Survey: Insurers Spent $1.52B with Diverse California Suppliers Last Year

Diverse California businesses supplied $1.52 billion in goods and services to insurance companies last year, according to a survey by the California Department of Insurance.

The 2014 tally was a $587 million increase since 2012, according to Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, who announced the survey results on Tuesday.

“Our Insurance Diversity Initiative asks insurance companies to give minority, women, disabled veteran, and LGBT – owned businesses an equal opportunity to compete for contracts,” said Commissioner Jones.

Overall, the insurance industry procured 6.4 percent of their total goods and services in California from diverse suppliers in 2014, compared with 5.6 percent in 2013, the survey shows.

Diverse Businesspeople Conversing, Woman At FrontThe release of the results precedes with a meeting today between Jones and more than 250 insurance company executives and diverse business leaders at California State University Sacramento for the 4th Annual Insurance Diversity Summit.

At the summit representatives from businesses owned by minorities, women, disabled veterans and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community will have business matchmaking sessions with insurance companies. Jones will present awards to individuals and insurance companies to recognize their commitment to supplier diversity and governing board diversity.

All insurers that collect $100 million or more in California written premiums met the threshold to submit a report. There were 226 insurance companies, representing 47 percent of the national insurance market, which met the threshold to respond to the 2015 Insurer Supplier Diversity Survey.