(1) ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its subsidiaries. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Federated National Holding Company (“FNHC”, “Company”, “we”, “us”), formerly known as 21st Century Holding Company is an insurance holding company that controls substantially all steps in the insurance underwriting, distribution and claims processes through our subsidiaries and our contractual relationships with our independent agents and general agents. We changed our name on September 11, 2012, pursuant to approval received at our annual shareholders’ meeting, from 21st Century Holding Company so that our parent company and other subsidiary companies’ names are consistent with our primary insurance subsidiary and the name under which we have been writing insurance for more than 23 years.

We are authorized to underwrite, and/or place through our wholly owned subsidiaries, homeowners’ multi-peril (“homeowners”), commercial general liability, federal flood, personal auto and various other lines of insurance in Florida and various other states. We market and distribute our own and third-party insurers’ products and our other services through a network of independent agents.

Our insurance subsidiary is Federated National Insurance Company (“FNIC”). FNIC is licensed as an admitted carrier in Florida. An admitted carrier is an insurance company that has received a license from the state department of insurance giving the company the authority to write specific lines of insurance in that state. These companies are also bound by rate and form regulations, and are strictly regulated to protect policyholders from a variety of illegal and unethical practices, including fraud. Admitted carriers are also required to financially contribute to the state guarantee fund, which is used to pay for losses if an insurance carrier becomes insolvent or unable to pay the losses due their policyholders. Through contractual relationships with a network of approximately 3,600 independent agents, of which approximately 2,300 actively sell and service our products, FNIC is authorized to underwrite homeowners’, commercial general liability, fire, allied lines and personal and commercial automobile insurance in Florida. FNIC is licensed as an admitted carrier in Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia and Texas and underwrites commercial general liability insurance in those states. FNIC also underwrites homeowners’ insurance in Louisiana and Alabama, commencing in October 2014. Additionally, we underwrite personal automobile insurance in Georgia and Texas.

FNIC is licensed as a non-admitted carrier in Missouri, Nevada and South Carolina and can underwrite commercial general liability insurance in all of these states. Currently, we do not have any operations in these states. A non-admitted carrier, sometimes referred to as a “excess and surplus lines” carrier, is permitted to do business in a state and, although it is strictly regulated to protect policyholders from a variety of illegal and unethical practices, including fraud, non-admitted carriers are subject to considerably less regulation with respect to policy rates and forms. Non-admitted carriers are not required to financially contribute to and benefit from the state guarantee fund, which is used to pay for losses if an insurance carrier becomes insolvent or unable to pay the losses due their policyholders.

We internally process claims made by our insureds through our wholly owned claims adjusting company, Federated National Adjusting, Inc. (“FNA”). Our agents have no authority to settle claims or otherwise exercise control over the claims process. Furthermore, we believe that the retention of independent adjusters, in addition to the employment of salaried claims personnel, results in reduced ultimate loss payments, lower Loss and loss adjustment expenses (“LAE”) and improved customer service for our claimants and policyholders. We also employ an in-house litigation management team to cost effectively manage claims-related litigation and to monitor our claims handling practices for efficiency and regulatory compliance.

During 2014, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (“Florida OIR”) approved an application to allow the claims administration operations of FNA to be assumed by FedNat Underwriters, Inc. (“FNU”), formerly known as Federated National Underwriters Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. Under the amended managing general agency agreement between FNU and FNIC, FNU will provide the same claims administration services under the same fee structure. The combination of these services in FNU had no effect on consolidated net income.

FNU acts as FNIC’s exclusive managing general agent in Florida and is also licensed as a managing general agent in the States of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, South Carolina and Texas. FNU has contracted with other unaffiliated insurance companies to sell personal umbrella through FNU’s existing network of agents.

FNU earns commissions and fees for providing policy administration, marketing, accounting and analytical services, and for participating in the negotiation of reinsurance contracts. FNU earns a per policy fee which ranges from $25 to $55 and a commission fee from its affiliate, FNIC, which totaled 4% during 2014. The Florida OIR periodically reviews our managing general agent’s fee structure to ensure that it is neither excessive nor inadequate to operate.

The homeowner policy provides FNU the right to cancel any policy within a period of 90 days from the policy's inception with 25 days’ notice, or after 90 days from policy inception with 95 days’ notice, even if the risk falls within our underwriting criteria.

Although we are authorized to underwrite the various lines described above, our business is primarily underwriting homeowners’ policies. During 2014, 91.4%, 3.3%, 2.0% and 3.3% of the premiums we underwrote were for homeowners’, commercial general liability, federal flood, and personal automobile insurance, respectively. During 2014, $39.6 million or 11.0% of the $344.9 million of homeowners’ premiums we underwrote were produced under an agency agreement with Ivantage Select Agency, Inc. (“ISA”), an affiliate of Allstate Insurance Company, that grants Allstate agents the authority to offer certain FNU products. The $39.6 million of homeowners’ premiums produced under this agreement with ISA represents 31.0% of the total increase in the sale of homeowners’ policies during 2014, compared with 2013. This network of agents began writing for FNIC in March 2013. During 2013, 89.6%, 4.3%, 2.6% and 3.5% of the premiums we underwrote were for homeowners’, commercial general liability, federal flood, and personal automobile insurance, respectively.

During the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 or 2012, we did not experience any weather-related catastrophic events such as the hurricanes that occurred in Florida during 2005 and 2004. We are not able to predict how hurricanes or other insurable events will affect our future results of operations and liquidity. LAE is affected by a number of factors, many of which are partially or entirely beyond our control, including the following.

the nature and severity of the loss;

weather-related patterns;

the availability, cost and terms of reinsurance;

underlying settlement costs, including medical and legal costs;

legal and political factors such as legislative initiatives and public opinion;

macroeconomic issues.

Our business, results of operations and financial condition are subject to fluctuations due to a variety of factors. Abnormally high severity or frequency of claims in any period could have a material adverse effect on us. When our estimated liabilities for unpaid losses and LAE are less than the actuarially determined amounts, we increase the expense in the current period. Conversely, when our estimated liabilities for unpaid losses and LAE are greater than the actuarially determined amounts, we decrease the expense in the current period.

We previously entered into a Coexistence Agreement effective August 30, 2013 (the “Coexistence Agreement”) with Federated Mutual Insurance Company (“Federated Mutual”) pursuant to which, among other things, we may continue to use “Federated” until at least August 30, 2020, after which time we have agreed to either cease using “Federated” in commerce or otherwise adopt and use trade names that are not confusingly similar to Federated Mutual’s trademarks. We continue to develop our brand under the “FedNat” name, which is the name by which agents generally know us.

We are focusing our marketing efforts on continuing to expand our distribution network while maintaining our commitment to long-term relationships. We market our products and services throughout Florida and in other states by establishing relationships with additional independent agents and general agents. There can be no assurance, however, that we will be able to obtain the required regulatory approvals to offer additional insurance products or expand into other states.