Florida insurance and reinsurance market news

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) recently approved Texas-based property and casualty (P&C) insurer, Mainsail Insurance Company, as a new domestic insurer following legislative reforms earlier this year. At the same time as the approval of Mainsail Insurance, the second domestic firm approved to become an authorised P&C insurer in the State of Florida […]

The Florida insurance and reinsurance marketplace remains dysfunctional according to Swiss Re CFO John Dacey, who said that the reinsurance giant remains underweight in the state, despite some signs improvement could be on the horizon.

While the general opinion in the insurance and reinsurance industry is that the outlook for the Florida marketplace is improved and the reforms, while taking time to bed in, will deliver benefits to insurers, the carriers operating there continue on their path of exposure management, by any means necessary.

Speaking with us today, Bruce Lucas, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of full-stack homeowners property insurtech, Slide Insurance Company, explained that his firm has just been approved by the Florida regulator for what could be the largest takeout of policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation ever.

Universal Insurance Holdings, the Florida headquartered primary insurance carrier, believes that there are now signs of an improved claims and litigation environment in the state, after the enactment of the legislative property insurance reforms.

The Florida property insurance marketplace is still a long way off becoming a stable environment for carriers to operate in, but there are signals that an inflection point has now been reached, which suggests insurance in Florida is on a path towards greater normalcy, according to ALIRT Insurance Research.

The latest news of a primary insurance carrier pulling-back from its exposure in a catastrophe-exposed US state comes courtesy of media reports on AAA Insurance, which is reportedly set to cull certain policies from its portfolio through non-renewals, as it seems to manage its exposure in Florida.

Despite the news of a range of insurance carriers pulling-back to manage their catastrophe exposure in Florida, there remains an appetite to assume this risk and the state insurance regulator says that it is seeing greater interest and participation in the Florida Citizens Depopulation program in 2023.

Farmers Insurance has announced a pull-back from Florida, with the carrier set to stop writing new Farmers-branded auto, home, and umbrella policies in the state, as the company looks to manage its exposure there.

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) investment management specialist Nephila Capital has written just over $756 million of the $2.98 billion reinsurance placement by Florida Citizens at the renewals in 2023, but Berkshire Hathaway was the largest participant with a huge $1 billion line.