Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has approved six insurers to assume slightly more than 124,000 policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., extending a depopulation trend that has sharply reduced the state-backed carrier’s footprint.
- American Integrity Insurance Co. received approval to take over 37,804 residential multiperil policies and 433 commercial residential wind-only policies.
- Mangrove Property Insurance Co. was cleared to assume 35,000 residential multiperil policies.
Two additional carriers will absorb sizable residential books. Stand Insurance Exchange was approved for 25,000 residential multiperil policies, while Apex Star Reciprocal Exchange will take on 24,546 residential multiperil policies.
Commercial takeouts were smaller but still material. Mainsail Insurance Co. was approved to assume 266 commercial residential multiperil policies and 353 commercial residential wind-only policies.
Slide Insurance Co. will take out 210 commercial residential multiperil policies and 390 commercial wind-only policies.
The approvals come as Citizens’ policy count continues to fall. In November, policies in force dropped to 427,097, according to Kyle Ulrich, president and chief executive officer of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents.
That compares with roughly 1.4mn policies on Citizens’ books as recently as September 2023.
Citizens president and chief executive officer Tim Cerio credited recent legislative reforms for accelerating depopulation. He said the changes allowed Citizens to move back into its intended role as the insurer of last resort and warned against undoing the measures that enabled the shift.
Thanks to the governor’s leadership and the legislature’s actions, I can say unequivocally that Citizens has returned to its proper role as Florida’s insurer of last resort
Tim Cerio, Citizens president and chief executive officer
“It’s important now for us to stay the course and resist any effort to roll back the critical reforms responsible for this success,” Tim Cerio said.
According to Beinsure analysts, the latest takeout round reinforces how far Florida’s market has moved since the instability of 2022 and 2023. Whether the momentum holds will depend on catastrophe losses and the durability of the state’s reform framework.
