Mangrove Property Insurance Co. has received approval from Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky (pictured right) to begin writing home insurance in Florida.
The company has also been granted approval to assume 81,040 personal residential multiperil policies from the state’s insurer of last resort, according to a BestWire report.
The St. Petersburg-based company will be led by Stephen Weinstein, a longtime insurance professional. Weinstein cited legislative and regulatory reforms as factors that contributed to the decision to start the company. The launch of Mangrove was supported by Gallagher Re and Gallagher Securities.
The company plans to offer policies through local agents in all 67 counties in Florida, according to the report.
“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.
Before founding Mangrove, Weinstein served as general counsel and secretary at RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. for nearly 20 years, before retiring in 2020. His career focused on Florida property insurance, and he remains active in global and Bermuda reinsurance markets. Weinstein is chair of Itasca Re Ltd., a Bermuda specialty reinsurer, and was a former chair of the Bermuda Business Development Agency.
Mangrove is the 10th company to enter the Florida market since state lawmakers launched an insurance reform initiative, according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. These new companies have contributed over $297 million in policyholder surplus.
In December 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a comprehensive property insurance legislative package into law, implementing changes aimed at stabilizing the market.
“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, vice president of state government relations for the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, stated that the entry of new companies signals that Florida’s efforts to address legal system abuses have been effective.
“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.”
In addition to approving Mangrove Property’s request to assume policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Yaworsky also approved a request for 75,000 personal multiperil policies from Slide Insurance Co. In December, Slide was approved to assume 100,000 Citizens policies.
For a carrier to assume a policy, it must offer replacement coverage priced no more than 20% above the cost charged by Citizens to the policyholder. Offers from carriers will include a deadline for policyholders to make a decision. If no decision is made, the policy will be assigned to the private-market company with the lowest estimated premium.
As of January 17, Citizens had 938,845 policies in force, down from 988,051 on November 11, 2024, according to the carrier’s website.