Latest Property Casualty Headlines

Fitch Sees Chile Quake Losses Unlikely to Impact P/C Insurance Ratings

Mar 5 2010 // Based on preliminary analysis, Fitch Ratings said it believes that the Chilean P/C insurance industry “will likely be able to absorb losses from the earthquake and Tsunami that hit the central-south part of Chile on...

Allianz 2009 Net Income up 13% at $6.4 Billion

Feb 26 2010 // Germany’s Allianz Group posted preliminary figures for 2009, indicating that its net income rose by 13.2 percent to €4.7 billion [$6.4 billion]. Revenues were up up 5.2 percent to €97.4 billion [$132.5...

Maag to Head North American P&C Unit for XL

Feb 24 2010 // XL Insurance has appointed Seraina Maag as chief executive of its North America Property & Casualty (P&C) unit. Maag most recently headed the Zurich North America Commercial, Specialties Business Unit, managing all...

Keystone Insurers Adds Peel & Holland Agency in Kentucky

Feb 23 2010 // Peel & Holland Financial Group, based in Benton, Ky., has become the newest Kentucky partner within Keystone Insurers Group (KIG), the nation’s sixth largest privately-held property/casualty agency. Peel &...

M&A Activity at Decade Lows

Feb 21 2010 // Leading into 2009, agencies were at a crossroads; uncertain of whether to sell, buy, or implement new or improved organic growth strategies. The path was uncertain, but it was widely believed that market, economic and...

PartnerRe Changes Organizational Structure after PARIS RE Acquisition

Feb 12 2010 // Bermuda-based PartnerRe Ltd. Has announced organizational changes, following the acquisition of PARIS RE. The Company said it would “maintain its existing business unit-based operating structure, consisting of three...

Louisiana Recovered $8.2M for Insurance Consumers in 2009

Feb 12 2010 // Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon announced that the Department of Insurance helped Louisiana insurance consumers to recover $8.2 million in insurance payments last year. The recovered funds result from...

Best Affirms CNA and Subs Ratings; Revises Outlook to Stable

Feb 11 2010 // A.M. Best Co. has revised the outlook to stable from negative and affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a” of CNA Insurance Companies...

ACE Posts $2.549 Billion 2009 Net Income; Conference Call Today

Feb 3 2010 // ACE Limited reported net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, of $953 million, or $2.81 per share, compared with $0.06 per share for the same quarter last year. For the full year ACE reported net income of...

Keystone Insurers Adds 4 More Kentucky Agencies

Jan 26 2010 // Limestone Insurance, Lexington Insurance Agency, Inc., Durrett Insurance and Insuramax have joined Keystone Insurers Group (KIG), bringing KIG’s number of agencies in Kentucky to six. Keystone is the nation’s...

How Small Group Partnerships Help Agencies to Grow Employee Benefits Revenue

Jan 24 2010 // Gibson Insurance Group, Bolton & Co. Tell Their Tales of Growth In today’s challenging economic environment, property/casualty brokers are struggling to thrive. Toss in management of increasingly complex employee...

Ladner Named Vice Chair of Texas Property/Casualty Guaranty Assoc.

Jan 13 2010 // The Texas Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association has appointed Gerald Ladner to vice chair of its Board of Directors. His term runs through Dec. 31, 2011. Ladner, a resident of Austin, is the regional...

Keystone Insurers Group Adds 2 Agencies in Kentucky to Network

Jan 12 2010 // C.M. Moore Insurance of Bowling Green and Al Torstrick Insurance of Lexington will be the first franchises in Kentucky for Keystone Insurers Group (KIG), the nation’s sixth largest privately-held property/casualty...

West Virginia Court Sides with Insurer on Antitrust Claim by Cancelled Agent

Jan 10 2010 // An insurance company has won a victory over one of its former West Virginia agents who claimed the insurer violated state antitrust law when it cancelled his contracts to sell its life and property/casualty products. The...

Liberty Mutual Receives China Approval to Open Zhejiang Branch

Jan 7 2010 // Liberty Mutual Group, through its wholly owned subsidiary Liberty Insurance Company Limited (LICL), has been granted approval to establish a branch in Zhejiang by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC). Liberty...

CNA Chief Motamed: What’s Ahead for CNA, Economy, Industry

Jan 6 2010 // After 30 years at Chubb Corp, Thomas Motamed joined Chicago-based commercial lines insurer CNA Financial in January 2009 as chairman and CEO. In this edited interview with Insurance Journal’s Andrew Simpson, Motamed...

Dec 30 2009 // Insurers contributed $30.1 billion to California’s gross state product in 2007, accounting for about 2 percent of the state’s gross domestic product, according to a new report written by the Insurance...

Rocky 2009 Leaves P/C Agents Hoping for a Better 2010

Dec 29 2009 // Once again, agents and brokers are wishing for a harder insurance market in the New Year. But while most agents hope for firmer insurance pricing in 2010, just slightly more than a quarter (26.9 percent) predict a harder...

P/C Industry’s Net Income Up; Combined Ratio at 100.7 for Q3

Dec 22 2009 // Private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income after taxes rose to $16.2 billion through nine-months 2009, partially recovering from the 91.2 percent decline to $4.4 billion through nine-months 2008 from $49.6...

AIG Halts Efforts to Sell Chartis Shares to Focus on P/C Unit’s Growth

Dec 22 2009 // American International Group Inc. has halted efforts to sell a stake in Chartis, as Chief Executive Robert Benmosche focuses on expanding the property and casualty unit, a person familiar with the situation said...