Florida insurance companies steered money to investors while claiming losses, study says
While Florida insurers claimed to be losing money in the wake of hurricanes Irma and Michael, their parent companies and affiliates were making billions of dollars, according to a study obtained by the Times/Herald.
The start of the state’s insurance market meltdown came on the heels of those two storms between 2017 and 2019, as companies justified big rate increases to cover their losses.
But those financial hardships don’t tell the full story, according to the 2022 study that has never been made public and was released to the Times/Herald after a two-year wait for public records.
The report, the most in-depth dive into the byzantine finances of Florida’s homeowners insurance market, reveals that as the industry was ailing and companies were losing money, executives distributed $680 million in dividends to shareholders while diverting billions more to affiliate companies.
Executives with most Florida-based insurers were removing so much money from their companies that they violated state regulations, the study’s author concluded.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2025/02/22/florida-insurance-profits-desantis-regulation-investors-crisis/
= new reply since forum marked as read
