April 23, 2018
The Carrier is your source for trends and updates in the surplus lines market in Florida.
DATES TO REMEMBER
May 15: Updated Catastrophe Contact Information Due (Instructions Below)
June 30: Foreign Insurers First Quarter Filing Due
June 30: Alien Insurers Annual Filing Due
TRENDING PREMIUMS
The following premiums have seen the largest growth over the last year. Homeowners (HO-5) tops the list at more than 100%!
Catastrophe Contact
Yes, it’s that time of year again! Don’t forget to update your company catastrophe information in SLIP.
Once you are logged into SLIP, click the Reports tab. From the displayed drop down menu, click on File Catastrophe Data.
Answer the question “Has the information below changed?” by selecting:
If the information has NOT changed.
If it HAS changed, correct the appropriate information.
Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.
Then you’re all done!
1st Quarter Activity
ISMIE Indemnity Company NAIC #11084, was added to Florida’s eligibility list effective March 14, 2018.
Compliance Assistance
In addition to monitoring agent compliance with Florida surplus lines laws, FSLSO is also responsible for ensuring both foreign and alien insurers writing business in Florida report accurate premium to our office. Florida law requires foreign insurers to file quarterly and alien insurers to file annually.
In an effort to assist you in filing requirements, FSLSO has included various reports in SLIP you may take advantage of.
ACTIVITY SUMMARY
Use this feature to determine what you previously submitted to FSLSO.
The Activity Summary Report provides the user with the ability to view an aggregate count of the number of submissions, policies, transactions, and premium reported within a selected date range.
REPORT CARD
The report card is a snapshot of how each insurer performed each reporting period. Insurers are graded on several categories ranging from whether submissions were accepted or rejected to comparing their premium accuracy to the agent and IPC filers from the same reporting period.
Your report card can be viewed in your SLIP account.
LATE SUBMISSION DETAILS REPORT
This report works as described in its title. It provides policy details such as:
- Confirmation number,
- Policy number,
- Submitted date,
- Transaction effective date,
- Insured name, policy expiration date, and
- Premium amount for policies submitted after the filing deadline.
Batch Filing
Are you aware of the XML Batch filing process available via SLIP?
If you are doing a large volume of business in Florida, FSLSO has established a Batch filing process to help facilitate SLIP submissions.
Batch files may be submitted through a file upload in SLIP or an API (web service) submission. The standard way to automate Batch submissions is to configure your existing policy management system to export the policy data as XML so it can be uploaded manually as a single file.
To learn more about the XML Batch filing process, visit FSLSO.com.
For detailed instructions on the XML Batch filing process, please contact us at BatchFiling@fslso.com.
Policy Reconciliation
Each quarter FSLSO receives a large number of insurer policy filings that cannot be systematically reconciled with agent policy filings due to variances in required data fields. The data fields that allow the systematic reconciliation of insurer and agent filings are Effective Date and Policy Number.
EFFECTIVE DATE vs. BOOKING DATE
The effective date on the declarations page is the most important date when it comes to filing policy transactions. Effective date is what FSLSO uses to verify and reconcile transactions.
It is extremely important that you file the policy transaction using effective date (not booking date), as it appears on the policy declarations page. If you do not use the effective date, your transactions will not be reconciled.
Analysis has shown that a large percentage of unreconciled transactions are due to the submission of booking dates instead of effective dates.
POLICY NUMBER
Policy number can be a little tricky. The policy number shown on the policy declarations provided to the insured should always match the policy number submitted by both the insurer and the agent or IPC submitter.
When prefixes, suffixes, or internal codes are added, the transactions will not reconcile.
When these data fields do not match, a representative from FSLSO will contact the insurer and/or the agent to determine where the error occurred and who (insurer or agent) needs to correct the filing.
To avoid being contacted by our office, please submit policy information as it appears on the policy binder, declarations page, or other proof of insurance.
www.fslso.com
Have questions? Contact us at 800.562.4496, option 1 or email agent.services@fslso.com.
