Kingsway enters agreement with The Robert Plan (December 01, 2005)

Kingsway Financial Services Inc. (TSX:KFS) has entered into a program management agreement with The Robert Plan Corporation (‘RPC’) to provide additional underwriting capacity to assume the policies serviced by RPC.

The agreement is effective for new and renewal business on and after January 1, 2006.

“This transaction is consistent with our strategy of growing our market-share in the minimum limits non-standard automobile business in the United States,” Bill Star, president and CEO of Kingsway Financial Services Inc., says. “The Robert Plan is a dominant service provider for assigned risks in the U.S. automobile insurance market.”

RPC provides underwriting and claims administration services to insurance companies in the United States who seek to transfer their assigned risk obligations to a specialist for a fee. In certain US states, drivers who cannot obtain insurance in the voluntary market are placed in an assigned risk plan. These insureds are then proportionately assigned to all automobile insurers who do business in that given state.

RPC has been in operation since the early ’50s. Since the ’80s, it has specialized in the underwriting and servicing of assigned risks for personal and commercial automobile policies.

For the first nine months of 2005, RPC generated gross premiums written of approximately U.S.$185 million and for the year-ended Dec. 31, 2004, generated gross premiums written of approximately U.S.$250 million.

Kingsway Financial Services Inc. is the largest truck insurer in North America and the seventh largest non-standard automobile insurer in North America, according to A.M. Best.