Latest Carriers Headlines
All the headlines from our Carriers Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Study: Rating Errors Cause $15B Decrease in Revenue for Auto Insurers
Nov 2 2011 // Auto insurance companies are missing out on more than $15 billion of revenue because of policyholder misinformation, according to a new study of premium rating errors. Quality Planning, a member of the Verisk Insurance...
Montana Court Rules Insurer Doesn’t Have to Pay in Dragging Death Case
Nov 2 2011 // The Montana Supreme Court has ruled that the family of a man who was run over and dragged by a cement truck is not covered under the vehicle’s insurance policy because he did not technically “occupy” the...
Best Affirms Mercury General and Operating Subs Ratings; Outlook Stable
Nov 2 2011 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A+’ (Superior) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “aa-” of L.A.–based Mercury Casualty Group and its members. Best also affirmed...
Wisconsin Appeals Court Favors Media vs. Juneau County, Insurer
Nov 1 2011 // A Wisconsin appeals court has ruled in favor of a Juneau County newspaper that requested documents from the county but received paperwork with most information blacked out. The Juneau County Star-Times had requested...
Early Northeast Snowstorm Deals Insurers Another Blow
Nov 1 2011 // The U.S. insurance industry, already bruised by one of the most devastating weather years in history, appears to have suffered another blow from Saturday’s unprecedented northeastern snowstorm. Early data from some...
Insurer Sues Manufacturer Over South Dakota Collapsed Pool Claims
Oct 31 2011 // An insurance company is suing the maker of a portable pool to try to recoup money paid out as a result of a collapsed pool at the Mitchell Aquatic Center in Mitchell, S.D. The Mitchell Daily Republic reports Nautilus...
Insurer Trade Group Urges Florida to Curb Auto Insurance ‘Fraud Tax’
Oct 28 2011 // Florida should allow more time for looking into suspicious claims, place a cap on attorneys’ fees and more closely regulate medical clinics to help reduce rampant fraud in the state’s personal injury protection...
Wall Street Protesters Target Health Insurers
Oct 28 2011 // Occupy Wall Street protesters held a speak-out and march in New York City targeting the health insurance industry. Several hundred protesters marched on Wednesday, Oct. 26, to the offices at Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield,...
West Virginia Insurers Pay More for Deer-Related Auto Accidents
Oct 27 2011 // West Virginia auto insurers are paying more for deer-related accident claims despite the fact that fewer drivers are involved in deer-related crashes. The West Virginia Department of Insurance has released its 2010 study...
ABI Assures UK Flood Victims Insurers Ready to Help
Oct 27 2011 // The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has issued a bulletin advising “anyone who has suffered flood damage as a result of the heavy rain that has so far hit Northern Ireland, Wales and south-west England to...
Munich Re: ‘Uncertainty,’ Economic Crisis, Challenge Re/insurers
Oct 25 2011 // A bulletin from Munich Re names the “sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the USA, a sustained phase of low interest rates and heavy natural catastrophe burdens,” as well as general uncertainty in the...
Citing Reform, Small Health Insurer Lays off Workers in Iowa, Nebraska
Oct 24 2011 // The parent company of American Republic has told employees in Des Moines, Iowa, and Omaha, Neb., it is getting out of the individual major medical insurance business. The Des Moines Register reported 110 positions will be...
Home Insurance Rates Do Not Reflect Cost of Risk: Aon Benfield
Oct 24 2011 // U.S. insurers’ prospective after-tax return on equity for homeowners’ insurance is 4.8 percent on average, a decrease from the 6.9 percent of 2010, mainly due to subdued investment returns and higher estimates...
Weak Markets to Hobble Canadian Insurer Results
Oct 24 2011 // Canadian insurers are looking at a bleak quarter of financial results due to a sharp drop in stock markets and bond yields, and analysts are staying cautious on the stocks even at rock-bottom valuations. Sun Life Financial...
Best’s Managing Director-Europe: Solvency II is Coming to an Insurer near You
Oct 24 2011 // Stefan Holzberger, A.M. Best’s managing director-analytics, recently moved to London from the U.S. He is well placed to analyze the impact of the European Union’s Solvency II regulations, not only on the...
Alfa Insurance Ties Homeowners Coverage to Auto in Alabama
Oct 21 2011 // Alabama residents who have their homeowners insurance through the state’s second largest property insurer must now include their auto coverage as part of their insurance package. Alfa Insurance Co. announced it will...
Accounting Rules to Hurt Insurers’ Ratios But Not Ratings: Moody’s
Oct 20 2011 // New accounting rules intended to align U.S. insurers’ varied approaches to accounting for deferred acquisition costs (DAC) will negatively affect insurers’ reported equity and some of the financial metrics that...
Lloyd’s Insurer Omega Backs Haverford Offer
Oct 20 2011 // Insurance entrepreneur Mark Byrne pulled ahead in the race to buy Lloyd’s of London insurer Omega after Omega and its top shareholder backed his offer, prompting his main rival to withdraw. Omega, at the centre of a...
Florida Hurricane Fund Has $3.2 Billion Shortfall
Oct 20 2011 // Florida’s hurricane fund is confronting a potential $3.2 billion shortfall, financial experts said in a new estimate of the money available to the pool intended to help insurers make disaster payments. The fund was...
Florida Approves Insurer Targeting Foreign Nationals
Oct 18 2011 // Florida regulators have given the go-ahead for an insurer that wants to provide foreign nationals with access to the U.S. health insurance market. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced that Best Doctors Limited...
