Citizens secures $2.82 billion in reinsurance for 2026 hurricane season

Citizens  secured $2.82 billion in reinsurance for the 2026 hurricane season, providing enough claims-paying capacity to withstand a 1-in-360-year hurricane without imposing assessments on Florida insurance consumers.

The state’s insurer of last resort said its reinsurance package includes $1.29 billion in new coverage and $1.53 billion in existing coverage. Combined with Citizens’ $5.34 billion surplus and $1.44 billion from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, the carrier has at least $9.6 billion in claims-paying ability for the 2026 season.

Citizens spent $276 million on reinsurance, just below the $280 million limit approved by its Board of Governors in May.

According to CFO Jennifer Montero, both the catastrophe bond and traditional reinsurance markets have ample capacity due to increased capital, improved earnings, and renewed confidence in Florida’s property market.

Citizens’ policy count has declined sharply from 1.4 million in late 2023 to approximately 274,000 policies today, representing about 2% of Florida’s residential property insurance market. The company said reinsurance rates have fallen nearly 30% over the past year.

The 2026 reinsurance program is expected to protect 77% of Citizens’ surplus following a 1-in-100-year storm.

“It seems that we are really at an all-time low for probable maximum loss for Citizens policy insurance. This is great news and attributable to the reforms and our small PIF (policies in force) count.” – President, CEO, and Executive Director Tim Cerio.