Florida Citizens Property Insurance CEO Barry Gilway Reviews Non-Catastrophe Loss Experience Issues Before the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee
Oct 8, 2013
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (“Citizens”) President and CEO Barry Gilway gave a presentation on non-catastrophe loss experience and insurance coverage issues before the Florida House of Representatives’ Insurance and Banking Subcommittee (“Subcommittee”) today, October 8, 2013.
Click here and go to Page 70 to view Mr. Gilway’s presentation.
Approximately 70,000 non-catastrophe claims were filed in 2012, he explained, while 67,872 of those were non-sinkhole claims. Of the claims filed, 43.26 percent were water claims. Water damage claims are difficult to mediate and thus are litigated, he added.
Mr. Gilway also said that the total loss ratio for Citizens’ non-catastrophe claims in 2012 was 54.20 percent. In 2011, Citizens’ total loss ratio was 77.50 percent, with total non-catastrophe loss ratios at their highest in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. He explained that Citizens is developing a “managed repair pilot program” and will partner with pre-certified contractors, appraisers and other vendors to repair Citizens-related claims in an effort to reduce loss ratios in those areas.
Earlier in the meeting, the Subcommittee heard presentations from the Florida Bankers Association, the Florida Realtors Association and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation on the status of mortgage lending in Florida. Topics included the health of the mortgage lending industry, availability of financing and the overall impact on the real estate market of those factors.
A representative of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation reviewed the “Hardest Hit Fund Principal Reduction Program,” which provides up to $50,000 to eligible “underwater” homeowners who owe more on their mortgage than the house is worth. The program offers a zero-percent deferred-payment loan that can be forgiven over a five-year period. ‘
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