Florida Surplus Lines Service Office Annual Report Shows 2016 Premium Written Neared $5 Billion
Aug 9, 2017
The Florida Surplus Line Service Office (“FSLSO”) released its 2016 Annual Report during its Third Quarter Board Meeting on August 8, 2017, in which was documented that surplus lines premium written in Florida continued to grow, nearing almost $5 billion in 2016.
The report includes information on the FSLSO’s 2016 achievements, growth, compliance and innovation.
“Out of nearly $5 billion in premium in 2016, 99 percent of agent premium was reported accurately, and 91 percent of agent policy transactions were submitted timely,” said 2016 FSLSO Chairman Keith Driggers.
“Our Compliance Review and Premium Reconciliation programs discovered over $85 million in unfiled premium in Florida, resulting in more than $2 million in taxes, services fees, assessments and penalties recovered,” Executive Director Gary Pullen added.
To view the 2016 Annual Report, click here.
Mr. Pullen’s overview in the Report is reprinted in part below:
“This year our Surplus Lines Information Portal (SLIP) received several exciting enhancements, many of which were brought to us as a result of these visits with our members . . .”
” . . . we also developed an interactive, online version of our Agent Procedures Manual. Now a highly interactive, web-based version complete with video tutorials and digital case-studies, the Manual allows our users to access the most important compliance information in a more friendly way. It is also now fully mobile responsive, so users are no longer constrained to a desktop or paper version . . . our most widely used product to date is our Tax Estimator.”
“In 2016, we released an updated version of our Estimator Mobile App featuring more modern, up-to-date functionality. Then we also created an exciting Tax Estimator Web Service which now allows business-to-business integration of our Tax Estimator.”
“Additional achievements for 2016 included a relaunch of our 60 Hour Surplus Lines Pre-Licensing Course from our Education department. FSLSO is currently the only provider in the state offering this online course. This year we performed a significant rewrite of the content as well as redeveloped the technology. We upgraded the platform so the course is now also mobile responsive and contains more dynamic and interactive e-learning modules.”
“Legislatively, we saw victory when the Florida House of Representatives passed a bill revising the quarterly affidavit filing requirements. The bill amended Florida Statute 626.931, relieving surplus lines agents who have not transacted business during a reporting timeframe from having to file a quarterly affidavit. While the affidavit requirement still exists for surplus lines agents who have transacted business during the reporting timeframe, we were pleased to see one portion of this antiquated requirement removed. This is a positive step in the right direction for modernizing the surplus lines regulatory framework.”
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