingly writing a wider range of coverages, including property, liability, and workers’ compensation, reflecting a growing role for captives in broader corporate risk management strategies.
