How do you start a specialty insurance company?

Answer 1

There is no short way to answer this question, nor does opening such an insurer lend itself to doing it yourself. That said, at the outset, you need to make the following preliminary decisions:

1. The nature of the risks to be insured. For example, if you are going to issue motor vehicle extended warranties, you may be considered to be a specialty insurer in some US jurisdictions, but not in others. This will have a bearing upon licensure and other requirements. Decide the nature and scope of the risks you will assume.

2. Your desired domicile (home state). This will drive regulatory issues, initial and ongoing capitalization, reserve requirements, reinsurance requirements, forms approvals, overall regulatory "friendliness".

3. Other states in which you will transact business and their regulatory requirements (similar to those in #2).

4. After you have done your homework, get help putting together a pro forma that addresses these and other material issues. It is not a bad idea to schedule an in-person appointment with the Bureau Chief of the Bureau of Specialty Insurers (may be called by a different name) to discuss what you plan to do, where, why, and how. It will be a chance for the two of you to size each other up, and for the regulator to offer constructive criticism, if any. Most states welcome additional insurers as it broadens the market, but they want insurers that will be honest, upright, and solvent. Make sure that the backgrounds of all people who will have decision-making power and a financial interest are squeaky-clean.

There are a multitude of other issues that relate to this. You are well advised to consult with a lawyer or law firm that has express experience in establishing speciality insurers in the domicile that you select. Get references-including from other clients and from the regulatory authority. This is not a type of law practice that one does on the side--it is, pardon the pun, a specialty. You can consult the Martindale-Hubbel Law Directory as a starting point.