The Florida Surplus Lines Service Office (FSLSO) is giving away free continuing education (CE) opportunities to member agents and their staffers as a means to help Florida's surplus lines community stay knowledgeable of their compliance requirements and maximize cost and time savings.

FSLSO's education program includes classroom-taught courses as well as online offerings, giving students various opportunities to learn more about Florida's surplus lines market and earn valuable education hours.

In the classroom, FSLSO is hosting a new education offering entitled “Be ECO Friendly (Effectively Compliant Office): Florida Surplus Lines Rules and Tools.” The course focuses on Florida's surplus line agent responsibilities, filing requirements, and compliance standards. This course also explores many of FSLSO's internal procedures including the Compliance Review Program and FSLSO's accounting policies in order to increase knowledge of agent responsibilities relative to compliance reviews and payment procedures.

Additionally, students will take a look at some of the various tools and resources offered by FSLSO as a means to help agents and their staff save time, energy and money while being efficient for their customers.

This course has been approved by the Department of Financial Services for three hours of intermediate property and casualty credit (Course ID 71822).

Courses in Various Locations

FSLSO will be delivering its new education course to four different locations throughout Florida, including West Palm Beach, Sarasota, Daytona Beach, and Tallahassee. Florida surplus lines agents may attend this course for free and may also bring up to two members of their agency support staff with them complimentary.

“These are times of financial prudence and we don't want training and education to go by the wayside for our agents just because there aren't affordable options,” stated FSLSO Chief Operations Officer Sean Fisher. “We encourage our agents to attend our courses and also stress to them to bring their office staff to better their knowledge of statutory compliance, as that should be an office-wide concern.”

All classes begin at 9:00 a.m. and conclude at noon. While this course is free for surplus lines agents and two members of their support staff, it also remains an affordable option for any attendee who wishes to learn more about Florida's surplus lines industry, as the cost for registration is only $60.

Learn at Home or the Office

For people who cannot make it to class, education opportunities are as close as a computer keyboard with one of FSLSO's three online education offerings. While each of these courses differ in subject matter, the main objective advocates for a compliant surplus lines workforce.

Keeping the surplus lines agent in mind, FSLSO created “Surplus Lines Insurance Rules and Regulations,” a three-hour course devoted to understanding Florida's Surplus Lines Law, as well as surplus lines agent filing procedures and common submission errors. Additionally, this course features an interactive declarations page activity and final exam to test student retention.

Understanding Florida's surplus lines industry extends beyond Florida's surplus lines agent community, and FSLSO has invested its resources into the development of two courses that are appropriate for Florida's general lines agent force as well.

“Unauthorized Insurance Entities: Knowing the Difference,” is a two-hour course designed to better educate students regarding the differences between unauthorized insurers and illegal insurance entities. This course delves into the intricacies of how specific insurance entities are regulated, how illegal insurance operations generally function, and how to protect oneself from becoming a target of these types of entities.

For the retail agents, FSLSO also provides an education course specifically geared to better familiarize them with their responsibilities and requirements when placing business with a surplus lines agent. “The Retail Role in the Surplus Lines Marketplace,” is a two-hour course that provides a retail agent perspective of how Florida's surplus lines industry operates relative to the distribution system and the different individuals that make it up.

Like its classroom education courses, Florida licensed surplus lines agents may take any of FSLSO's online continuing education courses for free. Others who may be interested in these education opportunities will incur a nominal cost for each course, which fluctuates depending on the number of hours earned per class.

Agents may learn more about both online and classroom education offerings by visiting FSLSO's education page at http://www.fslso.com/education/index.aspx.

FSLSO Serving Its Community

FSLSO was created by the Legislature as a self-regulating, not-for-profit association to protect its customers' interests by facilitating compliance and providing assistance and information regarding Florida's surplus lines insurance marketplace.

“The main focus of our education program has always been to keep our member agents and their staff knowledgeable of their surplus lines requirements so they can be compliant with Florida's Surplus Lines Law,” said FSLSO Executive Director Gary Pullen. “Training and awareness remain the building blocks for a compliant and efficient workforce. We also want our agents to understand the various resources that our office has to offer them so they can be better equipped to provide quality services and products to their customer; that is one of the key goals of our new education course.”

Ashlee Weber is the Public Information Manager at the Florida Surplus Lines Service Office. She may be reached at 800-562-4496, ext. 109, or aweber@fslso.com.

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Knowledge Is Priceless, But You Can Get your CEs for Free

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