Latest Carriers Headlines
All the headlines from our Carriers Topic Page, ordered by recency.
S&P Publishes P/C Insurer Report Card
Jul 5 2004 // Industry-wide price strengthening was a driving factor in the financial results of U.S. property/casualty insurance companies in 2003, according to an industry report card published by Standard & Poor’s Ratings...
Mass. Seeks to Shake Image as Regulatory Outcast
Jul 5 2004 // Massachusetts officials, moving deliberately to change the image of the state as a regulatory nightmare for insurance companies and to re-make its systems to look more like those found elsewhere, are making progress even...
Cost of Insuring Workers in Iraq Jumps as Dangers Multiply
Jul 5 2004 // When Vulcan AMPS LLC dispatched a team of workers to Iraq last fall, managers knew it would be risky. What they didn’t count on was just how much more expensive it would become to insure employees and the company...
Insurers Scramble to Keep Up with ‘Morphing’ Media Liability
Jul 5 2004 // PLUS Symposium in Philadelphia Zooms In On 24/7 Media Exposures The media liability insurance field resembles a highway “with lots of roadside attractions” including exposures from reality TV shows, video...
This Time, We’ll Do It The Right Way
Jul 5 2004 // New U.S. P/C Insurers Learn from Sins of Their Predecessors In the summer of 2001, the hard cycle had already arrived for the U.S. property/casualty marketplace for all lines of coverage. Prices were trending up as experts...
N.Y. Med-Mal Rates to Increase 7%
Jul 1 2004 // New York State Insurance Department Superintendent of Insurance Gregory V. Serio today announced that the majority of New York State’s 50,000 actively practicing physicians will see a seven percent rate increase in...
Fitch Issues Cautious Note on New Bermuda Insurers
Jun 30 2004 // Fitch Ratings has issued a report on the new Bermuda Insurers (companies formed after Sept.11), which asks the rhetorical question that although they may “shine in the sun, can they handle rain? The report, The...
Zurich Voted ‘Best Private Insurer’ by Readers of Trade Finance for Third Straight Year
Jun 30 2004 // Zurich North American announced from its Illinois headquarters that its political risk unit, which provides insurance solutions for emerging markets, has been voted “Best Private Insurer” by the readers of...
Best Affirms Markel’s Strength and Debt Ratings
Jun 30 2004 // A.M. Best Co. announced that it has affirmed the financial strength rating of “A” (Excellent) of Markel North America Insurance Group and its debt ratings of “bbb” and “bb+” on Markel...
Maryland Med-Mal Insurer Granted 59.6% Rate Hike
Jun 30 2004 // Maryland medical malpractice insurer, GE Medical Protective Co., has obtained approval for a 59.6 percent rate increase on its medical professional liability policies, slightly less than it had requested. GE Medical had...
P/C Industry’s Q1 Net Income Doubles
Jun 29 2004 // The U.S. property/casualty industry’s net income after taxes rose to $13.3 billion in first-quarter 2004 from $6.5 billion in first-quarter 2003 as insurers posted an underwriting profit for only the second time...
ACIC Disappointed in Calif. Supreme Court Action
Jun 29 2004 // The Association of California Insurance Companies (ACIC) expressed disappointment in the June 28 decision by the California Supreme Court not to review a key case related to insurance rate regulation in the state. The...
Best Downgrades Ratings for Atlantic Mutual Cos.
Jun 29 2004 // A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the financial strength rating to B+ (Very Good) from B++ (Very Good) of The Atlantic Mutual Companies (The Atlantic). Concurrently, A.M. Best has downgraded the debt rating to “b+”...
Chinese Insurers’ Assets Top $126B
Jun 28 2004 // China’s official Xinhua news Agency announced that the gross assets owned by the country’s insurance sector reached a record high of 1.0359 trillion yuan ($126.3 billion) by the end of May. Premiums totaled...
Direct Insurers “On the Road to Recovery” Says New Swiss Re Sigma Study
Jun 28 2004 // A newly published Swiss Re sigma study found that “the direct insurance industry is on the road to recovery with further progress expected this year.” Worldwide premiums for life and non-life insurance grew by...
N.J. Commissioner: Auto Insurance Market Recovering; Drivers Reap Benefits
Jun 28 2004 // New Jersey Banking and Insurance Commissioner Holly Bakke predicted recently that positive financial results for a majority of companies in the auto insurance marketplace will continue to produce returns for New Jersey...
PCI Supports Regulators’ Decision to Further Address Sarbanes-Oxley Concerns
Jun 24 2004 // At its summer meeting, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) agreed to reconsider proposed amendments to its Model Audit Rule. At a public hearing on June 14, the NAIC/AICPA Working Group decided to...
Insurers Mount Legal Challenge to Multi-state Credit Scoring Study; Ask States to Withdraw Data Call
Jun 23 2004 // Two national insurance company trade organizations have expressed legal concerns about the recently initiated multi-state study on credit-based insurance scores and have asked regulators in eight states to withdraw their...
Report CIRC to Allow Insurers to Invest in Stocks
Jun 23 2004 // According to news reports the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) will soon permit the country’s insurers – foreign and domestic – to make direct investments in China’s stock market. The...
Insurer Groups Laud Congressional Effort to Extend TRIA
Jun 23 2004 // At a press conference on Tuesday, four members of the House of Representatives introduced a bill extending the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). Both the American Insurance Association and the National Association of...
