Texas Surplus Lines Premium Exceeded $4 Billion in 2012

Premium on policies reported to the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas in 2012 totaled more than $4 billion, a record volume, SLSOT reported. The amount is an increase of $767 million over 2011, a rise of nearly 24 percent.

Premium insuring non-Texas exposures on multi-state policies where Texas was the “home state” was $311 million. Under the federal Nonadmitted & Reinsurance Reform Act, the “home state” may tax premium on exposures located in other states on a multi-state surplus lines transaction. Texas has elected to follow that approach.

The stamping office reported that surplus lines agents submitted 824,798 filings in 2012, a decrease of 1.2 percent from the prior year. Since large increases in both premium and filings typically accompany a true “hard” insurance cycle, the market did not appear to meet that description in 2012, SLSOT noted.