Florida insurance and reinsurance market news

A special legislative session of the Florida House this week saw any measures of particular relevance to the property insurance market taken off the agenda, while a measure that proposes another layer of reinsurance to support the Floridian carriers may now re-emerge for debate in 2024.

Olympus Insurance Company, a Florida homeowners specialist underwriter, has adopted new rules for property underwritten on the coast of the state, as it looks to align its inwards business more closely with the reinsurance models used.

During the last quarter of record, Universal Insurance Holdings, the Florida headquartered primary insurance carrier that has become a bellwether for signals of appetite for risk in the state and use of reinsurance by the state’s carrier cohort, began to grow its book again despite its reinsurance not responding to hurricane Idalia.

The insurance-linked securities (ILS) market and alternative sources of reinsurance capital are key providers of protection to Florida’s insurance sector and investor appetite for the risk will continue, rating agency Moody’s has said.

Slide Insurance Company has stepped up to support Florida homeowners, acquiring the renewal rights to policies that had been underwritten by Farmers Insurance® in the state.

Lawmakers in Florida have said that major property insurance legislation is not expected to be a feature of the state’s 2024 legislative session that begins in January, with time still needed to allow the already enacted changes to filter through and show up in insurer results.

Property insurance premiums in Florida are not expected to start falling anytime soon, despite the legislative efforts of lawmakers in the state, with reinsurance costs and reinsurers desire to be adequately compensated for the risks a key factor, according to risk modelling firm Karen Clark & Company (KCC).

Florida’s property insurance market continues to face challenges from a reduction in appetites, among many major insurers, to write property business in the state, with Progressive the latest to be reported to be pulling back.

HCI Group’s digital insurtech company TypTap is the latest to be approved to takeout policies from Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, as interest grows in securing property insurance risk in bulk from the still-growing insurer of last resort.

Analysis from global reinsurance firm Swiss Re reveals that, while building code improvements in Florida have dramatically reduced the potential for insured losses from storms and hurricanes, that reduction is dwarfed by the huge gains in exposure in the state.