The ever-evolving landscape of Centauri and our industry.  

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Before we close the chapter on 2021 and push further into 2022, I would like to take the opportunity to look back at a year that was vastly different from what anyone would have imagined. While parts of it were difficult, I am amazed at the resilient nature of our Centauri Team, agent partners, reinsurance partners, and our Industry as a whole.   

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Centauri began the year focused on rate adequacy throughout all our programs as we faced increasing pressure on our business from both loss trends and reinsurance renewals. We completed, filed and implemented 23 rate filings during the tail end of 2020 and throughout 2021. During this time, the primary market was hardening, capacity was shrinking, and some carriers were non-renewing or exiting the market all together. Due to  these challenges and because Centauri - took measures to move towards rate adequacy, we saw an opportunity with Gulfstream Property and Casualty Company and Geovera/Coastal Select Insurance Company to acquire their respective residential portfolios in the states of Alabama, Louisiana, and South Carolina during the first quarter of 2021. The combination of those two portfolios totaled almost $40M of in-force premium and Centauri moved to offer coverage for the policies as they were being non-renewed. Unfortunately, the Gulfstream liquidation prevented us from realizing the full benefits of that portfolio, but we were happy with the overall results including making offers of coverage to 100% of those customers who had policies canceling two days prior to Hurricane Ida’s landfall.

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On August 1, 2021, we began to transition our claims operations away from our legacy TPA vendor to our new in-house claims department with the assistance of our new ownership, Applied Underwriters in Omaha, Nebraska. Twenty-eight days later, Hurricane Ida made landfall and our team handled 6,600 claims, more than Centauri had ever seen in one event seamlessly and efficiently. Our claims teams in Sarasota, coupled with our field adjusting partners, IMS, stayed resilient throughout. While there were a few lessons learned, we are proud of our performance, appreciate all the great feedback from our customers and partners, and look forward to continuing to serve our insureds in the coming years as we grow. Unfortunately, some carriers in Louisiana did not perform as well. Three entered supervision then liquidation, and others non-renewed portfolios or halted writing new business altogether. Our commitment remains strong in all the markets we serve and will continue to deploy capacity where we believe we can best serve.   

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While many of our folks were focused on claims, another Centauri affiliate, RivTech, worked tirelessly to implement a new state of the art quoting, binding, and policy administration platform to launch across all our states. On February 28, 2022, the first big step in that goal was realized when we rolled out new business in Florida. We continue to work on the platform and  excited to launch this new technology for all our partners and customers as we roll out new states and programs throughout the year.

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While 2021 was a tough year for Centauri and the entire industry, we see a light at the end of the tunnel and that is elevating our company to new levels in 2022. Centauri is steadfast in our beliefs and well positioned with our strategy, team and with the partnerships we continue to forge and develop. We are excited about Centauri, not only for all that we have accomplished to date, but for all that we are poised to accomplish in 2022 and beyond.