Alabama Insurers Must Register or Face Fine
Hundreds of property/casualty insurance companies have not registered with Alabama regulators as required, prompting the state insurance department to issue a warning and extend the registration deadline to March 31.
The department is warning property/casualty insurers that they must all register by March 31 in order to comply with a new law requiring homeowners insurers to begin reporting certain data on homeowners policies including wind and hail losses to the state or face a $2,500 fine. In a recent bulletin, regulators noted that “hundreds of companies” have not complied with the registration requirement.
Regulators are also reminding the industry that a new law requiring homeowners insurers to provide policyholders with a checklist of coverages applies to surplus lines insurers with homeowners customers as well as to standard market insurers.
The law is directed at insurers admitted to do business in the state.
However, in a recent bulletin, Alabama insurance officials announced that based on the legislative intent of the law, surplus lines insurers must also provide a checklist to their customers buying one of these home policies. Surplus lines insurers have until July 1 to comply with the new regulations.