Three new property insurance companies have entered the Florida market this spring, bringing to 20 the number of new carriers since Florida lawmakers ended assignment-of-benefit agreements and one-way attorney fees in 2023.
“To date, these new companies since the legislative reforms bring in more than $850 million in new capital to support additional growth in the state’s property market,” Florida Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky said in a bulletin in May.
Frontline Insurance, a stalwart of Florida’s insurance market in recent years, added a new reciprocal exchange company. The Office of Insurance Regulation granted a certificate of authority in April, authorizing the exchange for homeowners multiperil and other lines. Frontline is planning a June 18 date for new business, its recent OIR form filing shows.
Wingsail Insurance, owned by Spinnaker Insurance, was authorized in February to write homeowners multiperil policies. Spinnaker, with offices in New Jersey and Arizona, launched in 2015 as a value-added program fronting company and grew rapidly. In 2020, it was acquired by insurtech Hippo Insurance Services, one of its managing general agents.
Builder Reciprocal Insurance Exchange, managed by Texas-based Millennial Specialty Insurance, or MSI, an MGA, was approved in May. It will offer homeowners coverage, the OIR indicated.
Unlike several new insurers in the Florida market in recent years, the new firms do not appear to have gone the take-out route, so far, at least. None of the three have been approved for takeouts of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. policies, according to OIR.
The announcement underscores a recent report from AM Best that further indicates a much-improved Florida property insurance environment.
The rating and research firm noted that Florida-domiciled personal property insurers recently reported almost $1 billion in underwriting gains. Those gains followed a $132 million underwriting loss just two years ago, AM Best analysts said in the firm’s Market Segment Report.
And Florida insurers’ defense and cost containment expenses have fallen to $131 million–an 80% drop since the peak seen in 2022, AM Best noted.
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