Hawaii Welcomes 9th Captive Insurance Company

Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle announced the recent licensing of the newest Hawaii captive insurance company that will be used to insure the national and international risks of its Japanese-based parent company.

Mitsui & Co. Ltd. has formed its captive insurance company, Insurance Company of Trinet (U. S. A.) Inc. (ICT). Mitsui & Co. Ltd. is a publicly traded sogo shosha, or general trading company, that is engaged in the worldwide trading of various commodities, financing of trade activities, and the organizing and coordinating industrial projects through its worldwide business networks. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2003, the company had revenues of approximately Yen$570 billion (US$4.8 billion), and total assets of Yen$6.5 trillion (US$54.2 billion). A formal licensing ceremony was held on May 19 in Tokyo, where State of Hawaii’s Insurance Commissioner J. P. Schmidt personally presented Mitsui & Co. Ltd., with a license to operate a captive insurance subsidiary in Hawaii.

“ICT’s licensure represents the 9th captive to be licensed by Hawaii to insure domestic and global risks of Japanese businesses,” said Commissioner Schmidt. “The people of the State of Hawaii and the people of Japan have a profound and special relationship that will enable us to help Mitsui achieve its risk management goals. We are honored by Mitsui’s choice of Hawaii for this important business endeavor.”

The other Japanese-related companies that have established Hawaii captives include Nissan Motors, Kokusai Kogyo, Heiwa, Citizen Watch, Kinki Nippon Tourist, Kajima, and Yazaki International.

ICT is jointly managed by InterRisk Research Institute and Consulting, Inc. in Japan, and Becher + Carlson Risk Management Services, Inc. in Hawaii. Local Hawaii service providers include legal services by Goodsill, Anderson, Quinn & Stifel, independent audit attestation services by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and banking and investment management services by Bank of Hawaii.