Latest Market Headlines

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

Rep. Taylor Frustrated Over Failure of Windstorm Coverage Add-On

Oct 4 2010 // In Pascagoula, Miss., on the Gulf Coast, agent Laverne Nelson has to get windstorm coverage for her personal property from the state wind pool. That is because in April her property insurer, MetLife Property &...

Top 25 Carriers’ Second Quarter Results Show Improvement in 2010 Versus Second Quarter 2009

Oct 4 2010 // Benjamin Franklin once said, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success have no meaning.” In a market that continues to be described as soft, the Top 25...

Insurance Provides Value Catlin CEO Reminds London’s Insurance Institute

Sep 29 2010 // “Insurers and brokers must remind themselves of the value that insurance provides to clients and to society as a whole,” stated Stephen Catlin, chief executive of Catlin Group Limited*, in a speech delivered on...

Help Wanted: U.S. Insurance Chief; Salary to $179K, Good Benefits; D.C. Office

Sep 29 2010 // The U.S. Treasury is looking for a Director of the Federal Insurance Office. The full-time job pays $119,554 to $179,700 per year depending on experience. Applications will be accepted from all qualified individuals until...

Surplus Lines Premiums Fall, Again, But Brokers Remain Optimistic

Sep 28 2010 // The surplus lines industry continues to experience a decline in direct premiums written (DPW). For a third consecutive year in 2009, the surplus lines industry’s DPW fell 4.1 percent, an improvement over 2008 where...

Aon Report Finds ‘Confidence Returning’ for Airlines

Sep 24 2010 // “Confidence is returning to the airline industry with airlines predicting a 13 percent increase in passenger numbers in 2011,” according to Aon’s “Airline Insurance Market Indicators, 2010/11...

New York Looks to Reform Coastal Homeowners Insurance Market

Sep 23 2010 // New York insurance regulators are proposing a new set of consumer protection measures as part of a package of rules aimed at improving the availability and pricing of homeowners insurance in high-risk areas along the...

New York Insurance Exchange Plan Hinges on Industry Support

Sep 22 2010 // New York regulators say the plan to re-launch a Lloyd’s-style exchange in the city is forging ahead, but they’re looking to hand the reins to the insurance industry to take the lead in building it. The plan for...

Texas Commissioner: Health Insurance Reforms Effective Sept. 23

Sep 21 2010 // The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and related Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, enacted by Congress in March 2010, include significant insurance market reforms effective for most...

Stronger Economic Times Add to Recruitment Challenges

Sep 20 2010 // People are a company’s greatest asset. Yet finding the right people is often challenging, particularly in the insurance industry. While the economic downturn put a hold on hiring for many firms, the seemingly steady...

People

Sep 20 2010 // Scott Brock was appointed CEO of Dallas-based Goss Reinsurance Brokers Inc., the reinsurance brokerage division of U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. Brock will work with Chris Turner, president of Goss Re, to provide focused,...

The Future for Independent Insurance Agencies

Sep 20 2010 // Proactively Manage Your Future and Be Ready for Change I believe the future of independent insurance agencies is at a tipping point. A number of forces are pushing agencies toward the precipice of major change. A few of...

Fitch Revises U.S. P/C Industry Outlook to Stable

Sep 20 2010 // Fitch has revised its sector outlook on the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry to stable from negative for both the commercial lines and personal lines sectors. The ratings agency says that a stable outlook for the...

Stronger Economic Times Add to Recruitment Challenges

Sep 20 2010 // People are a company’s greatest asset. Yet finding the right people is often challenging, particularly in the insurance industry. While the economic downturn put a hold on hiring for many firms, the seemingly steady...

Gulf Hurricane Insurance Bill Unlikely to Pass, Again

Sep 17 2010 // In Pascagoula, Miss., on the Gulf Coast, agent Laverne Nelson has to get windstorm coverage for her personal property from the state wind pool. That is because in April her property insurer, MetLife, dropped her wind...

P/C Insurers Post First Half Profit Despite Underwriting Losses

Sep 16 2010 // Private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income after taxes rose to $16.5 billion in first-half 2010 from $6 billion in first-half 2009, with insurers’ overall profitability as measured by their annualized...

Lloyd’s Recreates Famous Underwriting Room in Dublin for Charity

Sep 14 2010 // Lloyd’s has recreated its underwriting room in Dublin in the first event of its kind seen in Ireland. The unusual event “allowed representatives from the Irish and Lloyd’s markets to discuss their...

City of Hope Aims to Strike Out Cancer with Chicago Event

Sep 9 2010 // City of Hope’s Midwest Committee of the National Insurance Industry Council (NIIC) is hosting Aim to Strike Out Cancer, an evening of networking for insurance industry leaders along with fun, non-competitive bowling...

Fitch Revises U.S. P/C Industry Outlook to Stable

Sep 8 2010 // Fitch has revised its sector outlook on the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry to stable from negative for both the commercial lines and personal lines sectors. The ratings agency says that a stable outlook for the...

Insurance Leader Clements– Founder of Arch, Ironshore, Integro– Dies at 77

Sep 7 2010 // Robert Clements, a global insurance industry leader who helped start several insurers and a brokerage died on Sept. 4, 2010 of cancer at age 77. Clements founded Arch Capital Group and Ironshore Inc. and was instrumental...