Latest Carriers Headlines

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

Near National P/C Carriers Identified for 2010

Jul 5 2010 // The Demotech Company Classification System Shows 62 Carriers Meet Critieria The original criteria and objective definition for the Near Nationals was established in the Feb. 12, 2007 issue of Insurance Journal. The...

Insurers Divest Nearly $400M in Iran-Related Assets

Jul 2 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced that his focus on reducing the exposure of California policyholders to risky Iran-related investments resulted in insurers selling nearly one-fifth of the assets...

Crop Insurer NAU Sold to QBE

Jul 2 2010 // Lightyear Capital LLC, a New York-based private equity firm, has completed the sale of crop insurer The NAU Group to QBE Holdings, Inc. NAU is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of QBE. As consideration for the merger, QBE made...

Ohio Orders Health Insurer to Refund $6M to Policyholders

Jun 30 2010 // More than 45,000 Ohioans will receive a refund or credit from Community Insurance Co., also known as Anthem, according to Insurance Director Mary Jo Hudson. The Ohio Department of Insurance alleges that Anthem has been...

Neal Bill, HR 3424, Proponents and Opponents Trade Salvoes

Jun 29 2010 // When U.S. Representative Richard Neal (D-MA) introduced, or more properly reintroduced, HR 3424, a bill aimed at closing what its proponents describe as a “loophole” in the U.S. tax code, he ignited, or more...

Keystone Insurers Group Adds 3 More Indiana Agencies

Jun 29 2010 // Keystone Insurers Group (KIG), headquartered in Northumberland, Penn., has added three Indiana franchisees to its growing list of partner agencies. Hummel Insurance Group, Associated Agencies and Rosemeyer Agency bring the...

Homeowners Offered Few Insurance Choices in Hurricane States

Jun 28 2010 // In most hurricane-prone states, homeowners have few choices of insurance coverage, with just eight property and casualty insurers in each state controlling up to 77.2 percent of the market share, according to Weiss...

West Virginia Court OKs Suits Against Insurers Under Human Rights Law

Jun 25 2010 // West Virginians can bring bad faith lawsuits against insurance companies under the state’s human rights act, the state Supreme Court of Appeals has ruled. The court found that the West Virginia Human Rights Act...

A.M. Best: P/C Insurer Financial Impairments Triple Since 2007

Jun 25 2010 // The number of financial impairments for U.S. property/casualty (P/C) insurers have more than tripled since 2007, the last full year before the current recession, rising to 18 in 2009, up from 16 in 2008 and from five in...

Ohioans to Be Affected by Liquidation of Tennessee Insurers

Jun 25 2010 // More than 1,000 Ohioans who have policies with American Trade Association Inc., American Trade Association LLC, Smart Data Solutions LLC and/or Serve America Assurance, will be affected by the liquidation of the companies...

ABI ‘Applauds’ UK’s Budget Austerity; Will Help Insurers to Compete

Jun 23 2010 // Chancellor George Osborne’s budget proposals, featuring spending cuts and new taxes, has received mostly a thumbs up from the Association of British Insurers. Commenting on the measures, Kerrie Kelly, the ABI’s...

P/C Insurers Return to Profitability in Q1 With $8.9B in Net Income

Jun 23 2010 // The property/casualty industry returned to profitability in the first quarter of 2010 despite continuing declines in both written premiums and earned premiums. Private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income...

Insurers Revive Cat Bond Market

Jun 21 2010 // Insurers are issuing catastrophe bonds again to complement traditional and cheaper reinsurance and to spread the risks in buying protection against events that could cost them tens of billions of dollars in claims. The...

2 West Virginia County Agencies Drop Insurer BrickStreet

Jun 21 2010 // Two Kanawha County agencies have decided not to use a state-created insurance program for workers’ compensation coverage. Both have told BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co. that its proposed rates have prompted them to...

Wisconsin Court: Insurers Must Help With Fox River Paper Mill Cleanup

Jun 21 2010 // Two companies that once insured Appleton Papers Inc. are liable for $10 million toward the cleanup of the Fox River after a court decision on June 8, the firm’s lawyer said. Attorney Ron Ragatz says the ruling by the...

Oil Rig Tragedies Shock Insurers, Destabilize Market, Says Willis

Jun 21 2010 // The U.S. Deepwater Horizon and Venezuelan Aban Pearl drilling rig losses have left upstream energy insurers with an unprecedented bill of $795 million within the space of a single month, destabilizing the market and...

MGAs Key to Florida’s Property Market, Say Officials, Execs

Jun 21 2010 // Several of Florida’s insurers with affiliated managing general agencies (MGAs) have come in for criticism recently but there is no widespread problem with the MGA model, regulators and insurance executives agree. In...

FAIA’s Grady: Florida Needs to Improve Its Insurance Reputation

Jun 21 2010 // The following are excerpts from a wide-ranging interview by Insurance Journal’s Andy Simpson with Jeff Grady, president and CEO, Florida Association of Insurance Agents, from Grady’s Tallahassee...

Maximize Your Book with Personal Umbrellas

Jun 21 2010 // Plus 5 Simple Steps to Follow When Writing Coverage Do your insureds live in a house? Do they drive? Do they entertain? Do they have boats, motorcycles or other toys? Do they have rental property? Of course they do and...

How to COPE with Apartments

Jun 21 2010 // COPE is generally associated with property underwriting rather than as a risk class-based underwriting acronym. However, the traditional use and definition of COPE can be broadened to highlight the top concerns of...