Latest Carriers Headlines
All the headlines from our Carriers Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Start-Up Stories: How New Agencies Are Competing
Feb 8 2009 // A Crop of Newly-Formed Agencies Is Defying the Hard Economy and Soft Market The independent insurance agency system is enjoying a resurgence. For years, the number of agencies in the country had been declining but that...
Certificates of Insurance and Agency Liability: What Agents Should Know
Feb 8 2009 // A common practice by insurance carriers is to inform their agents that they should not send the company copies of certificates of insurance when they are issued. This is most likely the result of mail-flow issues with the...
Certificates of Insurance and Agency Liability: What Agents Should Know
Feb 8 2009 // A common practice by insurance carriers is to inform their agents that they should not send the company copies of certificates of insurance when they are issued. This is most likely the result of mail-flow issues with the...
Pros and Cons of Running a Small Business Unit
Feb 8 2009 // Agencies Say SBUs Take Dedication, Technology But Offer Profitability Going for the big fish may bring in big returns but some agencies think having a strategic plan to go after all those little fish is just as important....
Insurers’ Stocks Down 14%; Middle Market Carriers Active in Intermediary Acquisitions
Feb 8 2009 // Stock Price: Commercial lines stocks mirrored those of major indices in 2008, trading down 14 percent. Mergers & Acquisitions: Middle market carriers continue to be major players in the acquisition market as they look...
Florida Home-Grown Insurer Says It’s Ready for 30,000 State Farm Policies
Feb 6 2009 // After State Farm announced it would be leaving behind 1.2 million property policyholders within the next two years, state officials expressed confidence that the private insurance market, including a number of relatively...
Arizona Insurers Want To Know When Cameras Catch Speeding
Feb 5 2009 // The Arizona Legislature is debating a bill that would prohibit a state or local authority from using photo enforcement systems to detect speeding violations on state highways. If passed, the bill, HB 2106, also would...
Michigan Auto Insurance System, Costs, Insurers Under Fire
Feb 5 2009 // Michigan’s insurance consumer advocate is charging that drivers are paying a high cost for years of state deregulation of insurance and record insurance company profits. Gov. Jennifer Granholm has threatened...
Farm Bureau County Mutual Insurance Company of Texas Downgraded
Feb 5 2009 // A.M. Best Co. announced it has downgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to A- (Excellent) from A+ (Superior) and issuer credit rating (ICR) to “a-” from “aa-” of Farm Bureau County Mutual...
Insurance Industry Blasts Granholm’s Call for Rate Freeze, Advocate’s Report
Feb 5 2009 // The insurance industry is not taking the recent attacks by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the state consumer advocate lightly. Insurance trade groups have come out swinging against Granholm’s call for a freeze...
S&P Foresees ‘Tough Times’ for Russian Insurers In 2009-2010
Feb 4 2009 // A report from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services entitled, “Tough Times Will Challenge Russian Insurers In 2009-2010”, published on its RatingsDirect web site, concludes that “Russia’s...
Michigan Blue Cross Wins Battle Over Workers’ Compensation Business
Feb 4 2009 // Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox is not giving up in his battle and will appeal a judge’s ruling in support of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s ownership of workers’ compensation insurance...
State Farm Rejects Call to Let Florida Agents Represent Other Insurers
Feb 4 2009 // Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is urging State Farm Florida to “immediately” let its agents do business with other insurance companies for their more than one million policyholders now that State...
Illinois Court Denies Insurer Claim That Boys’ Deaths Were Single Event
Feb 4 2009 // The accidental deaths of two teenage boys at an excavation site in 1997 were separate occurrences under the liability insurance policy of the property owner, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled in reinstating a $2 million...
<em>AP</em> Analysis: Florida Insurance Bind Overshadows Louisiana
Feb 3 2009 // Louisiana homeowners stunned by their rising insurance rates should remember that it could be worse. They could live in Florida. State Farm announced recently that it will stop doing business in Florida, the first big firm...
Best’s Solvency II Analysis Concludes Financial Crisis Impacts Insurers
Feb 2 2009 // A report from A.M. Best examines the latest twists and turns of the European Union’s much discussed (and long delayed) implementation of the Solvency II regulations. Best notes that the “current turmoil in the...
Marine Insurance Group Sees ‘Tough Times’ for Insurers
Feb 2 2009 // According to Deirdre Littlefield, president of the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI), “While the insurance industry may be more insulated from failure than others in the financial sector, it will not...
Insurers Seek Dismissal of Louisiana Road Home Suit
Feb 2 2009 // Lawyers for major insurance companies are asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses insurers of trying to profit from a grant program for homeowners devastated by Hurricane Katrina. U.S. District Judge...
State Regulators Deny Life Insurers’ Bid for Looser Capital Requirements
Jan 30 2009 // State insurance regulators voted against a proposal to loosen capital requirements for the battered life insurance industry, shooting down hopes for up to $30 billion in relief. The National Association of Insurance...
Association of British Insurers Faults Competition Commission on PPI
Jan 29 2009 // Nick Starling, the Director of General Insurance and Health of the Association of British Insurers (ABI), issued the following comment on the publication of the Competition Commission’s final remedies on Payment...
