Is premium financing a recent innovation or has it been time tested?
Back in 1952, the president of The Continental Insurance Company introduced the idea of an industry wide premium finance company at The National Board of Fire Underwriters. When the concept of an industry wide company was rejected, Continental formed its own company, AFCO, in 1953, and CAFO in Canada in 1954. The subsidiaries were operated completely separately from Continental Insurance and were empowered to finance premiums written by any insurance carrier, not only Continental. The industry is tightly regulated under the statutes of more than 40 jurisdictions in the United States.
