Citizens Projects Continued Reduction in Policy Count
The policy count at Citizens Property Insurance Corporation continues to decline, with further reductions projected over the next few months. Citizens had more than 1.4 million policies just two years ago. As of July 31 of this year, it had fewer than 950,000 policies. Citizens president Barry Gilway recent said he expects Citizens to have around 850,000 policies by year end. This seems like a safe bet because a number of insurers have expressed interest in assuming policies from Citizens late this year. Insurers will assume some policies in October, but the most sizeable reductions likely will occur in November (where insurers have requested more than 400,000 policies) and December. The reduction in policies won’t match the number of policies requested by insurers because many of the policies they seek likely will overlap as they vie for policies with favorable exposure characteristics. Nonetheless, the fourth quarter undoubtedly will see a significant further reduction in Citizens’ policy count.
Citizens also will be expanding its clearinghouse to include renewal policies. Previously the clearinghouse has applied only to new business. The goal of the clearinghouse is to match Citizens applicants or policyholders with authorized insurers interested in writing their policies.