AM Best focuses on Florida worries

The impact of Hurricane Ian is being watched carefully by AM Best, due to long-term concerns the rating agency has over the condition of the insurance market in Florida—a state that has seen multiple insolvencies as well as insurers withdrawing from it entirely.

“We’ve been concerned about the Florida market in terms of reinsurance and property catastrophe for some time now,” Robert Raber, director at AM Best, told Intelligent Insurer. “We’re going to see how this particular event impacts renewal opportunities for the carriers there, and whether it’s going to impact pricing, or capacity.

“The Florida market has been in the news for the past 12 to 18 months regardless and now we have Hurricane Ian, that took a track we’ve almost been waiting for, across the state from the Gulf to the Atlantic coast, impacting not just Florida but also the Carolinas,” Raber said.