BILL TO EASE INTERNATIONAL SALES

The Legislature is considering a bill that could make the state a center for international insurance, much as it already is for international banking.

The House Insurance Committee unanimously passed the measure Feb. 22. The Senate banking and insurance panel was slated to take it up in March.

The bill would ease the rules to sell offshore insurance products from Florida to non-U.S. residents. Today, foreign companies sell those products to non-U.S. residents from places outside Florida, such as Bermuda or the Cayman Islands.

The companies don’t operate in Florida, because set-up requirements are too cumbersome for the limited range of offshore products they could sell, proponents of the bill told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

To set up in Florida, the foreign insurer would have to show financial statements; a rating by an insurance rating agency; be licensed elsewhere for at least three years and maintain a $15 million surplus; among other requirements.