Latest Market Headlines

Nebraska – L. Tim Wagner

Feb 11 2007 // Insurance Commissioner L. Tim Wagner has spent close to 40 years in the insurance industry, the last nine as the appointed Nebraska regulator. He takes his role seriously and believes the insurance industry has a real...

P/C industry may be long overdue for massive losses from an extreme “great” earthquake

Feb 11 2007 // The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry is long overdue for heavy losses from a massive earthquake, reports A.M. Best in its recent “2006 Annual Earthquake Study.” It is likely that if an earthquake of...

Lloyd’s climbs on the climate change bandwagon

Feb 11 2007 // There’s little doubt that the world is getting warmer. But this raises more questions. To what extent are greenhouse gasses, particularly CO2, responsible? Will the warming trend continue? Are there any effective...

Study Shows Doubling of Insurance Industry Growth in Iowa

Feb 8 2007 // Employment in the state’s insurance industry doubled during a 15-year period ending in 2005, with workers in the industry making far more than other nonfarm employees, a new study found. The study, by Iowa State...

Competition to Recognize “Best of the Best” in Insurance Marketing

Feb 7 2007 // The Insurance Marketing Communications Association (IMCA) is gearing up for its 49th IMCA Showcase Awards; a competition to recognize outstanding marketing communications in the insurance industry. The 2007 competition...

Industry Forecast Predicts Slower Premium Growth, But Underwriting Profit in 2007 and 2008

Feb 5 2007 // Most insurance industry analysts predict slower P/C premium growth for 2007, according to an Insurance Information Institute’s annual survey of Wall Street stock analysts and industry professionals released each year...

Clark Steps Down as President and CEO of AIR Worldwide

Feb 1 2007 // AIR Worldwide announced that Karen Clark, its current president and CEO, will assume the role of vice chairman of the board of AIR, effective April 15, 2007. S. Ming Lee, currently the company’s executive vice...

Mercator Advises Risk Managers to Prepare for World Without TRIEA

Jan 31 2007 // With the Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act (TRIEA) set to expire in December 2007, experts are speculating whether Congress will renew TRIEA as is, scale back its provisions or scrap it altogether. This widespread...

Corporate Governance, Capital Drive D&O Liability Prices Down

Jan 30 2007 // Changing corporate governance practices and excess capital in the insurance market have made directors and officers (D&O) liability premiums drop in recent years, according to Advisen Ltd., a provider of analytics,...

There’s a lot insurers do not like in Florida’s property insurance fix

Jan 29 2007 // Legislators rolled up their sleeves, ripped off their ties and unbuttoned their collars as a special legislative session on property insurance came to a head in Florida. After six days of conferring, negotiating and...

Industry leaders debate federal vs. state regulation with Democratic Congress shift

Jan 29 2007 // The Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS) held its international conference in Chicago in late 2006. Moderating the panel was television journalist Forrest Sawyer, a 24-year veteran of ABC, CBS and MSNBC, who...

FERMA Urges Members to Develop Environmental Liability Products

Jan 29 2007 // Warning that “European businesses face uninsurable environmental impairment risks,” the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) called on insurers to be less “risk averse.” It...

R&M Reports on Australian Insurers

Jan 29 2007 // Dublin-based Research and Markets announced the addition of Australian Insurance Industry: An Analysis to their offering. “This report is a detailed study about the Australian insurance industry and its various...

Windstorm expected to be major insurance issue for Texas lawmakers

Jan 29 2007 // Funding for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Asso-ciation (TWIA) may not be the only insurance issue on lawmakers’ plates during the 2007 session of the Texas Legislature, but it will likely be the most high profile...

Coping with catastrophe

Jan 29 2007 // Ten things agents and brokers can do to help clients obtain adequate cat coverage When it comes to property catastrophe insurance coverage, many commercial clients are being forced to swallow a bitter pill in the form of...

Private equity market bullish on E&S brokers

Jan 29 2007 // By mid-November more than $500 billion in private equity transactions had occurred in 2006, $100 billion in Oct. 2006 alone, according to Andrew Rosen, a partner with private equity firm HM Capital Partners. Dallas-based...

Now Is No Time to Ease Up on Loss Prevention, Warns Risk Expert

Jan 29 2007 // The insurance industry and its customers must not let down their guard concerning loss prevention despite a mild hurricane season and a quiet time on the terrorism front in the U.S., advises an expert in risk and...

Pricing discipline key to P/C insurers’ repeat performance in 2007

Jan 28 2007 // News Currents Property casualty insurance industry earnings may have peaked in 2006 but that doesn’t mean 2007 will see a reversion to reckless price cutting and relaxed underwriting, according to experts observing...

Jan 28 2007 // People Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s board of governors voted unanimously to recommend interim President Scott Wallace be appointed to the post permanently. Wallace was selected from more than 70 candidates by...

Private equity market bullish on E&S brokers

Jan 28 2007 // By mid-November more than $500 billion in private equity transactions had occurred in 2006, $100 billion in Oct. 2006 alone, according to Andrew Rosen, a partner with private equity firm HM Capital Partners. Dallas-based...