Taking the concept of being “in the market” to heart, John B. Collins Associates, a reinsurance intermediary serving clients nationwide, opened a new office in Tampa last month.

Besides Florida clients and outside companies doing business in Florida, the new Gulf Coast office will work with companies that underwrite business in Alabama, Mississippi, and portions of Texas from the new location.

Jeff LeGare, Collins' senior vice president and manager of the Tampa office, explained, “After working with clients who write insurance in Florida – companies based in Florida, as well as insurers based elsewhere – we decided it's important to be in the market, close to the issues and events that may affect our clients, and knowing firsthand what is happening in the Florida market.”

President and CEO Patrick Denzer reinforced the theme in a recent company release, saying, “Several of our specialties – including property catastrophe reinsurance, professional liability, and workers' compensation – are especially important to clients in this region. Our new local presence will help to leverage our expertise in a growing and dynamic marketplace.”

The new office is located on West Shore Blvd. in Tampa (813-639-7608). Collins, established in 1987, is headquartered in Minneapolis and has offices across the U.S. as well as in London and Bermuda. It reports a 22 percent compound annual growth rate over the past 10 years and estimates that, based on reinsurance revenues, it ranks as the sixth-largest U.S. reinsurance intermediary.

Citing recent rate increases for property catastrophe business in Florida, as well as new requirements for certain lines of business being written by companies throughout the state, LeGare said Collins works with clients to help them deal with these trends. It also assists them in obtaining reinsurance that can enable them to continue underwriting business and make coverage available to policyholders here.

The privately-held company provides reinsurance brokerage services, risk-transfer advice and analytical services to insurers, reinsurers, managing general agents, and others. These services include catastrophe modeling, actuarial analysis, dynamic reinsurance modeling, and financial consulting.

“Two key components of the value-added services that we provide to our clients are in the area of catastrophe modeling and other analytical services that help insurers evaluate the risk exposure associated with specific lines of business. In providing these services to our clients, we are able to help them determine how much business they may want to take on in various lines of business throughout the state,” LeGare said.

More information can be found on the company's web site, HYPERLINK “www.jbcollins.com” www.jbcollins.com.

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Reinsurance Intermediary Collins Opens Gulf Coast Office

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