Free practice
Florida insurance regulators: CFO, Financial Services Commission, OIR, and OFR
Finish →Question 1 of 40
As used in the Florida Insurance Code, the term "Department" means which body?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Department of Financial Services
Section 624.05(1) defines "Department" as the Department of Financial Services and adds that the term does not mean the Financial Services Commission or any office of the Commission.
Question 2 of 40
Under the Florida Insurance Code's definitions, the term "Office" refers to:
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Office of Insurance Regulation of the Financial Services Commission
Section 624.05(3) defines "Office" as the Office of Insurance Regulation of the Financial Services Commission. OFR, although also an office of the Commission, is not the defined term.
Question 3 of 40
In the Florida Insurance Code, "Commission" is a defined term. What does it mean?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Financial Services Commission
Section 624.05(2) defines "Commission" as the Financial Services Commission -- the Governor and Cabinet acting as agency head over OIR and OFR.
Question 4 of 40
Who heads the Florida Department of Financial Services?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Chief Financial Officer
The Department of Financial Services is headed by Florida's Chief Financial Officer, an elected statewide Cabinet officer.
Question 5 of 40
How does Florida's Chief Financial Officer come to hold that position?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: By statewide election, as one of the three Cabinet officers
The CFO is one of Florida's three elected Cabinet officers, with the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Agriculture, and heads the Department of Financial Services independently of the Governor.
Question 6 of 40
The Financial Services Commission is made up of:
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Governor and the Cabinet, acting collegially as agency head
The Financial Services Commission is not a standing board of appointees; it is the Governor and Cabinet acting collegially as agency head over OIR and OFR.
Question 7 of 40
Which two functions does the Financial Services Commission itself perform?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: It adopts insurance rules and appoints the directors of its two constituent offices
The Commission, sitting as the Governor and Cabinet, adopts insurance rules and appoints the directors of OIR and OFR; the day-to-day regulation is done by those offices and by DFS.
Question 8 of 40
Which two offices operate under the Financial Services Commission?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Office of Insurance Regulation and the Office of Financial Regulation
The Commission's two constituent offices are OIR, facing insurers, and OFR, facing banks, credit unions, finance companies, money services businesses, and securities professionals.
Question 9 of 40
An insurer wants to introduce a new homeowners policy in Florida and must have the policy form and its rates reviewed and approved. Which regulator handles that review?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Office of Insurance Regulation
Reviewing and approving policy forms and rates is one of the core functions of the Office of Insurance Regulation, the insurer-facing office under the Financial Services Commission.
Question 10 of 40
A newly formed company wants authority to operate as an insurance company in Florida. Which regulator licenses and examines insurance companies?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Office of Insurance Regulation
OIR licenses and examines insurance companies, as distinct from individual agents, whose licensing is administered by DFS.
Question 11 of 40
A Florida resident wants to become a licensed life insurance agent. Which agency administers that individual license?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Department of Financial Services
Agent licensing is a Department of Financial Services function. The explainer is explicit that an agent's own license is administered through DFS and is not an OFR matter.
Question 12 of 40
Which of the following is regulated by the Office of Financial Regulation?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: State-chartered banks and credit unions
OFR is the Commission's non-insurance office: it regulates state-chartered banks and credit unions, finance companies, money services businesses, and securities professionals.
Question 13 of 40
An insurance agent also wants to sell securities as a registered representative in Florida. Which regulator oversees the securities side of that business?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Office of Financial Regulation
Securities professionals are among the industries the Office of Financial Regulation regulates, while the same person's insurance license is a DFS matter.
Question 14 of 40
A Florida business that transmits money for customers, and a separate consumer finance company, each need a state license. Which regulator licenses these businesses?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Office of Financial Regulation
Money services businesses and finance companies are on the list of non-insurance financial industries regulated by the Office of Financial Regulation.
Question 15 of 40
Section 624.05(1) defines "Department" as the Department of Financial Services and adds that the term "does not mean the Financial Services Commission or any office of the Financial Services Commission." What structural fact makes that added sentence necessary?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Department is a separate, parallel agency under the elected CFO, not a part of the Commission, so duties assigned to the "Department" cannot be read as belonging to OIR or OFR
Because DFS under the CFO and the Commission (with its offices OIR and OFR) are parallel, separate structures, the Code has to make explicit that a statutory reference to the "Department" never reaches the Commission or its offices.
Question 16 of 40
A Florida insurer's financial condition is being examined to confirm it can meet its obligations to policyholders. Which regulator conducts that solvency examination?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Office of Insurance Regulation
Licensing and examining insurance companies and enforcing solvency standards for insurers are core functions of the Office of Insurance Regulation.
Question 17 of 40
A policyholder believes their agent misrepresented a policy and wants to file a complaint against the agent with the state. Which agency's consumer-protection function handles complaints about agents?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Department of Financial Services
DFS houses the consumer-protection function and administers agent licensing, so complaints about an agent's conduct are a Department matter.
Question 18 of 40
The State Fire Marshal is a function of which Florida body?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Department of Financial Services
The explainer lists the State Fire Marshal among the functions housed in the Department of Financial Services under the CFO, alongside licensing, appointments, agency regulation and consumer services.
Question 19 of 40
An insurer has just contracted with a newly licensed agent and needs to appoint that agent to sell its products in Florida. Which agency administers agent appointments?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Department of Financial Services
Appointments are listed with licensing and agency regulation among the Department of Financial Services' functions -- the people-and-process side of regulation an agent actually experiences.
Question 20 of 40
An insurance agency, as a business entity, wants to know which Florida body regulates agencies. Which is it?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Department of Financial Services
Agency regulation is a Department of Financial Services function, alongside agent licensing and appointments.
Question 21 of 40
Under section 624.6012, kinds of insurance are classified into "lines of insurance." Who adopts those lines, and with what constraint?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Commission adopts the lines by rule, consistent with NAIC reporting requirements
Section 624.6012 provides that the commission shall adopt by rule the lines of insurance to be utilized, and that those lines shall be consistent with the reporting requirements of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Question 22 of 40
Section 624.446 of the Florida Nonprofit Multiple-Employer Welfare Arrangement Act says that administration of the Act "is vested in the commission and office," and that "the commission may adopt rules." Reading those defined terms correctly, which bodies does that mean?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Financial Services Commission administers the Act together with the Office of Insurance Regulation, and the Commission makes the rules
Under section 624.05, "commission" means the Financial Services Commission and "office" means the Office of Insurance Regulation; section 624.446 vests administration in both and rulemaking in the commission.
Question 23 of 40
A company that registers people and helps locate them if they go missing, for a fee, is exempt from the Insurance Code under section 624.129. What must its enrollment form conspicuously state about regulation?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: That the services are not regulated by either the department or the office as insurance
Section 624.129(3) requires the written agreement or enrollment form to carry a conspicuous legend that the services are not regulated by either the department or the office as insurance.
Question 24 of 40
Who chairs the board of directors of the Florida Healthy Kids Corporation under section 624.91?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Chief Financial Officer or the CFO's designee
Section 624.91(6)(a) provides that the corporation operates under a board of directors chaired by the Chief Financial Officer or her or his designee.
Question 25 of 40
Section 624.91(7)(a) says the Florida Healthy Kids Corporation "shall not be deemed an insurer" and is not subject to the licensing requirements of the Insurance Code or the rules of the Department of Financial Services. Which conclusion about Florida's regulators follows?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: Neither OIR's insurer licensing nor DFS's licensing rules apply to the corporation itself, even though it provides health coverage
Because the corporation is not an insurer and is exempt from the Code's licensing requirements and DFS rules, OIR's company licensing and DFS's agent-licensing rules do not reach the corporation or its officers.
Question 26 of 40
Under section 624.91(6)(a), several Florida Healthy Kids board members are appointed from three nominees put forward by professional or county associations. Which official makes those particular appointments?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Chief Financial Officer
Section 624.91(6)(a) has the Chief Financial Officer appoint members from among three nominees each from the Florida Pediatric Society, Florida Hospital Association, Florida Academy of Family Physicians, and Florida Association of Counties.
Question 27 of 40
A study guide states: "The Office of Financial Regulation licenses and examines Florida's insurance companies and enforces their solvency." What is wrong with that statement?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: It attributes OIR's functions to OFR; OFR regulates banks, credit unions, finance companies, money services businesses and securities professionals, not insurers
Licensing and examining insurers and enforcing solvency are Office of Insurance Regulation functions. OFR is the Commission's non-insurance office.
Question 28 of 40
Which statement correctly describes how the Department of Financial Services relates to the Financial Services Commission?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: They are separate, parallel agencies: DFS is headed by the elected CFO, while the Commission is the Governor and Cabinet overseeing OIR and OFR
The explainer describes DFS, under the independently elected CFO, as a separate, parallel agency to the Commission structure of Governor and Cabinet over OIR and OFR; the Code's definition of "Department" excludes the Commission and its offices.
Question 29 of 40
A statute in the Insurance Code says "the office shall approve the form before use." An agent assumes this refers to the Department of Financial Services, since that is the agency that licensed them. What is the flaw in the agent's reading?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: "Office" is a defined term meaning the Office of Insurance Regulation; the Code separately says the Department is not any office of the Commission
Section 624.05(3) defines "Office" as the Office of Insurance Regulation, and 624.05(1) says the Department is not the Commission or any office of it, so the form-approval duty lies with OIR, not DFS.
Question 30 of 40
A regulator is reviewing whether a Florida insurer's sales and claims practices meet market-conduct standards. Which body enforces market-conduct standards for insurers?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Office of Insurance Regulation
Enforcing solvency and market-conduct standards for insurers is listed among the Office of Insurance Regulation's functions.
Question 31 of 40
The Chief Financial Officer is a Cabinet officer, and the Financial Services Commission is the Governor and Cabinet acting collegially. What does that imply about the CFO's regulatory roles?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The CFO both heads the Department of Financial Services and sits as one member of the Commission that oversees OIR and OFR
Because the Commission is the Governor and Cabinet, and the CFO is a Cabinet officer, the CFO participates in the Commission while separately heading DFS as an independently elected official.
Question 32 of 40
Which Florida body is described as not a standing board of appointees, but the Governor and Cabinet acting together?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Financial Services Commission
The Financial Services Commission is the Governor and Cabinet acting collegially as agency head, not a separate panel of appointees.
Question 33 of 40
A Florida insurer becomes financially impaired and, unrelated to that, one of its appointed agents is found to have misappropriated premiums. Which regulators act on each problem?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Office of Insurance Regulation acts on the insurer's impairment; the Department of Financial Services acts against the agent
Solvency enforcement for insurers is OIR's function; licensing and regulating individual agents is DFS's, so the two problems go to two different regulators.
Question 34 of 40
An agent reads a sentence in the Insurance Code that begins, "The commission may adopt rules..." In that sentence, "commission" means:
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Financial Services Commission, the Governor and Cabinet
Section 624.05(2) defines "Commission" as the Financial Services Commission; rulemaking under the Code is that body's function.
Question 35 of 40
Which one of the following is regulated by the Office of Insurance Regulation rather than the Office of Financial Regulation?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: A property and casualty insurance company
OIR regulates insurance companies; OFR regulates banks, credit unions, finance companies, money services businesses and securities professionals.
Question 36 of 40
A producer wants to find the administrative rules that implement Florida's Insurance Code. Which body adopts those insurance rules?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Financial Services Commission
The explainer states that the Commission, sitting as the Governor and Cabinet, adopts insurance rules; sections 624.446 and 624.6012 illustrate the pattern by giving rulemaking to "the commission."
Question 37 of 40
The Commissioner who heads the Office of Insurance Regulation retires. Who selects the replacement?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Financial Services Commission, the Governor and Cabinet acting collegially
The Commission appoints the directors of its two constituent offices, OIR and OFR.
Question 38 of 40
Which set of pairings correctly matches each Florida body to one of its functions?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: DFS: agent licensing; OIR: insurer solvency; OFR: securities professionals; Commission: adopting insurance rules
DFS handles agent licensing, appointments, agencies and consumer services; OIR handles forms, rates, insurer licensing, solvency and market conduct; OFR handles banks, credit unions, finance companies, money services businesses and securities; the Commission adopts rules and appoints OIR's and OFR's directors.
Question 39 of 40
A statute in the Insurance Code says "the department shall administer the appointment of agents." Which agency does that duty belong to?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Department of Financial Services
Under section 624.05(1), "Department" means the Department of Financial Services and excludes the Commission and its offices; appointments are a DFS function in any case.
Question 40 of 40
Section 624.91(7)(a) exempts the Florida Healthy Kids Corporation from the Insurance Code's licensing requirements, but requires any marketing representative it pays to be appointed as a representative of the insurers it contracts with. Which regulator would administer those appointments, and why?
Reveal answer
Correct answer: The Department of Financial Services, because appointments of individuals to represent insurers are a DFS function even though the corporation itself is exempt
Section 624.91(7)(a) carves marketing representatives out of the exemption and requires their appointment by the contracting insurers; appointments are administered by DFS, the agency that regulates agents and appointments.
Ready when you are
This free set is 40 questions from one objective. A plan opens 3680 questions across the whole Florida exam, plus mock exams, spoken rationales, and audio you can study while driving.