Latest Carriers Headlines

All the headlines from our Carriers Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Association of British Insurers Warns of Increasing ‘Front End Fraud’

Dec 31 2008 // The Association of British Insurers has issued a warning that, “people are increasingly putting their insurance cover at risk by cheating to get a better deal.” The ABI said its members, which include most of...

Insurers Say Fair Value Accounting Was a ‘Powerful Accelerant’ to Credit Crisis

Dec 31 2008 // The application of fair value accounting measurements to an inactive, illiquid, and disorderly market for structured credit products helped fuel the worldwide credit crisis, an organization of major insurers and reinsurers...

Catastrophe Losses Up 7% in 2008, Making It One of Costliest Years for Insurers

Dec 30 2008 // The high frequency and severity of Atlantic hurricanes in 2008, coupled with other weather-related and man-made losses, placed the year among the costliest on record for insured catastrophe losses. That’s according...

Louisiana Med Liability Insurer to Return 20% Dividend to Policyholders

Dec 30 2008 // Louisiana Medical Mutual Insurance Company reported it will return a 20 percent dividend to all LAMMICO policyholders in Louisiana and Arkansas. Nearly 6,000 policyholders will be affected; the dividend amount is based on...

Report Japan Insurers Mitsui, Aioi and Nissay in Merger Talks

Dec 29 2008 // Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings Inc, Aioi Insurance Co and Nissay Dowa General Insurance Co are in talks to merge, a company source said, in a move that would create the country’s largest...

North Carolina Auto Insurance Rate Hike In Escrow Until Court Rules

Dec 29 2008 // Auto insurers may increase premiums on North Carolina drivers by up to 9.4 percent starting Jan. 1, but a court ruling will determine whether they can keep the extra money. The North Carolina Rate Bureau, which represents...

Insurers Beginning to Weigh Economic Capital Modeling in Strategizing

Dec 29 2008 // Insurers are making increased use of economic capital modeling in the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) process and it is starting to influence their strategic decisions. According to Stephen Lowe, managing director, Towers...

Insurers Adding Resources to Speed Recovery from Northeast Storms

Dec 23 2008 // A number of insurance companies in the Northeast are bringing in additional claims adjusters to respond to the needs of their hardest hit customers and help speed the recovery process from the recent string of storms that...

Insurers Balk at FTC Order for Consumer Data in Credit Score Probe

Dec 23 2008 // The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) decision to order insurance companies to provide a wide array of consumers’ personal information in connection with a study of credit-based insurance scores and homeowners...

FTC Probing Insurers Over Credit-based Homeowners Insurance Pricing

Dec 23 2008 // U.S. regulators have asked nine major insurance companies, including Allstate Corp. and Travelers Cos. Inc., to provide information about how they set prices for homeowners’ coverage, the Federal Trade Commission...

U.S. Insurers Increasingly Outsourcing Actuarial Work to Overseas Talent

Dec 23 2008 // U.S. insurers and actuarial firms increasingly are outsourcing, offshoring, and importing actuarial talent from abroad, industry experts report. They are also learning that good management practices and an understanding of...

Insurer is ‘Torturing’ Policy Using Pollution Exclusion to Deny Death Claims

Dec 22 2008 // U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal in Houston has been called upon to rule if Great American Insurance Co. is acting within policy and contract language and in accordance with the required utmost good faith in asserting...

Zurich Gaining Commercial Insurance Clients Away from Rivals

Dec 22 2008 // Swiss insurer Zurich Financial Services Group is drawing U.S. commercial clients away from financially beleaguered rivals, a company executive for North America said on Friday. “We have seen higher submissions and...

Critics Say Proposed Calif. Regulatory Changes Could Boost Rates

Dec 22 2008 // California State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is under fire from his predecessor and a consumer group for proposing regulation changes that they say would increase rates for automobile, homeowner and most other...

Producer Protection Introduced During Turbulent Times

Dec 21 2008 // On Sept. 16, 2008, the Wall Street Journal announced “U.S. to Take Over AIG in $85 Billion Bailout.” An insurance holding company, internationally known and geographically diversified on a global basis, owning...

Mergers Slow as New Agencies Pop Up

Dec 21 2008 // Report: Number of Agencies Unchanged Since 2006 A new study by an industry trade group has found that the decade-long contraction in the number of insurance agencies has ceased during the past two years — a move...

2008: A Year of Financial Storms

Dec 21 2008 // 2008 can be described as a year like no other in the property/casualty insurance world. This year, the industry witnessed the near death of the world’s largest and most successful insurance company, AIG. The soft...

2008: Busy Year for Mergers, Big and Small

Dec 21 2008 // A lot happened in the world of insurance agency/brokerage mergers and acquisitions in 2008. Willis made the biggest slash with its $2.1 billion acquisition of Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Co. (HRH), one of the world’s...

Agents’ Wish List for Carriers in 2009

Dec 21 2008 // The past year has brought down a lot of businesses and people — but not independent insurance agents. They’re still up … for the challenge, for the future, for whatever lies ahead. Many independent agencies...

Top Regional Stories of 2008

Dec 21 2008 // West California Passed Agent-Broker Law The most notable bill affecting California agents was AB 2956, which clarifies the duties of an insurance agent versus a broker. Prior to the new law, confusion existed within the...