Reinsurance News

Florida reinsurance news

All of our Reinsurance News related to the Florida insurance marketplace, featuring news and analysis of the annual June renewal season, as well as Florida-specific stories.

Florida regulator pegs insured Michael losses at $4.9bn

11th January 2019

Total re/insured losses resulting from Hurricane Michael in Florida are estimated to be approximately $4.9 billion, according to data compiled by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (FLOIR). The state regulator’s estimate is based on information from claims data filed by insurers, and shows that a total of 136,873 claims have ... Read the full article

Florida’s 135,000 AOB lawsuits in 2018 fuelling a re/insurance crisis

13th December 2018

Abuse of Assignment of Benefits (AOB) in Florida has fuelled an insurance crisis that is acting as a “hidden tax” on consumers and helping to increase what are already some of the highest insurance premiums in the country, according to a report by the Insurance Information Institute. According to the report ... Read the full article

Citizens proposes 8.2% rate increases for Florida homeowners in 2019

11th December 2018

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state-run not-for-profit insurer, has proposed to increase its average premium rates by 8.2% in 2019, driven by costly water-damage claims in South Florida. If approved by the Citizens Board of Governors and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, the increase would impact personal lines policyholders from ... Read the full article

New property cat reinsurance broker COIN Re launches in Florida

24th October 2018

Industry veteran Ted Blanch has launched a new reinsurance brokerage with a focus on the property catastrophe sector, called COIN Re, that aims to use a client-centric pricing and ownership model radically different from industry norms. The Florida-based broker claims that catastrophe reinsurance market economics have historically been tipped in favour ... Read the full article

JBA launches high-resolution Florida flood maps

23rd October 2018

JBA Risk Management, the global flood risk modeller, has announced the launch of its new high-resolution state-wide flood map for Florida, part of a wider rollout for the continental U.S. Managing Director of JBA Matt Reid stated that the flood map provides “a comprehensive understanding of all three principal types of ... Read the full article

Outdated Florida building codes to inflate Michael losses, says AIR

12th October 2018

Property damage caused by Hurricane Michael, which made landfall in Florida as a high-end Category 4 storm on Wednesday, is likely to be exacerbated by the older building stock in the Panhandle region, according to AIR Worldwide, the catastrophe risk modelling arm of Verisk Analytics. AIR noted that the majority ... Read the full article

Michael will be an earnings event rather than a capital event for re/insurers: S&P

11th October 2018

Hurricane Michael, which struck Florida and the surrounding U.S states as a Category 4 storm yesterday, will be an “earnings event rather than a capital event for both the U.S primary insurance and global reinsurance sectors,” according to a report by S&P Global. Michael battered the states of Florida, Alabama ... Read the full article

Citizens to claim back $126.4mn from private reinsurers for Hurricane Irma

27th September 2018

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens), Florida's insurer of last resort, has announced that it has incurred losses of $1.81 billion from Hurricane Irma, and that it expects to recover $126.4 million from the private reinsurance market and a further $534.7 million from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF). Not long after ... Read the full article

Insured claims from hurricane Irma reach $10.5 billion, says Florida regulator

23rd August 2018

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (FOIR) has reported that insured claims from last year's hurricane Irma counted by the regulator has increased by a further 8% to almost $10.5 billion, as loss creep from the storm continues. The Florida regulator states that claims are being closed, although, according to an ... Read the full article

RenRe leads FHCF’s $1 billion 2018 reinsurance placement

20th August 2018

The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) has completed its $1 billion 2018 reinsurance placement, which includes a broad range of global participating reinsurers, that was once again led by RenaissanceRe (RenRe) and which included increased participation from Swiss Re. The FHCF announced earlier in the year that after observing and evaluating ... Read the full article

Combined Irma loss creep exceeds $1bn for Floridian insurers

16th August 2018

The devastation caused by hurricane Irma continues to impact Floridian insurance companies, with a number of market players increasing their loss reserves as creep from the storm continues. Recorded as the strongest storm to exist in the open Atlantic region, hurricane Irma devastated parts of South U.S., especially Florida, as well ... Read the full article

Heritage sees reduced claims volatility as it further de-risks from Florida

14th August 2018

Florida headquartered property casualty insurer, Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc., continues to expand and diversify outside of the highly competitive Florida market, a trend the firm's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bruce Lucas, says should reduce claim volatility as well as reinsurance pricing. Speaking during the insurer's second-quarter 2018 earnings call, ... Read the full article

Swiss Re partnership targets property protection gap in Florida

30th July 2018

Swiss Re has partnered with Florida-based homeowners insurer Security First to provide policyholders with increased protection from water damage, including flood coverage. Ratings are to be based on Swiss Re’s proprietary flood model and priced according to the individual risk exposure. This allows for a more sophisticated delineation of premiums based on ... Read the full article

FEMA urges at-risk Floridians to secure & maintain flood insurance

25th July 2018

As the hurricane season reaches its midway-point, the U.S Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has called on Floridians to secure and maintain flood insurance. FEMA states that only half of Florida homeowners in high-risk areas had insurance against flooding before hurricane Irma made landfall late last year. Concurrently, however, the National Flood ... Read the full article

Mixed mid-year pricing results for Florida property cat reinsurers: Willis Re

11th July 2018

Property catastrophe pricing has been mixed for reinsurers in Florida at mid-year renewals, as increased demand for some companies following 2017’s catastrophes was offset by further non-traditional capital entering the market, according to reinsurance broker Willis Re. Willis Re’s 1st View Report observed that companies that performed well in Hurricane Irma ... Read the full article