More than 1,000 attendees  from nearly every U.S. state and 11 countries attended this year's Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) annual conference, held in Burlington, Vermont, on August 5–8.

Attendees discussed cutting-edge topics focused on addressing the latest captive developments and issues, including captive operations, reinsurance cooperation, captive employee benefits, cybersecurity and more. The event also offered sessions on InsurTech, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and the use of other technology.

The captive insurance world is changing rapidly to keep pace with technological advances in the insurance industry. Drones and artificial intelligence technology are increasingly being used to help risk managers with pricing and claims management.

With 90 captives entering and 50 leaving, Vermont's captive sector reflects the international movement of the captive industry. In recent years, changes in captive regulation and tax rules across global captive domiciles, together with the annual ebb and flow of multinational enterprises, have led captives to redomesticate, merge or exit a variety of onshore and offshore domiciles. Currently, the Vermont captive division oversees 60 companies with internationally based parent organizations, including organizations in the European Union and the United Kingdom (47 of the total 60) and a few from China and Mexico.

In total, Vermont has licensed 1,144 captives since its captive statute was enacted in 1981; 25 captives were licensed in 2018, and 7 new captives have been licensed so far in 2019.

Vermont currently has 581 licensed captives in total, representing $195 billion in assets under management and $23 billion of gross written premium.