Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Bans Price Optimization; Insurers Question Definition
May 19 2015 // A memorandum released last week by Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty warning insurers in the state not to use price optimization in rating has gotten cheers from a consumer advocate group and jeers from an...
Florida City Bans Beach Drinking During Spring Break
May 19 2015 // Panama City Beach leaders have voted to ban beach drinking during the month of March as part of larger crackdown on spring break partying. The city council approved the ban on beach drinking May 12 during a special meeting...
New Study Shows How Florida Citizens Subsidizes the Rich
May 18 2015 // The policy subsidies offered by Florida’s state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. flow disproportionately to the wealthy and, in concert with similarly regressive subsidies from the National Flood Insurance...
Outlook for Dallas-Based MGA Insurance Revised to Positive
May 15 2015 // A.M. Best has revised the outlook to positive from stable for the issuer credit rating (ICR) of MGA Insurance Co. Inc. (MGA) in Dallas and affirmed its ICR of “bbb.” Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the...
Nebraska Insurance Agency Loses Round But Fight Continues
May 15 2015 // A judge has ordered a defunct Nebraska insurance firm to pay Florida regulators at least $2.2 million, but this week’s ruling isn’t likely to settle the case that began in 1998. The Nebraska Supreme Court has...
Florida’s Hurricane Insurance Fund Replenished and Ready After 9 Quiet Years
May 15 2015 // Florida’s nine-year streak of avoiding hurricanes is helping the state reach a historic milestone: for the first time ever, the state-created fund designed to help pay out claims after storms has enough cash and...
Florida Approves Removal of 30,000 Policies from Citizens
May 15 2015 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Office) has approved the removal of up to 30,000 personal residential policies and 50 commercial residential polices from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) by...
Eight Florida Residents Arrested for Involvement in PIP Fraud Scam
May 14 2015 // Eight Broward County, Fla., residents have been arrested for PIP (personal injury protection) fraud after an investigation by the Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud revealed the individuals...
Fitch Upgrades Citizens to ‘AA-‘, Outlook Stable
May 14 2015 // Fitch Ratings has upgraded the rating on the following senior secured bonds of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp., FL, PLA/CLA to ‘AA-‘ from ‘A+’: –$1.1 billion series 2012A-1; –$200...
Florida Will Not Appeal Decision Favoring Deloitte in Poe Financial Collapse
May 12 2015 // The Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS) will not appeal the recent jury decision that found Deloitte & Touche not liable in the insolvency of Tampa-based Poe Financial Group following the unprecedented...
GEICO Names Silva Assistant VP of Underwriting in Florida Regional Office
May 12 2015 // Frankie Silva has been named assistant vice president of underwriting at GEICO’s regional office in Lakeland, Fla. Silva previously served as assistant vice president of underwriting in the company’s San Diego...
Citizens Board Approves 2015 Reinsurance Package, Ends 1-100 Assessment Risk
May 11 2015 // Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s Board of Governors approved a $3.9 billion risk transfer package for the 2015 hurricane season that completely eliminates the potential assessment risk on Florida policyholders in...
Florida-Based Baldwin Risk Partners Appoints Wiebeck as CFO
May 8 2015 // Baldwin Risk Partners (BRP), a privately-held insurance and risk management holding company based in Tampa, Fla., has appointed Kris Wiebeck as chief financial officer. Wiebeck will oversee finance, mergers and...
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Capital Markets Adds $10M Cat Bond to Florida Book
May 7 2015 // Jardine Lloyd Thompson Capital Markets (JLTCM) Inc., part of JLT Re, has arranged a private placement catastrophe bond, Market Re 2015-1, which closed at $10 million. The new bond provides one year indemnity-based...
Florida Commissioner McCarty Touts State Regulation Before Congress
May 6 2015 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty championed flexible state insurance regulation and warned against “one-size-fits-all” bank-like regulation for insurers in recent testimony before the U.S. Senate...
Florida-Based Lamar Dean & Associates Joins Acentria Insurance Group
May 6 2015 // Florida-based Acentria Insurance has partnered with Lamar Dean & Associates Insurance Services, a provider of both personal and commercial insurance in the state. Kevin Mason, president of Acentria Insurance, said with...
Southeast Schools Hoping to Fill Need for Insurance Cybersecurity Experts
May 5 2015 // The insurance industry, like other businesses, has come to realize it needs to do more to protect its companies, customers, employees and portfolios from cyber threats. Cyber-savvy professionals are in high-demand and are...
Florida-Based Triton Acquires Phoenix Insurance, Expands into Commercial Market
May 5 2015 // Triton Insurance Group, Inc., based in Margate, Fla., has entered the commercial insurance market with the acquisition of Phoenix Insurance Group, located in Coral Springs. Currently, Triton Insurance Group, Inc., offers...
Florida Man Sues Hospital after Amputated Leg Found in Trash
May 5 2015 // A Key Largo, Fla., man is suing a hospital after his amputated leg was found in the trash. The Miami Herald reports that the man found out about the incident when homicide detectives knocked on his door and asked him why...
Fitch Upgrades Citizens’ Coastal Account, Outlook Stable
May 5 2015 // Fitch Ratings has assigned an ‘AA-‘ rating to the following senior secured bonds of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Coastal Account (formerly known as the High Risk Account): –$750 million series...
