Three insurers have been given approval to take out up to 80,000 personal residential and 1,500 commercial residential insurance policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp.Of the participating insurers, Clearwater, Florida-based Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Co. has been given approval by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation to remove up to 55,000 personal residential policies - up to 20,000 in the coastal account - and up to 1,500 commercial residential policies. Anchor Property & Casualty Insurance Co. has been given OIR approval to take out up to 10,000 personal residential policies, 1,836 of those in coastal areas. And Southern Oak Insurance Co. has been given OIR approval to remove up to 15,000 personal residential policies, with 5,000 of those coming out of the coastal account.
The total number of potential policies approved for take-outs in 2016 was 485,365 as of Feb. 26, although 30,969 policies had been assumed by private insurers as of Feb. 16. Policyholders who receive take-out offers can remain covered by Citizens throughout the opt-out process.
While Citizens currently issues takeout notices monthly, the insurer last month had voiced its support for Senate Bill 1630, which would require only six cycles for private insurers to make take-out offers to policyholders beginning Jan. 1, 2017. The bill has been passed by three Senate committees, including Appropriations unanimously on Feb. 25.
In 2012, Citizens reached its peak in terms of holding policies, at 1.5 million. But the combination of lower reinsurance costs and a full decade without a major storm helped boost both Citizens' coffers and the desire of private companies to take Citizens policies.
Take-out periods for the new approvals run through May 24, 2016 for personal residential policies and through May 17 for commercial residential policies.
The top five writers of homeowners multiperil insurance in Florida during 2014 were Citizens Property Insurance Corp., with a 9.12% market share; Universal Insurance Holdings Group, with 7.9%; Tower Hill Group, with 7.79%; State Farm Group, with 7.34%; and USAA Group, with 4.8%, according to BestLink.