Bermuda may be one of the original captive domiciles, but a couple of American states — particularly Vermont — are growing in popularity, according to Scot Sterenberg, managing director at Marsh LLC.

“Bermuda was the home for many, many companies, and it's still a very good domicile,” Mr Sterenberg said during a webinar hosted by AM Best, the ratings agency. But, he added: “In terms of trend, most people are looking to use a US domicile to finance the risk.”

He noted that US captive owners today weigh a variety of factors when deciding where to set up shop. “Looking across all those important indicators when looking at a domicile, matching that domicile with the type of company you are is really important. And then building that relationship with the domicile regulators,” he said.

“Vermont leads the way,” he said. “They’ve been in business for 40-plus years now.”

He added: “We’re privileged to have several very good domiciles in the United States, and those domiciles that traditionally have been in the business for a long time are very strong.”

Mr Sterenberg described the past decade as one where “the trend more recently … would say decade, has been to move that captive onshore versus offshore.”

Still, he acknowledged Bermuda’s role in the industry’s foundation: “The captive industry is 75 years old. And so captive domiciles have been around for a long time when they came onshore.”

Adrienne Stark, associate director at AM Best, confirmed that the trend towards onshore formations continues.

“We are still seeing an increase in the number of captives year-over-year. We saw about a net increase of about a hundred new US formations in 2024,” she said. “So that might seem like a small number, but it does still reflect that there's growth and interest in this segment of the market.”

She added that while there “hasn't really been much movement in the last ten years” in terms of where captives are being domiciled, Vermont remains dominant.

“Over the top ten US domicile states, the leading state by far has been Vermont,” Ms Stark noted, “followed closely behind by Utah, North Carolina and Delaware.”