Latest Market Headlines

All the headlines from our Market Topic Page, ordered by recency.

The Hard Market That Wasn’t

Sep 7 2015 // Are Your Carriers Positioned For What Comes Next? For the U.S., property/casualty industry recent events have mimicked the boxing idiom one, two punch. P/C industry professionals haven’t seen a combination of an...

Surplus Lines Posts Record-Breaking Year for 2014

Sep 4 2015 // The surplus lines industry broke records in 2014, growing direct premium written (DPW) in 2014 to $40.2 billion — the highest point in history, reports A.M. Best’s “2014 Special Report U.S. Surplus Lines –...

Tier 1 Reinsurers More Resilient than Smaller Firms in Current Market: Fitch

Sep 4 2015 // Major tier 1 reinsurers stand to benefit most from a changing reinsurance market and mounting competitive pressures, while small mono-line companies will be the hardest-hit, according to a reinsurance report published by...

A.M. Best: Reinsurance Sector Faces New Reality Shaped by Abundant Capacity

Sep 3 2015 // The reinsurance market is operating in a new reality of abundant capacity from traditional and alternative sources, low interest rates and thinner reinsurance margins, driven by intense competition against shrinking demand...

Towers Watson & Cambridge to Provide Usage-Based Auto Insurance Market Info

Sep 3 2015 // Global professional services company Towers Watson and Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), a telematics technology provider will use “advanced mobile sensing, data analytics and behavioral science,” in an...

Miami Agent Arrested for Operating With Expired License, Stealing Premium Funds

Sep 2 2015 // The Florida Division of Insurance Fraud announced the arrest of Tania Michel, 41, for failing to notify the Department of Financial Services of a federal fraud conviction, continuing to work in the insurance industry after...

P/C Insurance Industry’s Low Unemployment Rate Likely to Go Lower

Sep 1 2015 // The insurance sector has been hiring all year and appears on track to continue to add personnel. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate for the finance and insurance industry was at 2.1 percent...

Reinsurance Price Drops Moderating? Yes and No, Say Rating Agencies

Sep 1 2015 // Two of the property/casualty insurance industry’s ratings entities – Fitch and Standard & Poor’s – do not see eye-to-eye on whether reinsurance price declines are moderating. Fitch sees the downward...

Hurricane Katrina: The Numbers Tell Their Own Story

Aug 26 2015 // In a 25-year span leading up to 2005, homeowners insurers in Louisiana wrote a total of $13 billion in homeowners insurance premium, from which they earned $1 billion in profit, according to the chief actuary at the state...

Fitch: Downward Pricing Pressures in Reinsurance Market Begin to Slow

Aug 25 2015 // The reinsurance market showed signs of decelerating rate declines in its most recent June/July 2015 renewals, indicating that pricing could be approaching a new equilibrium, says Fitch Ratings in a new global sector...

8 Ways Katrina Changed Commercial Property Insurance

Aug 21 2015 // Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans 10 years ago, is responsible for a number of changes in the commercial property insurance market. According to Rick Miller, U.S. property practice leader at Aon Risk...

ILS Puts Reinsurance Market on a New Course: Twelve Capital’s Butler Explains How

Aug 19 2015 // Zurich-based Twelve Capital is only five years old, but it, along with similar companies, has already fundamentally altered the reinsurance industry. It’s taken a remarkably short period of time for...

Progressive Insurance CEO on 5 Macro Trends of Note

Aug 19 2015 // By his own admission Progressive Insurance CEO Glenn Renwick (and his company) may not be right about the impact certain macro trends will have on the insurance industry, but in his view “it’s important to have...

Progressive CEO Renwick’s 5 Macro Trends of Note

Aug 17 2015 // By his own admission Progressive Insurance CEO Glenn Renwick (and his company) may not be right about the impact certain macro trends will have on the insurance industry, but in his view “it’s important to have...

10 Years After Katrina/Rita Louisiana Citizens’ Market Share at 1.8%

Aug 12 2015 // The market share of Louisiana’s property insurer of last resort — Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.— has declined from 9.8 percent to 1.8 percent in the 10 years after back-to-back Hurricanes Katrina...

Louisiana to Host Post-Katrina/Rita Insurance Market Summit

Aug 7 2015 // The Louisiana Department of Insurance is hosting an event to discuss the property/casualty insurance market as the state marks the 10 years that have passed since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused more than $28 billion in...

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Enters Marine Insurance Market in Australia & N.Z.

Aug 4 2015 // Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Enters Marine Insurance Market in Australia & N.Z Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (BHSI) announced that it has begun underwriting Marine Insurance in Australia and New...

OneBeacon Sells Crop Agency to Amtrust, Exits Crop Insurance Market

Aug 3 2015 // OneBeacon Insurance Group is exiting the crop insurance business. The Bermuda-domiciled insurance holding company made it official with the sale of its exclusive managing general agency – Climate Crop Insurance Agency...

Progressive CEO Renwick’s 5 Macro Trends of Note

Aug 3 2015 // By his own admission Progressive Insurance CEO Glenn Renwick (and his company) may not be right about the impact certain macro trends will have on the insurance industry, but in his view “it’s important to have...

The Myth of the Tech-Savvy Millennial

Aug 3 2015 // The idea that Millennials have superior tech skills and knowledge is something that has been an oft-repeated fact, both in the insurance industry and in our national consciousness. It makes sense; Millennials are the first...