New property insurance company gets approval to enter Florida marketplace

But Key Biscayne and Florida homeowners could have an additional option after this week, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) approved the application of Tailrow Insurance Company, who will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Tampa-based HCI Group Inc., a publicly-traded company, to write homeowners policies in Florida.

Tailrow is the first company approved by state insurance regulators in the wake of legal reforms put in place at the end of 2022.

In a statement announcing the approval, Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky said, "OIR's greatest priority is to promote a stable and competitive insurance market for consumers. Today's announcement is great news for Florida policyholders who will benefit from having additional options when shopping for homeowners insurance."

"As we begin to see the impacts from recently passed legislation, OIR will continue to use all available resources to attract more insurance-related companies, jobs, and capital to the Florida insurance market," Yaworsky added.

The website TheCapitoList reported that per the OIR order, Tailrow will allocate $300,000 toward meeting the agency's mandatory deposit requirements, and Tailrow must establish a catastrophe loss model with plausible maximum loss projections for a once-in-a-century event.

As a new entity in Florida, Tailrow will not have to deal with unresolved litigation filed before the Legislature outlawed one-way attorney fees, assignment of benefits and other practices.

Tailrow will not be able to write policies before the start of the June 1st Hurricane Season as it still must file rates and forms and get them approved by the OIR. Additionally, the company must be approved by a financial strength ratings agency, like Demotech.

For the complete TheCapitoList, click here.