Ironshore Approved to Offer So. Carolina Coastal Coverage

Bermuda-based Ironshore Insurance Ltd. has been approved to provide property and catastrophe insurance on an excess and surplus basis for risks located in the State of South Carolina. Ironshore will provide commercial property and condominium coverages to “coastal exposed” businesses statewide.

Scott H. Richardson, the State’s insurance director, said Ironshore’s admission creates “a win-win relationship with insurance companies to provide much needed disaster protection for our commercial risks by creating an environment open to new capacity.”

He indicated he was “happyy to approve Ironshore for South Carolina risks,” particularly in view of the “coastal insurance issues facing South Carolina citizens.”

Ironshore, with a $1 billion initial capitalization, is the latest start-up guided by Robert Clements, who has made a second career after leaving his top-level post at MarshMac, of founding successful start-ups. He participated in both ACE and XL, and more recently in Mid-Ocean Ltd. and Arch Capital Group. The Company specializes in coastal commercial coverage (See IJ web site Jan. 8), an area where many insurers fear to tread.

Ironshore’s CEO Robert V. Deutsch, praised the “speed and flexibility demonstrated by the South Carolina Insurance Department in moving this approval forward.” He added that “we are hopeful that other States will quickly approve our applications for surplus lines eligibility.”