TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Office) today announced the approval of an additional 60,000 policies to be removed from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens). This will add to the 84,339 already taken out during this calendar year, as well as the 150,000 policies recently approved to be acquired by four Florida domestic insurance companies beginning November 6, 2012.
“One of the Office’s goals continues to be to support a competitive property insurance market. It is encouraging to see the commitment of these domestic companies to bring more jobs as well as additional insurance capacity to Florida,” stated Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty.
The Office approved four companies to remove a total of 150,000 policies earlier this month. Florida Peninsula Insurance Company of Boca Raton requested to acquire an additional 10,000 policies for a total of 45,000 possible take-outs. American Integrity Insurance Company of Tampa will be the fifth company to participate in the November take-outs and will acquire 50,000 policies.
The following companies will participate in the November 6 take-out:
Florida Peninsula Insurance Company – 45,000 policies
Homeowners Choice P&C Insurance Company – 75,000 policies
Southern Fidelity P&C, Inc. – 30,000 policies
Southern Oak Insurance Company – 10,000 policies
American Integrity Insurance Company of Florida – 50,000 policies
Although the Office has approved the removal of 210,000 policies from Citizens beginning November 6, and 84,339 policies have already been removed this year with another 6,643 policies pending to be removed October 9 by First Community Insurance Company, it will be some time before the numbers can be finalized. By Florida law, the Citizens’ policyholders will be notified of the take-out request (assumption) on October 1, and will have 30 days to accept or decline the offer. If policyholders do not respond, they will be “assumed” by the private sector company on November 6. Regardless of the “uptake” percentage, it is expected that the total number of takeouts in 2012 will exceed those in 2009 (149,645 take-outs), 2010 (59,792 take-outs), and 2011 (53,577 take-outs).
To view the previous press release regarding Citizens take-outs, visit: http://www.floir.com/PressReleases/viewmediarelease.aspx?id=1961.