Latest Market Headlines
All the headlines from our Market Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Risk, Reward and Reflection
Jun 15 2009 // Lessons Gained from the Current Economic Storm The property/casualty business has never been easy. As history shows, the underwriting community has been successful in creating and delivering insurance products that give...
How Actuaries Help P/C Insurers Navigate Uncertain Markets
Jun 11 2009 // Property/casualty insurers and reinsurers rely more than ever on the expertise of actuaries at a point in the cycle when the market is neither softening nor hardening, attendees at the CAS Seminar on Reinsurance were told...
Analysts: P/C Insurers’ Hopes for Hard Market Undercutting Reserves
Jun 10 2009 // Some property/casualty insurers might be in for a rude awakening with respect to their reserve practices, according to industry experts. The property/casualty insurance sector’s ability to properly estimate its loss...
Marsh Warns of ‘Perfect Storm’ in UK Construction PI Insurance Market
Jun 9 2009 // According to Marsh’s London Office, “the UK architectural, engineering and construction sector is facing a ‘perfect storm’ which could leave many firms facing increasing risks at a time when the...
Quality and Protectionism in the Insurance Market
Jun 1 2009 // Why Market Blocking Is Not Best for the Consumer or the Industry The insurance business needs to lose a vestige of the insurance marketplace of the last century. Let’s become more friendly to competition and the free...
Insurance Industry Plays Significant Role in California’s Economy
Jun 1 2009 // The insurance industry plays a significant role in California’s economy, employing hundreds of thousands of workers, investing billions of dollars in state and local governments and paying the fourth largest amount...
How to Re-ignite Producers – and Other Employees – Who Have Lost Their Spark
Jun 1 2009 // Incentive Compensation Focused on Customers, Not Premiums, Works, Consultant Says Al Diamond is one of the country’s best known and respected agency management consultants. His firm, the Agency Consulting Group, is...
Another Go-Round for Surplus Lines Regulation Reform
Jun 1 2009 // Federal lawmakers once again are preparing to tackle the issue of how states can more effectively regulate the surplus lines insurance market. It’s been tried before, but legislation was recently reintroduced in the...
Economy Forcing Changes in Carrier Investment Philosophy
Jun 1 2009 // Ratings Agencies May Need to Rethink Their Methodologies as Well The current economic environment has produced several influences that in combination are negatively affecting, or at least stressing, property casualty...
Direct Writers Continue Battle for Massachusetts Auto Market
Jun 1 2009 // Allstate Announces Plan to Begin Writing After Generation-Long Hiatus Direct writers continue to target the Massachusetts personal auto insurance market, as one major national carrier announced it has written its first...
Oregon Warns Insurance Industry About Arbitration Clauses
Jun 1 2009 // The Oregon Insurance Division is warning the insurance industry to be careful about arbitration clauses. According to a recently posted bulletin, “It has recently come to [OID’s] attention that policy forms,...
How to Re-ignite Producers – and Other Employees – Who Have Lost Their Spark
Jun 1 2009 // Al Diamond is one of the country’s best known and respected agency management consultants. His firm, the Agency Consulting Group, is based in Cherry Hill, N.J. He deals with agencies across the country on issues...
Growth Beneath the Radar
Jun 1 2009 // Don’t be fooled by the AIG headlines: Not all of the insurance industry is in retreat mode. In some pockets of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, carriers are continuing to pursue downright aggressive growth strategies...
Revisiting Surplus Lines Regulation Reform
Jun 1 2009 // Federal lawmakers once again are preparing to tackle the issue of how states can more effectively regulate the surplus lines insurance market. It’s been tried before, but legislation was recently reintroduced in the...
ASI Enters South Carolina Homeowners Insurance Market
May 22 2009 // Florida-based American Strategic Insurance Corp. (ASI) has entered the South Carolina marketplace and is offering homeowners’ insurance coverage for coastal property owners through independent agents. “As the...
Insurance Industry Plays Significant Role in California’s Economy
May 20 2009 // The insurance industry plays a significant role in California’s economy, employing hundreds of thousands of workers, investing billions of dollars in state and local governments and paying the fourth largest amount...
Fitch Advises Florida Insurance Market Remains ‘Fragile’
May 20 2009 // Fitch Ratings agency is advising that the Florida property insurance market is “fragile” and remains a “peak risk zone.” The Florida assessment is included in a Fitch report for investors right...
Cunningham Lindsey U.S. CEO: Market Conditions Not Slowing Growth
May 20 2009 // With its acquisition in early 2009 of the international business of GAB Robins (excluding its UK operations) and the U.S. forensic engineering firm, EFI Global, Cunningham Lindsey became the second largest property...
Economy Forcing Changes in Carrier Investments
May 19 2009 // The current economic environment has produced several influences that in combination are negatively affecting, or at least stressing, property casualty insurance carriers in unique ways, according to one experienced...
Reinvention in Insurance: Is it Possible?
May 18 2009 // Despite what you may think, the insurance industry has not changed much in the past century. The insurance industry was regulated in 1945 with the passage of the McCarran-Ferguson Act that allows insurance to be regulated...