Latest Carriers Headlines
All the headlines from our Carriers Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Best’s Insurer Rating Upgrades Barely Outpaced Downgrades in 2008
Feb 17 2009 // Natural catastrophes and financial upheaval drove a sharp reversal in the property/casualty industry’s fortunes in 2008, and the effects spread to A.M. Best Co.’s rating activity, as upgrades barely outpaced...
Florida Rejects State Farm Withdrawal Plan; Requires Major Conditions on Citizens, Agents
Feb 13 2009 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has offered a withdrawal plan for State Farm Florida Insurance Co. and its parent company with major conditions that were not in the original plan submitted by the insurer. In...
5 Michigan Auto Insurers Pledge to Freeze Rates
Feb 12 2009 // One week after Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm called on auto insurance companies to freeze their rates, five insurers have said they will comply. In a Feb. 3 order, Granholm asked each automobile insurance company doing...
Mississippi Rejects 6 Insurers’ Appeals of Windpool Assessments
Feb 12 2009 // Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney has upheld the efforts of the state’s wind insurance pool to collect millions of dollars in past assessments from six insurance companies. The insurers had claimed that...
Announcing the Redomestication of National Contractors Insurance Company, Inc., A Risk Retention Group to Montana!
Feb 9 2009 // National Contractors Insurance Company, Inc., a Risk Retention Group (NCIC) specializing in general liability insurance for licensed residential and commercial general and artisan contractors, has redomesticated to...
Iowa Insurer Lays Off 60 Employees
Feb 9 2009 // A Des Moines-based insurance company has announced it will eliminate 60 jobs as part of the company’s business plan. Officials with American Enterprise Group Inc. said that 51 of the layoffs will come from Des Moines...
Parents of Iowa Teen Killed in Crash Sue Insurer for Underinsured Benefits
Feb 9 2009 // The parents of an Iowa teenager killed 10 years ago in a van crash in southern Wisconsin have filed a lawsuit seeking damages for their son’s death. Albert and Deanna Roberts of DeWitt, Iowa, filed the lawsuit...
Treasury to Approve TARP Bailout Funds for Life Insurance Companies
Feb 9 2009 // Insurance companies that applied for capital injections from the government’s $700 billion financial bailout fund could get approval as soon as Monday, two sources familiar with the matter said Saturday. Some...
North Carolina Auto Insurance Companies Seek 1.4% Hike
Feb 9 2009 // North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin has confirmed that his department has received the annual auto insurance rate filing from the North Carolina Rate Bureau. The bureau, which represents the auto insurance...
Swimming Downstream: How a Regional Insurer Buy Others Through Demutualization
Feb 8 2009 // Donegal Group’s Strategy Has Helped It Grow From Writing in 1 State to 19 in 20 Years Even in a good economy, mutual insurers face challenges trying to raise the capital they need to grow since they don’t have...
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...
