Latest Market Headlines
All the headlines from our Market Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Zurich Receives Top Award from Insurance Charitable Foundation
Dec 15 2011 // Zurich received the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation’s (IICF) “Double I” award this week. The award recognizes Zurich’s influence in the insurance industry and its impact through the...
N.Y. Consumer Report Accuses Insurers of Needlessly Raising Rates
Dec 15 2011 // A new consumer advocacy report is accusing P/C insurers of ‘colluding’ and needlessly raising commercial insurance rates at a time when U.S. businesses are still reeling from the slow economy. The report,...
Swiss Re Estimates 2011 Economic Cat Loss at $350 Bn; Insured Loss $108 Bn
Dec 15 2011 // Swiss Re describes 2011 as the “year with the highest catastrophe-related economic losses in history, at $350 billion.” It could have been the most costly year ever for the insurance industry, if Japan had been...
Va.-based IT Firm CSC Launches Insurance Cybersecurity Council
Dec 14 2011 // Virginia-based IT services provider CSC is forming an advisory board to help tackle cyber security issues in the insurance industry. It’s called the Insurance Cybersecurity Advisory Council. The company says the...
Report Says M&A Deal Flow Will Pick Up, Lists Potential Candidates
Dec 13 2011 // The insurance industry is likely to see more robust mergers-and-acquisitions activities in 2012, according to a New York investment and research firm. In 2011, the M&A deal volume started off relatively slowly,...
Aspen Chief Says It’s Time to Get Back Underwriting Discipline
Dec 13 2011 // With inadequate pricing levels for commercial lines, low interest rates and severe catastrophe losses, it’s high time insurers focus on underwriting discipline, said a veteran insurance executive. Mario Vitale,...
India’s Private Insurance Market Keeps Growing – Slowly but Surely
Dec 13 2011 // Even though China gets most of the headlines, there’s been slow, but steady, progress for private insurers in Asia’s other billion plus people country – India. Although its rate of growth has slowed recently,...
Willis: Power Market Review – Still No Hard Market, Despite Losses
Dec 9 2011 // 2011 looks set to be one of the worst years on record for natural catastrophe events; continuing civil unrest roils the Middle East and Europe’s economic crisis shows no signs of abating. All of those conditions...
Latest Analysis Concludes Foreign Insurers Missing Out on China Party
Dec 7 2011 // Ten years ago, foreign insurers were lining up to celebrate China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, eager to tap what was certain to become the world’s next big insurance frontier. A decade on, it is...
Aon Benfield Reports China Reinsurance Premiums up 70% since 2005
Dec 5 2011 // Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon Corp., has launched its China Property & Casualty Insurance and Reinsurance Market Report, which,” it said “reveals the...
Giving Hope
Dec 5 2011 // The National Insurance Industry Council’s 2011 Spirit of Life Award Dinner at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Calif., on Nov. 12 could have easily been renamed to the “Spirit...
RIMS: Soft Market Has Hit Bottom for Commercial Lines
Dec 5 2011 // Risk and Insurance Management Society’s latest survey found average renewal premium rates rising in three out of the four business lines it tracked. This “strongly suggests” that an eight-year period of...
Architects & Engineer Class Held Hostage by Price Cutting, Overcrowding
Dec 5 2011 // Even with historically low rates, tough competition, and a reduction in business, the architects and engineers professional liability class is still very highly sought after, with new players jumping in regularly. Some...
Are You Prepared for the Changing Insurance Market?
Dec 2 2011 // In today’s personal property/casualty insurance market, agents and brokers face increasing uncertainty. Staying the course is no longer an option to drive profitable growth. You must be informed of the latest market...
Swiss Re Economists See Weak Growth; Some Market Hardening; EU Peril
Dec 2 2011 // Swiss Re presented its latest analysis of the global economic outlook and its potential impact on the insurance industry at an economic forum in London yesterday, December 1. Chief Economist Kurt Karl began the discussion...
Foreign Insurers Must Decide If China’s Growth Outweighs Disadvantages
Nov 30 2011 // Foreign insurers will have to answer for themselves whether their disadvantaged position relative to domestic insurers in China is outweighed by the country’s very substantial overall market growth, according to...
Texas Regulator Abstains from MLR Vote; Says State Requested Waiver
Nov 29 2011 // The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has adopted a resolution urging Congress to amend the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to ensure...
Lockton Market Update Sees Signs of End to Executive Risks Soft Market
Nov 23 2011 // A new updated report from insurance broker Lockton concludes that the “prolonged buyer’s market in the executive risks insurance market may be ending.” Lockton’s William Boeck, in the U.S. executive...
Professional Lines Market Faces Uncertainty: Torus
Nov 22 2011 // The professional liability insurance market will face challenges in 2012 with widespread concerns over pricing, a heightened awareness of the current regulatory environment and fast-emerging new risks for small businesses,...
Agency E&O Survey: Why Agents Buy Coverage
Nov 22 2011 // Agency owners have a lot to protect. Of course, first and foremost they must protect their clients. But they must also protect their book of business. They must protect their relationships. They must protect their...
