Hurricane insurance will become more available in Hawaii with the arrival of a new insurer.

Hawaii Insurance Commissioner J.P. Schmidt announced Thursday a partnership between Argo Group US and First Insurance Co. of Hawaii that will offer hurricane insurance to homeowners and holders of dwelling fire policies.

First Insurance will transfer approximately 13,000 hurricane endorsements it writes in support of its homeowners and dwelling fire lines of businesses starting July 1. Argo will then issue new hurricane policies for those customers under the same basic terms and rates as First Insurance. First Insurance will continue to write the primary homeowners insurance.

The transfer of some of the First Insurance policies will continue over the next 12 months in a gradual process, Schmidt told PBN. Once that transfer ends, Argo will continue to provide coverage and seek new customers, including those who do not have policies with First Insurance.

"This will allow First Insurance to offer additional hurricane capacity to its commercial customers while continuing to make the coverage available to its personal line customers through this partnership with Argo," Schmidt said in a statement. "The end result will be a net gain of hurricane insurance capacity in the state of Hawaii."

Schmidt said having more companies such as Argo offering hurricane insurance will bring the state more reserves to cover claims in the event of a hurricane.

"We've had a limited amount of companies and have been able to bring in a few more over the years," Schmidt said. "Having Argo will be a big benefit for Hawaii. There aren't many insurers offering coverage. Each company can only take on so much risk because they have to have the reserves to cover it."

Argo Group US is a subsidiary of Argo Group International Holdings, based in Bermuda.

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