Latest Market Headlines
All the headlines from our Market Topic Page, ordered by recency.
S&P Publishes U.S. P/C Industry ‘Report Card’
Dec 23 2004 // According to a study published today by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry has experienced greater ratings stability in 2004, primarily due to improved...
Dallas Industry Day Focuses on Profitability, Tort Reform, Ratings
Dec 20 2004 // Texans like to say everything is bigger in Texas, but economist Robert P. Hartwig came to Dallas to explain that big numbers alone aren’t worthy of celebration. The Texas insurance industry, for example, enjoys big...
New York Agents See Hard P/C Insurance Market Lingering
Dec 20 2004 // Independent agents and brokers in New York see premium rates continuing to increase and coverage choices failing to improve for most lines of property casualty insurance in the state despite industry and press reports to...
Spitzer Investigation Dishes Out Winners, Losers in Financial Services Industry
Dec 20 2004 // The insurance industry continues to make the news even a month and a half after Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed his lawsuit against Marsh and McLennan for bid rigging and receiving contingent commissions. Contingent...
Fla. Comp Rules Repealed, Little Effect Seen on Insurance Industry
Dec 20 2004 // In early December the Florida Supreme Court decided it lacked jurisdiction and repealed Florida’s workers’ compensation rules it had previously enacted. According to knowledgeable industry experts, the action...
‘Girly Men’ and the Real World: The Public Role in Extreme Risk-Sharing
Dec 20 2004 // The Wharton School professor argued that insurance companies are not “girly men” when it comes to providing coverage for extreme risks such as hurricanes and terror attacks. It’s the federal...
‘Girly Men’ and the Real World: The Public Role in Extreme Risk-Sharing
Dec 17 2004 // The Wharton School professor argued that insurance companies are not “girly men” when it comes to providing coverage for extreme risks such as hurricanes and terror attacks. It’s the federal...
S&P Report Concludes Australian P/C Industry Stable
Dec 14 2004 // The credit outlook on Australia’s nonlife insurance industry will remain stable in 2005, despite moderation in earnings, according to Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services latest industry report card on...
N.Y. Agents’ Survey Sees Lingering Hard Market
Dec 9 2004 // Independent agents and brokers in New York see premium rates continuing to increase and coverage choices failing to improve for most lines of property casualty insurance in the state despite industry and press reports to...
D&O Premiums Decline for First Time Since 1999; Hard Market to Return by 2006 Predicts Tillinghast
Dec 7 2004 // Tillinghast’s Directors & Officers (D&O) liability insurance premium index dropped 10 percent from 2003 to 2004, the first decline since 1999, according to the 2004 Directors & Officers Liability...
Ill Winds Blow but the Ship Remains on Course
Dec 6 2004 // This year’s annual report on the reinsurance industry is a bit later than usual. It seems that beginning in August the voyage was interrupted by some serious storms, and it was hard to catch up to the boat as it...
Carrier Solvency, Not Aggregate Industry Reserves, Should be Focus
Dec 6 2004 // Placing Industry Loss and Loss Adjustment Expense Reserving into Perspective In an April 2004 edition of Insurance Journal, Mark Wells, publisher, utilized the ‘On the Street’ column to frame the issues related...
Outside on the Professional Liability Playground
Dec 6 2004 // The PLUS 17th Annual International Conference held in San Diego, Calif., Nov. 3-5, opened with an insightful panel discussion of well-known “outside the industry” professionals who routinely play the game of...
Partners Continue to Come and Go, But It’s a Great Time to Jump in the Game
Dec 6 2004 // Partners Continue to Come and Go, But It’s a Great Time to Jump in the Game Program business over the past 10-15 years has been a rocky road for the insurance industry. Companies are in the game today, but gone...
European Insurance Summit 2004 Offers Some Words to Live By
Dec 6 2004 // Rating agencies are a reality, and we have to live with them,” Martin Kauer, CFO, Converium AG. “Market share is the enemy of risk management,” Brian O’Hara, president and CEO, XL Capital....
A.M. Best Finds Improved Earnings Boost P/C Industry’s Surplus Position
Dec 6 2004 // The capital surplus for U.S. property casualty insurers increased by 21.8 percent in 2003, fueled by “vastly improved operating earnings” and a big boost in unrealized capital gains, according to A. M. Best...
Big “I” Panelists Concerned About Terrorism, Asbestos, Tort Reform
Dec 6 2004 // Terrorism, asbestos and tort reform will be key industry concerns according to five insurance company chief executives participating in a panel discussion during last month’s Independent Insurance Agents &...
Maintain a Clean Image
Dec 6 2004 // Data on damages from the four hurricanes that hit the southeast shows that records have been broken, but human actions are causing more and longer-term damage. Speakers representing the insurance industry and insurance...
Ala., Ga., La. Commissioners Discuss Untangling the Regulatory Environment
Dec 6 2004 // In times of disaster the insurance industry is supposed to shine, and your industry did,” Alabama Insurance Comm-issioner Walter A. Bell commented during a panel discussion at the Society of Insurance Research annual...
Oklahoma Looks Ahead, Celebrates Those Who Served Before
Dec 6 2004 // With any luck, by the time you read this, it will be out of date. Why? I hope Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry will have appointed a new insurance commissioner for the Sooner State. One thing that will not change regardless of...
