Florida Liquidates American Keystone Insurance Company

NU Online News Service, Oct.13, 10:22 a.m. EDT

Florida's insurance regulator announced that rehabilitation efforts at the American Keystone Insurance Company have failed and he is liquidating the home insurer to protect policyholders.

Commissioner Kevin McCarty said yesterday the Leon County 2nd Circuit Court in Tallahassee granted the Department of Financial Services' petition Friday for an order appointing the department as receiver for the purposes of liquidating the insurer.

Mr. McCarty last week sent a letter to the department stating that one or more grounds existed to initiate liquidation proceedings. As of June 30, American Keystone had 7,618 personal and commercial residential policies in force. It offered life and auto coverage as well as home insurance.

Since last November, the Office of Insurance Regulation said it has been closely monitoring American Keystone and last month, American Keystone submitted its August financial statement indicating the company was in an impaired state due to insufficient funds to pay private reinsurers and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.

"We worked with the company to resolve the outstanding issues; however, when it became evident the issues could not be remedied, I had to take action to protect their policyholders."

The liquidation announcement noted that the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) exists as a safety net for policyholders with claims expected to be paid by an insolvent insurance company.

American Keystone policyholders with outstanding claims were advised to contact the guaranty fund at 1-866-928-4310 and direct questions about billing or policy questions to American Keystone's customer service department at 1-877-350-9777.