SFO Jimmy's Patronis' Seal

Vol. 13, No. 1 - January 2024

Welcome

It's been the honor of a lifetime to serve alongside the amazing men and women of DFS as your CFO and State Fire Marshal. These fantastic public servants have worked throughout the year to make the lives of Floridians better in 2023. This year brought some unique challenges, but despite all of the trials, our DFS team leaned forward to aid Floridians following storms and support our first responders as they worked to serve our communities. From our teams who responded to Hurricane Ian, Nicole, and Idalia recovery efforts, to our sworn law enforcement officials who are cracking down on insurance fraud that impacts all of our rates, our agency has never been stronger. We’ve got dedicated consumer services employees who are fielding calls each day to hold insurers accountable to policyholders, we’ve got teams of professionals who are returning hundreds of millions of dollars in unclaimed property back to their rightful owners, and we’ve got folks that are managing billions of dollars in taxpayer money to ensure we’re being fiscally accountable and getting the best return on state investments. I want to give a huge thank you to team DFS and the thousands of public servants across the state who support Floridians each day and I look forward to more great accomplishments in 2024.

Sincerely,

 JimmySig

Jimmy Patronis
Chief Financial Officer

Florida Department of Financial Services seal

News You Can Use

In The Know

Title Agencies: The 2024 Title Administrative Surcharge is Due January 30, 2024 Subsection 624.501(27)(e)2, F.S., requires any title insurance agency licensed in Florida on January 1 of each year to remit an administrative surcharge of $200 to the Florida Department of Financial Services...Read more

Education Central

Suitability in Annuities Required Training The Florida Legislature made additions to s. 627.4554, F.S., Suitability in Annuity Transactions, this past session, which impacts agents who solicit annuity contacts. The changes were effective January 1, 2024, and this article will help agents and carriers understand how to comply with the new requirements...Read more

Enforcement Actions

The enforcement actions included in this list reflect enforcement actions taken in August through November, 2023. Some of the following enforcement actions were resolved through a settlement process resulting in an order for discipline. Notification of enforcement actions is in the public interest. Please check with the Department before making a decision based upon this listing as information may have changed/been updated. This listing does not reflect pending appeals or requests for hearings. The license or registration status may have changed since the filing of these orders. We suggest that searching the Licensee Search page or make a public records request to verify the current status of any license or registration.ke a public records request to verify the current status of any license or registration...Read more

Compliance Corner

Bail Bond Agent and Agency Requirements Several changes were made to bail bond agent and agency requirements under HB-487: Bail bond agencies are now required to obtain a license prior to transacting bail bond business in Florida...Read more

Case Notes

Case: The Department opened an investigation on a general lines agent after receiving a referral from another state's insurance department. The licensee failed to disclose the revocation of his license issued by another state on his Florida license application...Read more