Life & Health · Chapter 20 · Definitions
Certificate of Authority
Definition
The license that allows an insurance company to transact business within a state — in Florida, issued by the Office of Insurance Regulation. An insurer must obtain a certificate from each state where it wishes to transact insurance. Until granted, the insurer is unauthorized and subject to penalties and fines for transacting — and any person who transacts insurance in Florida on behalf of an insurer without a certificate is similarly subject to penalties and fines.
In plain English
The company's business license — one per state, no certificate, no selling. And the agent who helps an uncertificated insurer sell shares the punishment.
Exam tip
Issued by the OIR (companies), never the DFS (which licenses people). It's the dividing line between admitted and nonadmitted.
Easy to confuse with
These are what this term gets tested against — if you can't tell them apart cold, drill the contrast.
Related terms