Property/Casualty State Specialists

The late Speaker of the House of Representatives “Tip” O’Neill once said, “All politics is local.” To paraphrase, all insurance is local. This is why a large number of state specialists thrive in the property and casualty insurance marketplace. As the Feb. 12, 2007 issue of Insurance Journal featured Super Regional P/C Insurers™, this issue focuses on State Specialists.
To be categorized as a State Specialist, a carrier must be an individual, active company reporting data to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners using the property and casualty annual statement format at Dec. 31, 2006. In addition, the carrier must write at least $1 million in direct written premium at Dec. 31, 2006, with 90 percent or more in one state and cannot be a surplus lines company, risk retention group or reinsurance company.

In total, 858 companies were categorized as State Specialists. This is nearly one-third of the more than 2,700 companies reporting year-end 2006 data. This group wrote approximately 15 percent of the comparable direct written premium.

Space limitations precluded an enumeration of each of the 858 State Specialists. Accordingly, the accompanying ranking by 2006 direct written premium has been dedicated to those State Specialists not affiliated with a group. A full list is available by contacting jpetrelli@demotech.com.

Joseph L. Petrelli is the president and founder of Demotech Inc. (www.demotech.com), a Columbus, Ohio-based financial analysis and actuarial services company. Demotech provides services to regional insurance companies, title underwriters and specialty insurance markets. Financial Stability Ratings® of A or better are accepted by the secondary mortgage marketplace, virtually all mortgage lenders and an increasing number of umbrella insurance markets. Neither the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Missouri, nor Highline Data endorses any analysis or conclusion based upon the use of its data.