IBA – January 25, 2021 – Fortegra Financial Corporation (Fortegra), a specialty insurer and subsidiary of Tiptree Inc., recently announced the formation of a new excess and surplus (E&S) lines subsidiary, called Fortegra Specialty Insurance Company.

The launch reflects Fortegra’s ongoing strategy of diversifying beyond the company’s original focus of credit protection and warranty solutions. This strategy of expanding into specialty commercial and traditional property and casualty (P&C) program business has been in the works for almost 20 years, ever since Richard (Rick) Kahlbaugh (pictured) took the helm as Fortegra’s president and CEO in 2003.

Now a strong and certified player in specialty underwriting, it was the “natural” next step for Fortegra to form or acquire an E&S company in order to give its agents access to both admitted and non-admitted programs, the CEO explained. The firm began looking into this option in 2018, decided to go ahead with the plan to create an E&S company in 2019, and executed the strategy by launching Fortegra Specialty Insurance Company on September 30, 2020.