Reinsurers put on notice as Dorian approaches Florida

Tropical Storm Dorian is set to have a heavier impact on reinsurers than primary Florida insurers, according to analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW).

Given the fairly low primary insurer retentions in Florida, “any sizable hurricane event and/or one that impacts a meaningful portion of Florida's east coast would likely impact reinsurers more than primary Florida insurers,” said KBW.

Tropical Storm Dorian is expected to strengthen into a hurricane and National Hurricane Centre projections suggest it could make landfall on the Florida coastline on Monday September 2.

The storm is expected to hit land east of Orlando and south of Jacksonville, with Daytona Beach the largest city in the affected area.

KBW figures revealed insurers' catastrophe-exposed lines in Florida by company market share and ‘cat exposed direct written premiums as a percentage of total net written premiums’.

Berkshire Hathaway has 8 percent of market share and 3.2 percent of cat exposed DWP as a percentage of NWP; Progressive has 7.2 percent and 5.2 percent respectively; Universal Insurance Holdings has 4.3 percent and 122.2 percent respectively; Allstate Corp has 3.5 percent and 2.4 percent; AIG with 3.2 percent and 2.5 percent; Chubb with 2.8 percent and 2.2 percent; UIHC Insurance with 32.8 percent and 89.2 percent; Assurant with 2.3 percent and 17.1 percent; Heritage Insurance with 2.1 percent and 113 percent; FEDNAT with 2 percent and 131.3 percent; and HCI Group with 1.4 percent and 164.3 percent.