risk transfer

Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re looks set to remain underweight on Florida reinsurance business, as unless the market accepts its view of risk, the company is unlikely to expand in the state and lacks optimism on the potential for pricing to rise adequately, its CFO John Dacey explained this morning.

In order for progress to be made in reforming and fixing Florida’s property insurance crisis, analysts at Assured Research have said that the only way to move forwards may be for reinsurance underwriters to pull capacity from the state.

For under-pressure property insurers in the challenged Florida marketplace, achieving a full placement of their Florida-focused catastrophe reinsurance programs at the upcoming June 1 renewal season is set to be challenging, analysts at AM Best have said.

The Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis has now issued an official proclamation calling for a special legislative session, specifically to address issues the state is facing in the property insurance and reinsurance marketplace.

Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis has revealed his intention to call a special legislative session in May, with one of the primary goals being to debate and enact some property insurance market reforms in an attempt to slow the developing insurance crisis in the state.

March saw a resurgence in the number of litigated property insurance claims at Florida’s largest P&C insurers, while litigated claims related to the assignment of benefits (AOB) increased at their fastest rate since 2019, according to CaseGlide.

Despite attempts to reform the Florida property insurance market and the fact newly litigated claims dropped in February 2022, the litigation exposure of P&C insurance carriers in the state remains a concern, according to Wesley Todd, CEO of CaseGlide.

The level of litigated claims is on the increase in Florida despite legislative efforts to stem the tide, leading Wesley Todd, CEO of CaseGlide to say the trend is “concerning”, after new litigated claims jumped 37% month-on-month in January 2022 for Florida’s largest P&C insurers.

The latest property insurance rate increase filings submitted by carriers in Florida are calling for really significant uplifts in pricing, suggesting the primary market still believes more rate is required to support sustainable profits, which implies reinsurance firming also needs to continue in the state.

Litigated claims related to the assignment of benefits (AOB) have increased in Florida for property and casualty (P&C) insurers, according to the latest data from CaseGlide.