Meryl Golden, president and CEO of property and casualty (P&C) insurance holding company Kingstone Companies, Inc., announced in a letter to shareholders that it will enter the California market in the second quarter of 2026.
The expansion marks the first phase of the company’s broader geographic diversification strategy and follows a record-breaking fiscal 2025 with net profit of $40.8 million and a combined ratio of 75%.
Entering California is a cornerstone of Kingston’s five-year growth plan, which aims to achieve $500 million in written premiums by the end of 2029.
According to Golden, California was identified as the company’s primary expansion target because of its size, a premium of more than $15 billion, nearly twice the size of New York, and the large capacity gap left by licensed operators.
“California’s admitted insurers continue to face significant regulatory hurdles, including factors such as the lengthy rate approval process (the longest in the nation), restrictions on the use of catastrophe models, and limitations on incorporating reinsurance costs into pricing,” Golden explained.
Adding: “These factors have resulted in capacity shortfalls and capacity constraints at many of the largest carriers. Admitted market capacity is expected to remain constrained for several years as it takes considerable time for regulatory changes to take effect and for carriers to obtain the required capacity”.
The executive emphasized that demand for capacity is very strong as carriers retreat. This is primarily achieved by Excess & Surplus (E&S) writers, who grew 32% in 2025 and now account for 7% of the California homeowner market.
The FAIR program has also grown 55% over the past 15 months (42% CAGR). Many of California E&S’s competitors and our managing general agents and carriers in southern New York State already outperform us.
Carriers who insure on an E&S basis are subject to less regulation than licensed carriers because the insurance products are not filed with the state. This gives Kingston the flexibility to set rates that accurately reflect risk.
“E&S carriers can correctly match rates to risk, set prices to achieve target returns, and respond quickly to changing market conditions,” Golden said. “We plan to build on E&S’s presence in California. The flexibility that E&S provides us is a key reason why we believe the California opportunity is so attractive.”
Kingston’s expansion into California will be “thoughtfully structured” and “rigorously risk-controlled.” Key features include selective underwriting that will use advanced wildlife models to target areas of low to moderate exposure; and real-time monitoring.
The latest one aims to manage risk accumulation and prevent geographical over-concentration by implementing market-leading tools.
Financial security is another key feature of California’s strategy. Kingston has allocated a 30% quota share to all California businesses to reduce volatility and will expand its robust reinsurance program to cover wildfire risk.
Kingston will also manage all claims, initially using an independent adjuster to provide on-site estimates. The company will ensure fast cycle times and quality service while paying only what the contract requires.
The biggest hazard in California is non-weather water, which is the same hazard the company manages daily in New York, giving them confidence in their claims management capabilities.
Kingston’s entry into California “is on a different basis,” Golden said. “We expect California will account for less than 5% of premiums by 2026, while New York will still account for more than 95% of our business. Even at our current forecast, New York will still account for 80% of our premiums by 2029.”
The executive added: “We will scale only when we are confident that we can price and underwrite effectively and that our performance supports this. We will not pursue volume at the expense of underwriting discipline. If market conditions change or our performance does not meet expectations, given the flexibility of the E&S model, we can quickly adjust or reduce our underwriting business. Our approach is intentionally incremental and reversible.”
The conclusion: “California presents a tremendous opportunity to triple our addressable market while providing meaningful diversification benefits that will accelerate our profitable growth trajectory. We leveraged our proven strengths in pricing, claims and distribution to develop a strategy to capitalize on current market conditions and build a successful business.”
