Florida Citizens Awards Commercial Clearinghouse Management to Bridge Specialty

Despite months of lobbying and significant political campaign contributions by Ryan Turner Specialty brokerage, the winning bid for management of part of a Florida Citizens Property Insurance commercial clearinghouse has been awarded to another brokerage. At a meeting Tuesday, Citizens officials announced that the contract for the controversial clearinghouse manager for commercial policy depopulation was awarded to Bridge Specialty Wholesale, a division of the Brown & Brown, the national brokerage headquartered in Daytona Beach. The management contract is for creation and management of a system that will let agents find surplus lines insurers that will write commercial policies now held by Citizens. “If a contract cannot be reached with Bridge Specialty Wholesale, Inc., or if the contract is terminated, Citizens reserves the right to enter into a contract with the next-ranked eligible Vendor, Risk Market Infrastructure,” reads the Citizens’ notice of intent to award. The dollar amount of the winning bid has not yet been disclosed as details are still being negotiated, Citizens’ communications director said Wednesday. And a second contract, for a non-surplus commercial policies clearinghouse, has yet to be awarded. Citizens announced in July that it had received “less than two responsive replies” for management of the non-surplus clearinghouse, and negotiations continue. The commercial clearinghouse idea has been controversial from the start, with some insurance agents and brokers arguing that the plan would be an unnecessary expense for Citizens. Yes, they have said, a Citizens residential policy clearinghouse, designed to make it easier for agents to move policyholders to primary market carriers and reduce the state-created insurers’ exposure, has been useful in most cases. But in the last 12 months, commercial and many residential policies have mostly taken care of themselves as the Florida market has improved dramatically following 2022-2023 legislation that stemmed claims litigation, and takeouts of Citizens’ policies have continued, several brokers and agents told Insurance Journal. “The free market is now depopulating on its own and providing competitive solutions,” one agent said. As of the end of June, Citizens held 4,562 commercial policies, for 10,678 buildings and a total insured value of $14 billion. Overall, the number of Citizens’ policies has fallen sharply, from a high of 1.4 million in 2023 to 278,196 in July, Citizens data show. Some in the Florida insurance industry early this year pointed out that Chicago-based Ryan Turner, part of a national brokerage and distribution company, had lobbied for the legislation that required Citizens to establish the commercial clearinghouse, perhaps in an effort to position Ryan as the manager of the system. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in June signed Senate Bill 1028, sponsored by state Sen. Joe Gruters, after the state’s insurance commissioner won some revision to the bill. Ryan Turner and Daytona Beach-based Bridge Specialty representatives could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday morning. Read More on the Clearinghouse Plan: Florida’s Commercial Clearinghouse Bill Stirring Up Concerns for Brokers, Regulators Brown & Brown Related: EVP and Retail Head Steps Down With $2.5M Severance Pay Topics Florida Commercial Lines Excess Surplus