Latest Market Headlines
All the headlines from our Market Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Lawsky Urges Fellow Regulators to Reform Force-Placed Insurance Market
Apr 9 2013 // New York Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky, whose department reached a settlement with the country’s largest “force-placed” or “lender-placed” insurer Assurant last month, is...
Qatar Financial Centre Authority Sells Qatarlyst to Ebix Inc.
Apr 9 2013 // The Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA) announced that it has reached an agreement to sell Qatarlyst, an electronic trading exchange for the global insurance and reinsurance industry, to Ebix Singapore Pte Limited, a...
The Right Career Choice for the Next Generation
Apr 8 2013 // The road to becoming a successful independent insurance agent is not always easy. The economy and often volatile property/casualty insurance market cycle are just two of the potholes agents must maneuver. Young agents in...
Astonish Announces Early Bird Pricing for Annual E-Agent Summit
Apr 3 2013 // Warwick, RI, 04/03/13 – Astonish, a leading digital marketing, technology, and training provider for insurance agencies and brokerages, is thrilled to announce early bird pricing for the upcoming E-Agent Summit taking...
Willis Re Sees Increased Capital Inflows as Threat to Reinsurers
Apr 2 2013 // A report from Willis Re, the reinsurance brokerage arm of Willis Group Holdings, concludes that “many traditional reinsurers now see the flow of capital coming into the reinsurance market as a direct threat to their...
Astonish’s One-Day Modern Consumer Training Hosted by QQ Solutions on Thursday, April 11
Apr 1 2013 // Warwick, RI, 04/01/13 – Astonish, a leading digital marketing solutions and sales training provider for insurance agencies, encourages local insurance agency principals, CEOs, and presidents in Florida and surrounding...
P/C Mergers Down in 2012 But Private Equity Still Favored Brokers: Conning
Mar 28 2013 // Amounting to just $4.7 billion in aggregate deal value, the 46 merger and acquisition transactions announced in the property/casualty insurance sector in 2012 were near record low levels, according to the latest annual...
North Carolina’s ‘Other’ Auto Insurance Market
Mar 27 2013 // I’ve already covered in these pages some of the things the editorial pages of North Carolina’s leading newspapers are getting wrong about S.B. 154, legislation to modernize the state’s system of setting...
Insurer Readiness on Long-Term Effects of Climate Change Called Into Question: Report
Mar 25 2013 // Insurers rank well in readiness for handling the short-term challenges of extreme weather events, but fall short in preparedness for the long-term effects of climate change, a new report says. A report that surveyed...
Agency Compensation: Who’s Worth What in Your Independent Agency?
Mar 20 2013 // From top level managers to office and support staff — every person in an agency has a role to play in helping the agency win in the sales game. When one person fails, the whole agency suffers. And when an agency suffers,...
Is This Right Time to Restructure Florida CAT Fund?
Mar 19 2013 // A move to restructure Florida’s state-run property reinsurance facility by lowering its financial obligation to insurers is facing an uphill legislative battle as both lawmakers and members of the industry find...
With Rates Expected to Drop, Cat Fund Reform Should Be a No-Brainer
Mar 18 2013 // For four out of the last seven years, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund has been projected to have a shortfall should a major hurricane impact the state and cause the fund to pay out to its coverage limits. This is...
Fahad Al-Hesni Joins MENA Insurance CEO Club
Mar 18 2013 // The MENA Insurance CEO Club (MICC) has welcomed Fahad Al-Hesni, Managing Director and CEO of Saudi Re, as one of the new members to be inducted in 2013. The group is a networking platform dedicated to exchanging ideas and...
Michigan Association of Professional Insurance Agents Hosts Astonish’s One-Day Modern Consumer Training on March 28
Mar 18 2013 // Warwick, RI, 3/18/13 – Astonish, a leading digital marketing solutions and sales training provider for insurance agencies, encourages local insurance agency principals, CEOs, and presidents in Michigan and surrounding...
Texas Lawmaker Scolds Insurance Industry over Coastal Coverage
Mar 14 2013 // A state senator in Texas is taking the insurance industry to task for what he perceives as its disinterest in coming up with new approaches to solving coastal windstorm insurance issues. In a Senate committee meeting on...
SNL Analysis Highlights Sandy’s Impact on P/C Underwriting Results
Mar 14 2013 // Financial information firm SNL Financial’s preliminary analysis of more than 2,600 individual property/casualty filer’s statutory data illustrates how big of an impact Superstorm Sandy had on the filers’...
CNA’s Motamed to Chair 2nd Annual IICF-Midwest Benefit Dinner
Mar 12 2013 // Thomas F. Motamed, chairman and CEO of CNA Financial Corp. will chair the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) – Midwest’s 2nd Annual Blazing the Trail Benefit Dinner. CNA is the presenting sponsor for...
Agents Hang Onto P/C Market But Lose Ground in Personal Auto: Study
Mar 11 2013 // After experiencing dwindling premiums for years, the property/casualty insurance industry managed to grow substantially in 2011. Independent agents and brokers hung onto their share of the market with some independent...
Former White Mountains’ Chair, GEICO Rescuer Byrne Passes Away
Mar 11 2013 // On March 9, Bloomberg reported the passing of John “Jack” Byrne, the former chair of White Mountains Insurance Group, who is best known for turning around GEICO from near bankruptcy in the mid-1970s and taking...
Report: Senate May Reject Texas Insurance Commissioner
Mar 11 2013 // Texas Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman could have trouble winning Senate confirmation to keep her job, as Democrats with enough votes to defeat her nomination question her credentials. Appointed by Texas Gov. Rick...
