Citizens Property Insurance ends 2008 with 18 percent gain
Feb 19, 2009
Miami Herald--February 19, 2009
The state-run Citizens Property Insurance ended 2008 with $3.1 billion in the bank, an 18 percent gain over the past year. The insurer has $7.2 billion available to pay claims, including debt issued to raise cash to pay future losses.
While the company didn’t have to contend with a major hurricane for the third year in a row, claims paid increased 15 percent because of an increase in fire, theft and water damage claims. It did pay out about $55 million in claims from Tropical Storm Fay.
Citizens’ net written premium — after reinsurance costs and premiums turned over to private insurers who took out policies — fell 37 percent to nearly $1.9 billion and net income dropped 49 percent to $789.1 million. Citizens ended the year with 1,084,237 policies, down from 1,304,949 when 2007 closed.