By Michael Loney

Jan 27 - (The Insurer) - The approval of Mangrove Property Insurance Company means 10 insurers have entered Florida’s property casualty market since legislative reforms were enacted in 2023, with the new companies bringing more than $297mn in policyholder surplus.

The Insurer revealed on Sunday that former longtime RenaissanceRe general counsel and senior executive Steve Weinstein had secured approval from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (FLOIR) to launch admitted homeowners carrier Mangrove Property Insurance.

Mangrove has ambitions to become “a long-term franchise player” with plans to provide Florida homeowners “with high-quality P&C coverage”, the company said.

FLOIR in a release on Monday stated that St. Petersburg-based Mangrove will offer coverage through licensed independent agents across all of Florida’s 67 counties.

Mangrove’s approval follows that of ASI Select Insurance, Trident Reciprocal Exchange, Ovation Home Insurance Exchange, Manatee Insurance Exchange, Condo Owners Reciprocal Exchange, Orange Insurance Exchange, Orion180 Select Insurance Company, Orion180 Insurance Company, Mainsail Insurance Company, and Tailrow Insurance Exchange.

“The new companies bring more than $297mn in policyholder surplus to support additional growth in the state’s property market,” FLOIR said.

Florida insurance commissioner Mike Yaworsky stated: “Thanks to recent historic legislative reforms, Florida’s insurance market is stabilizing, and more companies are entering the market.

“Domestic companies reported more than $389mn in net income as of September 2024. We will continue to emphasise the encouraging signs of the resilience and growth of our market to attract more business to our state.”

FLOIR added among the top 10 national carriers in Florida, 60 percent have expanded their book of business and 40 percent filed rate decreases. Since January 2024, 17 companies have filed for a rate decrease and 34 companies have requested no change or 0 percent increase.

The regulator continued that, as the market continues to stabilise, it is seeing a continued interest from authorised insurers in the Citizens depopulation program. In 2024, 18 companies were approved to assume more than 1.2 million policies from Citizens, reducing the state-backed insurer of last resort’s exposure by more than $170bn.

In addition, for the first time in more than two years Citizens’ policy count is below 1 million.

Mangrove also on Monday confirmed FLOIR had approved its certificate of authority to provide P&C coverage in Florida on 15 January.

“Smart legislative and regulatory reforms have stabilized Florida’s marketplace, giving us confidence to enter the market with new capital and capacity to help homeowners meet their property insurance needs,” commented CEO Weinstein.

“Just as mangroves protect Florida’s coastlines from erosion and storm surge, Mangrove Property Insurance Company is committed to being a permanent solution Floridians can turn to in protecting their property,” he added.

Mangrove believes the homeowners market is still in great need of additional capacity and competition.

“We also wish to acknowledge the many partners who have supported our launch to date, including GallagherRe, our reinsurance broker of record, and Gallagher Securities, our capital markets advisor and sole structuring and placement agent, whose expertise, analytics, and Florida leadership position have been instrumental,” Weinstein added.

Mangrove has been approved to participate in the April assumption of policies from Citizens.

The start-up has also applied for a financial stability rating from Demotech and plans to begin writing homeowners coverage for policyholders outside of Citizens “as soon as possible after receipt of that rating”.