The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) has re-hired Robert Rudnai as a captive specialist, where he will be responsible for licensing and monitoring Texas-domiciled captives.
Rudnai started in his new position on 2 October and is the result of State lawmakers directing the TDI to employ a specialist to support captive insurance oversight after lobbying from the Texas Captive Insurance Association (TxCIA).
“There’s an opportunity now to use the experience and operational knowledge gained over the last decade to evaluate and refine processes and procedures,” Rudnai said.
“This starts by my listening to our stakeholders and considering their perspectives.”
Rudnai previously worked at the TDI as a financial analyst, where he provided oversight to captives, and evaluated captive applications as part of his role.
Members of the captive industry operating in Texas had previously expressed concern over the length of time it was taking to establish a captive in Texas compared to other domiciles.
“The issue in Texas right now is staffing,” Andrew Marson, managing director at Strategic Risk Solutions and a TxCIA board member, told Captive Intelligence for our Texas long read published in January.
“They’re really struggling to employ people at the TDI. So, the speed of which you can form a captive in Texas is significantly slower than other domiciles.
“Therefore, it’s not attractive from that perspective, because it does take quite a bit of time.”
At the end of 2022, Texas had 73 captives licenced in the state, of which 72 were pure captives.