Latest Market Headlines
All the headlines from our Market Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Iowa Insurers Caught Like Deer in Headlights by Levy Request
Jan 24 2005 // DES MOINES, Iowa–A group of Iowa politicians wants the insurance industry to impose a levy on automobile policies to help fund a program to thin deer populations and decrease accidents they cause. Sen. Dennis Black...
Are We Repeating the Past … Again’
Jan 24 2005 // In a collection of works titled The Life of Reason, the philosopher George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” There’s now a momentous shift underway in the...
Tillinghast Tort System Cost Study Under Fire
Jan 18 2005 // National consumer groups are criticizing a leading consulting firm’s annual study of U.S. tort system costs, claiming the report “has nothing to do with the costs of litigation, courts or the legal...
Iowa Insurers Caught Like Deer in Headlights
Jan 16 2005 // DES MOINES, Iowa — A group of Iowa politicians wants the insurance industry to impose a levy on automobile policies to help fund a program to thin deer populations and decrease accidents they cause. Sen. Dennis Black...
D-Day for U.K. Insurance Industry as FSA Assumes Regulatory Control; AXA Fined $940,000
Jan 14 2005 // Today, Friday, Jan. 14, marks the long anticipated official takeover of regulatory responsibility over the U.K.’s insurance industry by the Financial Services Authority. There should be no major surprises, as the...
Survey: Investigations into Industry Practices to Expand in 2005; Respondents Expect Consolidation to Continue
Jan 14 2005 // Leaders of the property/casualty insurance industry expect the investigations into certain industry practices by state attorneys general and insurance departments will continue to expand in 2005, according to a survey...
2004 Will be Remembered as Beginning of Soft Market
Jan 14 2005 // MarketScout reported recently that calendar year 2004 will end with an average 2 percent increase in composite property and casualty premiums. The year began in January 2004 with increases averaging 11 percent, a major...
Lloyd’s Chairman Warns Insurers 2005 Will Be Critical For Rebuilding Industry’s Reputation
Jan 13 2005 // A record year of natural disaster losses and Eliot Spitzer’s investigations into payment practices highlighted the urgent need for the insurance industry to tackle its reputation and practices during 2005, Lord...
Guy Carpenter & Co. Report Finds U.S. Reinsurance Market Flat, Slightly Down
Jan 10 2005 // Guy Carpenter & Company Inc., part of the Marsh & McLennan Companies, has released its annual report on pricing at renewals, U.S. Reinsurance Renewals at Jan. 1, 2005, which found pricing generally to be flat to...
Willis Issues Annual Reinsurance Marketplace Review
Jan 7 2005 // Global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings has released its reinsurance review of the marketplace for the January 1, 2005 renewals. The Willis Re report includes information on rate movements and commentary from...
Best Affirms Singapore Re Ratings
Jan 6 2005 // A.M. Best Co. announced that it has affirmed the financial strength rating of “A-” (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of “a-” of Singapore Reinsurance Corporation Limited (Singapore Re) with a...
S&P Issues Report on Latin American Reinsurance
Jan 5 2005 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has issued a report entitled, “The Latin American Reinsurance Industry: Underdeveloped, With Potential,” which points out that the “underdeveloped Latin...
Conning Says P/C Reserve Position Grows in 2003
Jan 4 2005 // Reserve deficiencies, which have plagued property/casualty insurers in recent years, improved dramatically in 2003, according to a new study by Conning Research & Consulting. The Conning Research study,...
Commercial Property Market Survives Extraordinary and Ordinary Catastrophes
Jan 3 2005 // The commercial property market took a huge hit from four major hurricanes that struck the U.S. mainland this past year. The full effects may have yet to be felt, however, it looks like commercial property insurers came...
Mid-Size Brokers Hope to Gain From Industry Stumbles
Jan 3 2005 // While the contingent commissions controversy has been roiling the upper decks of the insurance industry, mid-size brokers and carriers could benefit from increased disclosure, heightened professionalism among its ranks,...
Partnership to Improve Hurricane Preparedness
Jan 3 2005 // Floridians will long remember 2004 as the year of the hurricane. The Atlantic region had 15 named storms, nine of them hurricanes. Of those, four hit Florida in the span of six weeks. Recently, hurricane forecaster William...
From thoughts and words to deeds…
Jan 3 2005 // I am guilty of making New Year’s resolutions and then forgetting about them come March. In fact, in the beginning, my resolutions were only in my head. I guess somewhere along the way, probably back when I was in...
2005 P/C industry in a word: Resilience
Jan 2 2005 // The property/casualty insurance industry reported a statutory rate of return on average surplus of 9.5 percent through the first nine months of 2005, marginally below the 10.5 percent average return recorded during...
Best Reports P/C Industry Maintains Underwriting Profit, Despite “Unprecedented Cat Events”
Dec 28 2004 // A.M. Best Co. has released a year-end report on the U.S. P/C industry, which indicates that, “despite the colossal hurricane losses posted during the third quarter of 2004,” it “reported very strong...
HRH Releases D&O Snapshot and Forecast for 2005
Dec 23 2004 // Hilb Rogal & Hobbs has released its Directors and Officers Liability Snapshot and Insurance Market Forecast for 2005. Legislation, regulatory activity, litigation and corporate governance requirements continue to...
