Mangrove Property Insurance Enters Florida Market
Florida’s property insurance market is expanding with the recent approval of Mangrove Property Insurance Co. to offer its services. The company received the green light from Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky to begin writing home insurance policies in the state. This marks a significant development, potentially providing more options and competition for Florida homeowners.
In addition to its new policy offerings, Mangrove Property has also been authorized to assume 81,040 personal residential multiperil policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida’s insurer of last resort. This move reflects the company’s commitment to stabilizing the market and providing coverage to more residents according to a BestWire report.
Leading the St. Petersburg-based company is insurance veteran Stephen Weinstein. Weinstein attributes Mangrove’s launch to recent legislative and regulatory reforms in Florida, which have created a more favorable environment for insurance providers.
“As the third most populated state in the US, and one of the largest economies in the world, Florida is a special state to me and our company. We want to help enhance Florida’s financial and physical resiliency as it safely continues to grow,” Weinstein said in a statement.
Gallagher Re and Gallagher Securities have been involved in supporting the launch of Mangrove. The company plans to offer policies through a network of local agents throughout all of Florida’s 67 counties, the report indicates.
Before establishing Mangrove, Weinstein served as general counsel and secretary at RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. for almost two decades, retiring in 2020. His career has centered on Florida property insurance, and he continues to participate actively in global and Bermuda reinsurance markets. Weinstein presently chairs Itasca Re Ltd., a Bermuda-based specialty reinsurer, and is a former chair of the Bermuda Business Development Agency.
This marks the tenth insurance company to enter the Florida market since state lawmakers initiated insurance reform measures, as reported by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. These new entries have collectively contributed over $297 million in policyholder surplus.
In December 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis enacted a comprehensive property insurance legislative package aimed at stabilizing the market. This legislation brought about critical changes designed to address the challenges faced by insurers operating in the state.
“Domestic companies reported more than $389 million in net income as of September 2024,” Yaworsky said in a statement. “We will continue to emphasize the encouraging signs of the resilience and growth of our market to attract more business to our state.”
Logan McFaddin, the vice president of state government relations for the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, noted that new companies entering the market signal the effectiveness of Florida’s efforts to address legal system abuses.
“Insurers are seeing Florida as a viable market once again despite the state’s significant risk for catastrophic hurricanes,” McFaddin said in an emailed statement. “As more companies continue to enter the state’s marketplace, Floridians have more choices and can shop around for the best coverage at the best price.”
Besides endorsing Mangrove Property’s request to take over policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Yaworsky also approved a request from Slide Insurance Co. for 75,000 personal multiperil policies. Previously, in December, Slide had been authorized to assume 100,000 Citizens policies.
To assume a policy, a carrier must offer replacement coverage priced no more than 20% above what Citizens charged the policyholder. Policyholders will receive deadlines to make choices about these offers, and policies will be assigned to the private-market company with the lowest premium estimate if no action is taken.
Citizens Property Insurance Corp. had 938,845 policies in effect as of January 17, a decrease from 988,051 recorded on November 11, 2024, according to their website.
