The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) announced that for its third year of catastrophe stress tests, all participants passed, revealing that the property insurance market can withstand significant losses in the event of a disaster.
All of Florida’s 112 insurance companies participated in the test, 67 of which are local companies based in the state itself.
The Annual Reinsurance Data Call tested insurers for their capability to pay policyholder claims should a one-in-one hundred year storm occur.
For the stress test, three of Florida’s most devastating storm periods were used to simulate disaster conditions for the insurers to work with. The storms scenarios used were the 1947 Category 4 Fort Lauderdale hurricane, the 1921 140 mph Tampa hurricane, and a third scenario which combined the 2004 hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne.
It is hoped that the outstanding results would improve consumer confidence in Florida’s homeowner insurers, who have the means to deal with even the most inclement of hurricane seasons.
