Clear Blue Insurance Group business insurance

Overview

Clear Blue is a name most business owners first see on a declarations page, not in an ad. It is a fronting carrier: its insurance companies issue policies that specialty underwriters, mostly managing general agents (MGAs) and program administrators, design, price and sell. Reinsurers behind each program take most of the risk. Clear Blue licenses the paper, files the forms, watches the program and keeps a slice.

That model made the NAIC's CLEAR BLUE FINANCIAL GRP ranked No. 59 among U.S. business insurers by 2025 commercial lines direct premiums written, with $1.48 billion, based on NAIC market share data. That is about 0.31% of the national commercial market. It is not among the 10 largest writers of any single commercial line nationally. Its commercial book is concentrated in two lines: other liability, the NAIC line that includes general liability ($791.2 million), and commercial auto ($666.5 million). Inland marine adds $22.9 million. Across all lines, including homeowners programs, the group wrote $1.88 billion.

The group has four insurers, all domiciled in Texas:

• Clear Blue Insurance Company: the original admitted carrier.
• Clear Blue Specialty Insurance Company: a surplus lines carrier.
• Rock Ridge Insurance Company: a second admitted carrier.
• Highlander Specialty Insurance Company: a second surplus lines carrier.

Having two companies of each type lets Clear Blue put competing programs on separate paper. The company says it runs 45 programs with 30 MGA partners and more than 150 reinsurance partners, and reports $2.2 billion of gross written premium. Jerome Breslin, who led the founding team in 2015, is president and CEO. The private equity firm Pine Brook has backed the group since launch.

History

• 2015: Clear Blue Financial Holdings launches in December with backing from Pine Brook. In November it buys two shell insurers: RLI Indemnity Company from RLI's Mt. Hawley Insurance Company, renamed Clear Blue Insurance Company, and Maiden Specialty Insurance Company from Maiden Holdings, renamed Clear Blue Specialty Insurance Company. Both start with an A- (Excellent) rating from AM Best. Breslin's founding team includes executives who built Bank of America's commercial insurance unit with him.
• Late 2010s: Clear Blue adds Rock Ridge Insurance Company, an older admitted company licensed in Kansas since 2007. In 2019, Rock Ridge starts a homeowners program with Openly as MGA.
• 2020: Highlander Specialty Insurance Company is licensed as a new surplus lines carrier. AM Best assigns it an A- rating in September.
• 2022: The insurtech Vesttoo announces $1 billion of capital-markets reinsurance capacity for Clear Blue programs.
• 2023: The Vesttoo relationship collapses amid allegations that letters of credit posted as collateral were fraudulent. Clear Blue stops taking Vesttoo capacity in July. AM Best places its ratings under review on July 25 and affirms them on November 21, after Clear Blue moves its active programs to other reinsurers and raises $25 million.
• By 2026: All four insurers are domiciled in Texas, and the group has offices in Charlotte, Dallas and Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

Business insurance products

Clear Blue has no product catalog of its own. Each MGA builds the coverage forms, rates and underwriting rules within the authority Clear Blue grants. The NAIC numbers show what the U.S. book is: mostly liability and commercial auto. Clear Blue names six business verticals:

• car dealers and open lots;
• trucking and transportation;
• construction and artisan contractors;
• commercial packages;
• specialty segments;
• habitational (apartment and other residential rental risks).

Programs can be admitted, on Clear Blue Insurance or Rock Ridge, or non-admitted on Clear Blue Specialty or Highlander under excess and surplus lines rules.

One example. Tradesman Program Managers, part of Roosevelt Road Specialty, lists Clear Blue as its carrier partner. It writes general liability and excess for trade contractors that subcontract less than 25% of their work, and for larger general contractors, with a per-project aggregate capped at $10 million. The program is admitted in New York and New Jersey and non-admitted in the other states it serves. See General contractor insurance and program business: niche insurance through program administrators.

Who it insures

Clear Blue insures whoever the programs on its paper target. Today that is heavily Trucking company insurance and other commercial auto risks, contractors, Auto dealer insurance and habitational real estate, usually small and mid-sized accounts. Its flagship MGA partners include Roosevelt Road, Openly (homeowners), Precision Risk Management, Insurance Specialty Group, FW Crum, RiskTheory, One80, Platinum Specialty Underwriters (XPT) and QEO.

The appetite can change program by program. When an MGA loses its reinsurance or its contract with Clear Blue, the program usually moves to another carrier at renewal, and your policy is reissued on different paper.

How to buy

You cannot buy from Clear Blue directly, and its website is written for MGAs and reinsurers. The path runs like this:

1. Your retail agent, sometimes through a wholesale broker, sends the submission to an MGA or program administrator.
2. The MGA quotes and binds within its delegated authority.
3. The policy is issued by one of Clear Blue's four companies.

For surplus lines programs, a licensed surplus lines broker must place the business. To learn whether you are insured by Clear Blue, check the issuing company named on your declarations page. Read fronting arrangements and fronting carriers: how they work for how a carrier can issue a policy while reinsurers carry most of the risk, and admitted vs non-admitted insurers: what the difference means for what the two kinds of paper mean for you.

Claims

Report a claim to the claims contact printed on your policy, not to Clear Blue's offices. Claims on fronted programs are handled by the MGA's own claims unit or a third-party administrator chosen for the program. Clear Blue's role is oversight: it says it reviews each MGA's claims handling before a program launches, and it reconciles claims and premium accounts.

Tradesman, for example, has its own claims email address and an online general liability claim form. Clear Blue publishes no claims phone number or claims portal. If you can't reach the program's claims unit, call Clear Blue's office at 980-299-9520 and give the policy number and the program's name. If a claim stalls, the insurance department in your state can take a complaint against the issuing company.

Two regulator actions show where this model can strain:

• Florida, September 2, 2025: The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation fined Clear Blue Insurance Company $400,000 after a market conduct exam of claims from Hurricanes Ian and/or Idalia. Findings across the eight insurers fined included improperly appointed adjusters and slow claim acknowledgments.
• Kansas, 2025: Rock Ridge paid a $5,000 penalty under a consent order. Openly's mailing vendor had failed to send non-renewal and cancellation notices to 251 Kansas homeowners. Rock Ridge self-reported the problem in July 2024 and offered reinstatement.

Financial strength and ratings

AM Best placed the four insurers' A- (Excellent) financial strength ratings under review with negative implications on July 25, 2023. On November 21, 2023, it took them off review and affirmed A- (Excellent), with a long-term issuer credit rating of "a-" and a stable outlook. AM Best assessed the balance sheet as very strong, operating performance as adequate and the business profile as limited.

The same release spelled out the cost of the Vesttoo episode:

• a temporary $33 million reduction in surplus in the second quarter of 2023, cut to $16.36 million by the third quarter;
• a $10.7 million write-down of reinsurance recoverables;
• $25 million of new capital: $15 million from a holding company credit line and $10 million of equity from Pine Brook;
• some run-off programs left without collateral beyond the premium held, so adverse development there stays with Clear Blue.

As of October 2026, Clear Blue's website shows A- (Excellent) with Financial Size Category IX. That category means $250 million to $500 million of policyholder surplus, up from VIII in 2021. No S&P, Moody's or Fitch ratings are published. Pine Brook owns the group, so it publishes no financial statements.

Strengths and weaknesses

For a business owner, Clear Blue is the paper behind a program, not a market you choose. Its value is keeping niche programs alive with admitted and surplus lines options. Its risk is that your service depends on how well the MGA and its reinsurers perform.

• Strengths: It has two admitted and two surplus lines companies with national authority, so programs can be filed in either market. It has held an A- (Excellent) rating since 2015, and AM Best judged its balance sheet very strong even after the Vesttoo fraud. It supports hard-to-place classes such as trucking, contractors, car dealers and habitational risks. Its reinsurance panel is broad, with more than 150 partners.
• Weaknesses: You cannot get quotes, service or claims help from Clear Blue directly. Claims handling depends on each program's administrator, and regulators fined Clear Blue companies in Florida in 2025 and Kansas in 2025. The Vesttoo losses showed how much a fronting carrier relies on its reinsurers' collateral. Surplus lines policies generally fall outside state guaranty fund protection.

How to contact Clear Blue Insurance Group