Tailrow Reciprocal Exchange has officially begun operations, assuming nearly 14,000 policies from Florida’s insurer of last resort, HCI Group’s chairman and chief executive officer Paresh Patel said.
The assumption represents approximately $35 million in in-force premium, which sponsors the homeowners’ reciprocal. The company had been approved to take over 20,000 policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp. It had already extended offers on 18,000 policies, according to a report from AM Best.
The new policies took effect on February 18.
The technology we’ve built and our management expertise enabled us to identify attractive policies at Citizens for assumption and achieve a high adoption rate,” Patel said in a statement.
A year earlier, Florida insurance regulators approved Condo Owners Reciprocal Exchange, which is also operated by HCI, to assume up to 400 condo association policies from Citizens Property Insurance.
Tailrow Insurance is one of the recent entrants in Florida’s property insurance market as the state grapples with challenges abounding in its insurance landscape, including sky-high premiums, extreme weather events and a highly litigious environment.
The state’s property insurance market has been unstable for years, making it difficult for homeowners to find affordable coverage, leading to increased pressure on Citizens, the state’s insurer of last resort, which currently holds more than a million policies.
The HCI Group subsidiary received approval in April 2023 to write homeowners multi-peril insurance, becoming the first company authorized after legislative reforms addressing challenges in the state’s property and casualty insurance market.
In an interview with Insurance Business last year, however, Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky (pictured above) said that the state is currently seeing “a recovery, stabilization taking place.”
