St. Pete home insurer, behind $30M in capital, starts selling policies

Patriot Select Property and Casualty Insurance Co. has begun selling homeowner insurance policies through Florida independent agents.

The just formed St. Petersburg insurer, which is in the process of assuming policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., says in a statement that it is entering the market with both a industry high rating and the funds necessary to deal with claims from major storms.

According to the company, it has received an A for Financial Stability Rating from Demotech, a leading national property insurance rating agency. (The A rating appears on the Ohio-based company’s website.)

Patriot Select, in the statement, calls the rating “a key affirmation of the company’s sound capitalization, disciplined risk, and long-term viability.”

In addition to the outside company’s assessment, Patriot says it has as approximately $30 million in new capital and sufficient reinsurance to weather multiple hurricanes.

Patriot Select won approval to begin operating in the state April 14 from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

The company’s approval is part of an effort by OIR to increase the number of property and casualty companies operating in the state with goal of bringing stability to what has long been tenuous insurance marketplace in the state.

It is also meant to bring relief to state-run Citizens, which was created as insurer of last resort but for the past few years had seen the number of its policies skyrocket as property owners were left little choice.

OIR’s work coupled with legislative reforms have led to the number of policies Citizen has in force to drop considerably. As of April 30, Citizens had 809,904 policies. That’s down 31.8% from 1.18 million policies April 30, 2024 and down 36.3% from 1.27 million policies April 30, 2023.