Latest Carriers Headlines

Hartford to charge insurers for emergency services

Apr 17 2006 // Fire protection and medical help remains free, but the Hartford, Conn. Fire Department is set to begin charging insurers for other emergency services. The department will begin billing insurers for certain situations such...

Technology

Apr 17 2006 // Given the pace of today’s technological developments, it is often difficult for agency principals to know where to get the most bang for their buck. As most agency principals know, it is important to take a strategic...

Risk Management

Apr 17 2006 // Call for stepped-up regulation of third-parties providing hurricane rating and credit scoring data Risk Management Solutions has defended its hurricane risk models in the face of consumer groups’ criticisms that the...

Banks, shippers, oil companies – not just insurers – face Katrina-related suits

Apr 17 2006 // One couple has sued Regions Bank for allegedly failing to pay their windstorm policy out of their escrow account. Hurricane Katrina lawsuits are multiplying and it’s not just insurance companies that are defendants....

Critics allege wind modelers influenced by insurers

Apr 17 2006 // News Currents Risk Management Solutions has defended its hurricane risk models in the face of consumer groups’ criticisms that the models are more political than they are scientific and are designed to justify...

Closer Look: Premium Funds Financial Management

Apr 17 2006 // Insurance agencies have millions of dollars in transit through their trust bank accounts. How should agencies manage premium dollars? Unlike other sales and service companies, independent insurance agencies have a...

Closer Look: Louisiana Homeowners

Apr 17 2006 // However, insurer trade group says it can be found by those who shop After the wreckage caused by last year’s Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many home insurers in southern Louisiana are refusing to write new policies,...

Insurers unlikely to alter credit scoring as agencies pursue uniformity

Apr 17 2006 // The decision by the three major consumer credit reporting agencies to create a more uniform credit scoring system is not expected to have a major impact on insurers’ use of credit in rating personal lines insurance...

Critics allege hurricane risk modelers influenced by insurers

Apr 17 2006 // News Currents Risk Management Solutions, Newark, Calif., has defended its hurricane risk models in the face of consumer groups’ criticisms that the models are more political than they are scientific, and that they...

By Robert Poli

Apr 17 2006 // A national insurance license helps agents by providing uniformity of regulatory standards; eliminating rate regulation; and allowing new products to be brought to market more quickly. Not all agents oppose an optional...

Closer Look: Insurance Associations

Apr 17 2006 // Editor’s note: This is the second article in a series on Western insurance associations. Part I of this article appeared in the April 3, 2006, western region publication beginning on page 47. As people migrate to the...

Apr 17 2006 // In the past, the agencies each used proprietary formulas to create their own scores, meaning that a lender dealing with a consumer’s application for a credit card or a mortgage might have had to reconcile three...

Miscellaneous Professional Liability

Apr 17 2006 // This morning, you received a phone call from a potential client interested in purchasing professional liability coverage. During the course of the conversation, the prospective client is not a traditional professional,...

Technology

Apr 17 2006 // Given the pace of today’s technological developments, it is often difficult for agency principals to know where to get the most bang for their buck. As most agency principals know, it is important to take a strategic...

News Currents

Apr 17 2006 // Insurers well-braced for next big California earthquake When the next big earthquake strikes California, it’s unlikely to hurt the insurance industry as much as the last one did. The nation’s largest property...

Bond Insurers Urged to Travel Conservative Underwriting Route

Apr 14 2006 // Bond insurers had an interesting 2005, dealing with the ratings implications of natural disasters, airline and auto parts manufacturer bankruptcies, Securities and Exchange Commission and attorney general investigations,...

Insurers Pleased with Privacy Terms of Maine’s New ‘Black Box’ Law

Apr 14 2006 // A new Maine law (LD 1885) aimed at protecting the privacy of motorists with event data recorders (EDRs), or “black boxes,” in their vehicles, contains important safeguards for insurers supported by the...

China Relaxes Foreign Exchange Controls; Insurers to Invest Overseas

Apr 14 2006 // China’s central bank announced on Thursday the relaxation of controls on foreign exchange accounts, simplifying approval procedures for foreign exchange payments in the service trade, and procedures for individuals...

Summation of Insurance-Related Bills Speeding Through Fla. Legislature

Apr 14 2006 // With Spring meetings of the Florida Legislature coming to an end in Tallahassee in May, the Florida Insurance Council has summarized insurance-related bills now being considered in the House and Senate. Sam Miller,...

Proposed California Homeowners Regs Bad Public Policy, Associations Say

Apr 14 2006 // Homeowners’ insurance regulations proposed by the Department of Insurance would result in higher premiums for many Californians, force insurers to charge unfair homeowner rates and cause subsidies among...