Latest Market Headlines

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

California Commissioner Says Insurers Earning “Excess Profits”

May 25 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has released a new report on the profitability of homeowners and private passenger automobile insurance companies. According to the Commissioner’s office, “the...

What Happens If P/C Industry Catches the Flu; Program Best Practices; Giant Program Guide Highlight IJ Magazine

May 23 2006 // The potential exposures for the property casualty insurance industry have fallen under the radar in the discussions of the effects of an Avian flu or other pandemic. Most people keeping watch on the possible effects have...

Floridians Upset Over Citizens Increases

May 22 2006 // Marci L. Rose’s home and rental properties escaped serious damage when hurricanes battered the state in 2004 and 2005, but she might lose them anyway. Like thousands of Floridians, the Key West real estate attorney...

Swiss Re Opens HK Training Center

May 22 2006 // Swiss Re announced that it has officially opened the “Swiss Insurance Training Centre (HK) [SITC-HK], to mark the company’s 50th year in Asia-Pacific.” Swiss Re said the new facility will provide...

POST SPITZER, MERGER ACTIVITY PICKING UP, SAYS MYSTIC CAPITAL

May 22 2006 // Last year wasn’t the busiest year for mergers and acquisitions in the insurance agency and brokerage field, but as concerns over various probes of the insurance industry fade, activity is picking up. Kevin Donoghue,...

Getting tough in a soft market

May 22 2006 // We waited many years for a hard insurance market to get here, and it appears that to a large extent it is already over. While rates and premiums still appear to be at adequate levels, most lines of business appear to have...

SullivanCurtisMonroe CEO says growth, profit and fun equal success

May 22 2006 // Best Practices is a new Insurance Journal column that profiles how some of the nation’s top performing agencies run their operations. IJ’s Publisher Mark Wells recently interviewed William Curtis, managing...

Harnessing technology in the London insurance market

May 22 2006 // Kinnect is dead! Long live Kinnect! Although Lloyd’s long troubled IT project was consigned to the flames last January (See IJ Website Jan. 24), a number of IT phoenix have risen from its ashes. “I think 2006...

Blackmail allegations heat up California auto reforms debate

May 22 2006 // John Garamendi has called for an investigation into an apparent campaign attacking him and his proposed auto insurance rate regulations in California. Supposedly waged by insurance industry officials and advocates,...

Keeping tabs on transparency

May 22 2006 // “In life there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed — but when they are, great drama is born.” Quoting from the “Desire Under the Elms” playbill at the Lesher Regional Center for the Arts...

Post Spitzer, merger activity picking up, says Mystic Capital

May 22 2006 // Last year wasn’t the busiest year for mergers and acquisitions in the insurance agency and brokerage field, but as concerns over various probes of the insurance industry fade, activity is picking up. Kevin Donoghue,...

Keeping tabs on transparency

May 22 2006 // Quoting from the “Desire Under the Elms” playbill at the Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, Calif., Paul Sachs, managing director for the Los Angeles office and Pacific Southwest region for...

Post Spitzer, merger activity picking up, says Mystic Capital

May 22 2006 // News Currents Last year wasn’t the busiest year for mergers and acquisitions in the insurance agency and brokerage field, but as concerns over various probes of the insurance industry fade, activity is picking...

Post Spitzer, merger activity picking up, says Mystic Capital

May 22 2006 // Last year wasn’t the busiest year for mergers and acquisitions in the insurance agency and brokerage field, but as concerns over various probes of the insurance industry fade, activity is picking up. Kevin Donoghue,...

Avian Flu and the Property Casualty Industry

May 22 2006 // Insurance buyers are taking a close look at their insurance and risk management programs, looking for possible financial recourse in the event of an outbreak. It is therefore worthwhile to examine each line of coverage in...

Getting tough in a soft market

May 22 2006 // We waited many years for a hard insurance market to get here, and it appears that to a large extent it is already over. While rates and premiums still appear to be at adequate levels, most lines of business appear to have...

Despite catastrophe losses, soft pricing continues in commercial insurance market, buyers report

May 22 2006 // Although property and general liability insurance rates increased in the first quarter of 2006, all indications point to a continuing soft commercial insurance market, according to the Risk and Insurance Management Society...

London Insurance Market

May 22 2006 // House of Lords asbestos decision limits damage liability The U.K.’s House of Lords handed down judgments on May 3 in three major cases involving employers and their insurers’ liability for damages to workers...

Harnessing technology in the London insurance market

May 22 2006 // Kinnect is dead! Long live Kinnect! Although Lloyd’s long troubled IT project was consigned to the flames last January (See IJ Website Jan. 24), a number of IT phoenix have risen from its ashes. “I think 2006...

SullivanCurtisMonroe CEO says growth, profit and fun equal success

May 22 2006 // Best Practices is a new Insurance Journal column that profiles how some of the nation’s top performing agencies run their operations. IJ’s Publisher Mark Wells recently interviewed William Curtis, managing...