Insurers pass financial stress test


  • October 28, 2015
  • /   News Service of Florida
  • /   economy,community-dashboard

Radar image of Hurricane Wilma making landfall in South Florida in 2005. Wilma is the last storm to
make landfall in Florida, as of the 2015 hurricane season. Photo credit: National Weather Service Miami.

Every property insurance company that participated in a test of financial resources could withstand a 1-in-100 year storm, the state Office of Insurance Regulation reported Monday.

As Florida has again avoided a devastating hurricane this year, the 112 insurance companies that participated in the third annual "Catastrophe Stress Test" showed they can withstand significant losses, the state agency reported.

"Although hurricane loss projections are only estimates, the results of the Catastrophe Stress Test are nonetheless encouraging," the report concluded.

A 1-in-100-year storm is an event that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year. A 1-in-50-year storm has a 2 percent change of happening.

"Florida's insurance companies have benefited from an influx of capital into the reinsurance market, which has allowed them to lower rates, boost surplus and protect against catastrophes," Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said in a prepared statement.

"Floridians should have confidence not only in the results of this year's Catastrophe Stress Test, but also in the development of this tool to assess the risk of hurricanes," the statement read.

Insurance companies have also benefited from the state going a decade since a hurricane made landfall. The last storm to hit Florida, Hurricane Wilma, came ashore Oct. 24, 2005.

The test also determined that the 67 Florida-based insurance companies reviewed have "more than the minimum capital and surplus amounts required by law following any of the three storm event scenarios they were given," a release from the state agency said.

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