Latest Pricing Trends Headlines

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

Industry Group Opposes Massachusetts Proposal to Set Auto Labor Rates

Jun 21 2013 // The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies is opposing bills currently under consideration in Massachusetts that would require the state to set a minimum hourly labor rate that insurers must pay for auto...

Iowa Health Insurer to Seek Smaller Rate Hikes

Jun 19 2013 // Months after customers blasted the company for skyrocketing rates, Iowa’s dominant health insurer says it will limit premium increases in 2014 to less than six percent for individual and small business...

West Africa Piracy Endangering Commodities Shipping, Increasing Rates

Jun 18 2013 // Pirate attacks off West Africa’s mineral-rich Gulf of Guinea have almost doubled from last year and threaten to increase the costs and jeopardize the shipping of commodities from the region. The Gulf of Guinea, which...

Commercial Insurance Rates Up 5% Again in May: MarketScout

Jun 17 2013 // The average composite rate for commercial property/casualty insurance in the U.S. was up 5 percent for May 2013. This marks the third month in a row for a 5 percent increase, according to MarketScout’s analysis. By...

Commercial Insurance Rates Were Up 5% Again in May: MarketScout

Jun 5 2013 // The average composite rate for commercial property/casualty insurance in the U.S. was up five percent for May 2013. This marks the third month in a row for a five percent increase, according to MarketScout’s...

After Years of Increases, Florida Property Insurance Rates May Be Stabilizing

May 29 2013 // It’s been nearly eight years since Hurricane Wilma raked the southern end of Florida and caused billions in damages, the last of eight hurricanes to hit the state in 2004 and 2005. Yet even as the state has been...

Rockwood Decreases Agent E&O Rates in Massachusetts, California, Texas

May 7 2013 // Rockwood Programs has implemented underwriting guideline changes to its P&C Agents E&O program. The modifications will result in a rate decrease in the states of California, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Texas. The...

Commercial Rates Up 5% in April; Berkshire Move Could Affect Market: MarketScout

May 7 2013 // Property, casualty and professional liability insurance rates were up five percent in April, according to MarketScout’s most recent composite index. That matches the increase for March. Commercial property and...

Massachusetts FAIR Plan Seeks Rate Hike

May 6 2013 // The Massachusetts FAIR (Fair Access to Insurance Requirements) Plan, the state’s home insurer of last resort, has proposed in April an average statewide rate hike of 6.8 percent. Testimony from expert witnesses and...

SNL: E&S Premiums Up in 2012; Top 30 Carriers Ranked

May 2 2013 // Excess and surplus lines premiums in the U.S. were up for a second consecutive year in 2012, rising 10.8 percent to $25.44 billion, and grew at a faster rate than in 2011, according to SNL Financial. Not too long ago —...

RSA Posts 7% Premium Growth in Q1 2013; Net Asset Value up 5%

May 2 2013 //

Storm Costs Driving Up New Jersey Auto Insurance Rates

Apr 30 2013 // Losses from previous storms are helping to drive up New Jersey’s auto insurance rates, which are already the highest in the nation. The Record newspaper reports the state approved increases for 26 insurance companies...

Mass. FAIR Plan Seeks Rate Hike; Expert Witnesses to Testify on Insurer’s Behalf

Apr 28 2013 // The Massachusetts FAIR (Fair Access to Insurance Requirements) Plan, the state’s home insurer of last resort, has proposed this month an average statewide rate hike of 6.8 percent. The FAIR Plan, whose official name...

Travelers Q1 Profit Up 11% to $896M; CEO Says ‘We Will Keep Going’ on Rate Hikes

Apr 24 2013 // The Travelers Companies Inc. on Tuesday reported $896 million net income for its 2013 first quarter, an increase of 11 percent compared to $806 million income reported during the first quarter of 2012. Travelers said the...

Oklahoma Flood Insurance Rate Increases in October

Apr 22 2013 // The Oklahoma Department of Insurance says flood insurance administered by the National Flood Insurance Program is set to increase rates for new and renewal policies effective Oct. 1. Flood insurance is offered to...

Rates Should Rise Moderately for Most Commercial Lines

Apr 22 2013 // Commercial insurance buyers in all product lines should see rates rise moderately through the remainder of 2013, although commercial property rates for non-catastrophe exposed risks and some specialty lines may see slight...

Commercial Rates Continued Up in March, Even for Large Accounts: MarketScout

Apr 22 2013 // Commercial insurance rates were up about 5 percent in March, according to the latest barometer from MarketScout and the National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research. Manufacturing continues to post the largest...

10-Point Checklist for DO Renewals in a Hard Market

Apr 22 2013 // No one, least of all the insured, likes a price increase. But with the D&O market firming across the board – as confirmed by the Towers Watson “2012 Directors and Officers Liability Survey” released in...

Senate Bill Would Require Approval of Large Louisiana Citizens Rate Hikes

Apr 18 2013 // Large rate hikes for customers of Louisiana’s property insurer of last resort would require legislative approval, under a bill that received Senate Insurance Committee backing. St. Mary Parish Sen. Bret Allain...

Willis Energy Report: ‘Hardening’ of ‘Downstream’ Market; ‘Upstream Positive’

Apr 16 2013 // Recent natural catastrophe losses, including last year’s Hurricane Sandy, have prompted “a mild hardening in the Downstream Energy insurance market, so much so that some Downstream insurers may be on the cusp...