Citizens to Free Itself of Some Condo Policies

The governing board of state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has approved another “depopulation” plan to move thousands of its coastal hurricane policies to a private insurance company.

The board voted Monday to allow the Florida-based Weston Insurance Company to assume wind-only policies from Citizens, including policies for condominiums in coastal areas. Citizens’ is Florida’s largest property insurer with nearly 1.3 million policyholders as of Jan. 31. The agreement was approved by the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation last week.

Weston agreed to keep the policies for at least three years and will not exceed the 10 percent annual rate cap that now exists for policyholders, barring any legislative changes this spring.

Citizens’ officials said the agreement could result in reducing its exposure in coastal accounts by $30 billion.