BancInsure Back in Business with New Owner, Targeting Non-Financial Customers

October 17, 2013

Oklahoma City-based BancInsure, a former provider of insurance to community banks that lost surplus as a result of the financial crisis, has re-entered the marketplace with a new strategy focusing on non-financial customers and with a $30 million capital investment from its new owner, Foster Jennings Inc., a New York-based financial services holding company.

The insurer’s former parent, BMSI Holdings Inc., filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April after selling BancInsure for a reported $1 to Foster Jennings in February.

Separately, BancInsure’s community bank business was acquired by AmTrust Financial Services Inc. in 2012.

The Oklahoma Insurance Department initiated administrative proceedings following BancInsure’s financial losses in 2011 and 2012 and ordered the company to improve its financial condition or it would be placed in receivership. The company said issues with regulators were resolved after Foster Jennings acquired BancInsure and made its $30 million capital investment.

BancInsure CEO Lisa Bays said all legal and administrative matters against the company have been dismissed.

The company said it will focus on the program distribution segment of the industry. Chief Operating Officer and Underwriting Head Michael Beasley said BancInsure has already been involved in the program market and seeks to provide “auto, general liability, property and surety coverages for a variety of programs – typically, accounts with between $3 million and $20 million in premiums.”

The insurer was originally chartered in 1985 by Oklahoma bank associations after the Penn Square Bank failure discouraged insurers from writing banks in the state. It sold fidelity bonds and officers’ liability insurance to community banks and other financial institutions.

Beasley, who has 22 years’ experience in the property/casualty insurance industry, said that along with its new strategic focus, the company will soon have a new name.