Insurance firms take on 200,000 new policies

GULF COAST — Several local insurance firms stand to benefit from the most recent divestiture of policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, according to a release, approved moving up to 279,357 personal residential and 1,500 commercial residential policies, which cover apartments and other multifamily properties, to a total of seven companies. Four are based on the Gulf Coast. Those firms include:

• Anchor Property & Casualty Insurance Co. of Bradenton, which will take on up to 40,000 personal residential policies;
• Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Co. of Tampa, which will receive up to 50,000 personal residential policies and up to 500 commercial residential policies;
• Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co. of Tampa, which will take on up to 51,666 personal residential policies;
• United Property & Casualty Insurance Co. of St. Petersburg, which will take on up to 55,000 personal residential policies and up to 1,000 commercial residential policies.

The other three companies approved to take over policies are Cypress Property & Casualty Insurance Co. of Jacksonville; Olympus Insurance Co. of Columbia, S.C.; and Safepoint Insurance Co. of Sunrise.

So far this year 128,133 policies have been removed from Citizens, according to insurance officials.