Beacon Council Spearheads Legislative Initiative Establishing International Insurance Center.

MIAMI -- The Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County's official economic development partnership, is pleased to announce the signing of the International Insurance Center Bill by Governor Jeb Bush. This legislation will allow for the sale and service in the State of Florida of life insurance and annuities issued by non-U.S. insurance companies to non-U.S. residents and will facilitate the establishment by non-U.S. insurance companies of operations in Florida to service this business. The legislation, which The Beacon Council has been pursuing as a key legislative priority for the past four years, will go into effect on July 1, 2005.

Gov. Bush signed the bill in Miami on May 27, 2005, with some of the business and political leaders that made the legislation possible in attendance. Among those attending the official signing were State senators Rudy Garcia and Gwen Margolis; State Representative Marcelo Llorente; Coral Gables Mayor Don Slesnick; Bowman Brown, Chairman of Financial Services Industry Practice, Shutts & Bowen LLP; Ken Sellers, Group Vice President for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida; Michael Carricarte, CEO of AMEDEX Insurance Group; and Dana Fernety, Vice President of the Beacon Council.

"The Beacon Council helps facilitate job creation not only through the recruitment and expansion of individual companies, but also through industry development," said Ben Mollere, Chair of The Beacon Council. "This legislation will greatly assist the financial services industry by sustaining future growth and job creation."

Senators Garcia and Margolis, and Representative Llorente, were instrumental in introducing and moving this year's bill in the Senate (SB 1508) and the House of Representatives (HB 105), respectively.

In 2001, the Beacon Council's Financial Services Taskforce acted upon a recommendation by Bowman Brown, Taskforce Chair, to pursue this legislation.

"The substantial offshore insurance market, which involves the issuance of insurance products by offshore insurers to non-U.S. residents, has not been tapped due to restrictive regulations," said Brown. "The potential economic impact of changing the regulations could reach $2.7 billion annually, spurring growth in Miami-Dade and Florida's financial services industry."

In addition to The Beacon Council, entities that have passed resolutions supporting this legislation are the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce (GMCC), Florida International Banking Association (FIBA), The Broward Alliance, the Miami-Dade Coalition of Chambers, and the City of Coral Gables. Jack Lowell, former chair of the GMCC and a member of the group that worked on this legislation, was also very instrumental in the drafting process.

"For the next steps in this process, The Beacon Council will implement an aggressive, comprehensive marketing campaign to promote the benefits of this legislation to appropriate companies, inform site selection consultants across the country, and also identify local companies, through the Beacon Council's Local Business Local Jobs program, that can benefit from it," said Frank Nero, President and CEO of The Beacon Council. "We want to thank everyone who made the passage of this important bill possible. This legislation represents another major business asset for Miami-Dade County and the State of Florida."

The signing of this legislation allows for Miami-Dade County to benefit from the lucrative market for U.S. insurance services sales to non-U.S. residents. According to an October 2002 U.S. Department of Commerce survey of current business, $8.6 billion in insurance premiums were collected from non-U.S. residents in 2001.

The Beacon Council, in analyzing the impact of legislative change on Miami-Dade County, estimates that for each $1 million of premiums allocated to administrative expenses, 41.4 jobs are created with an average annual wage of $45,000 (27 percent higher than Florida's average).

The sale of one million family policies (at an average price per policy of $3,388) creates approximately 50,000 jobs. Sales of those policies would be targeted to the approximately three million non-resident visitors that come to Miami-Dade County annually (the 33 percent of estimated insurance sales is based upon the market percentage of visitors conducting banking activity as determined by the banking industry).

Additionally, every dollar of income created by those selling or servicing insurance policies will generate $2.25 in income through insurance and associated businesses. Each insurance job has a multiplier effect creating 2.6 total jobs. The total economic impact of the sales of one million family policies is estimated to be up to $2.7 billion annually when the administrative work is conducted in Florida.

About the Beacon Council

The Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County's official economic development partnership, is a not-for-profit, public-private organization that focuses on job creation and economic growth by coordinating community-wide programs; promoting minority business and urban economic revitalization; providing assistance to local businesses in their expansion efforts; and marketing Greater Miami throughout the world.