Latest Property Casualty Headlines

Mar 10 2008 // People Ken Ross has been named commissioner of the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Services. Ross has been the acting commissioner since Linda Watters left the post in October. He has been with the state agency...

People

Mar 10 2008 // Willis Group Holdings, the global insurance broker, reports it has extended the employment agreement with Joseph J. Plumeri, its chairman and chief executive officer. The agreement, which was originally scheduled to expire...

Who’s Worth What?

Mar 10 2008 // Agency Salary Survey: Survey reveals fewer pay raises in 2007 but most agencies’ salaries hold firm Fewer independent agencies gave salary increases to managers, sales producers and support personnel in 2007 compared...

S&P Lowers Alleghany Ratings to ‘BBB’; An ‘Arbitrary’ Decision Says CEO

Mar 7 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it has lowered its counterparty credit rating on Alleghany Corp. by one notch to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB+’ and assigned a stable...

Feb 24 2008 // People Managing general agency and surplus lines wholesaler U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. named Terri Haselden vice president and manager of the Dallas Commercial Underwriting Department. Haselden, an experienced...

Growing Market Share and Revenue Through Financial Services

Feb 24 2008 // For years, property casualty (P/C) agencies have been making the jump into offering personal insurance — life, long-term care and disability — as an adjunct to their traditional products. Brokers have realized that the...

Rating Agencies React to AXA’s Acquisition of ING Seguros

Feb 19 2008 // A.M. Best Co. and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services have taken slightly different views of France’s AXA Group’s agreement to purchase 100 percent of the share capital of the ING Group’s...

Max Capital Reports Drop in Q4 Net Income; FY up 29% to $303 Million

Feb 14 2008 // The Bermuda-based Max Capital Group Ltd. reported net income for the three months ended December 31, 2007, of $62.4 million, or $1.00 per fully diluted share, versus net income of $95.4 million, or $1.50 per fully diluted...

Texas Joins Rest of the U.S. in Profitability Upswing of Last Few Years

Feb 10 2008 // I.I.I.’s Hartwig says the state is still one of the riskiest in which to operate The last few years have been good ones for the property casualty insurance industry in terms of profitability. But it’s been a...

People

Feb 10 2008 // Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation hired Michael Page as director of safety and loss prevention. Page previously was director of loss prevention services for Workforce Safety and Insurance in North Dakota...

From Insurance to Candy

Feb 10 2008 // For former insurance pro, life really is a box of chocolates Although it’s been many years since See’s Candies President Brad Kinstler was at the helm of an insurance company, and even longer since he was...

SCOR Receives Approval for Beijing P/C Branch

Feb 6 2008 // France’s SCOR Group has received final approval to start operating a Property and Casualty branch in Beijing from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC). The endorsement of SCOR’s request to set up a...

ACE FY Net Up12% to $2.578 Billion Despite Q4 Losses; Conference Call Today

Feb 6 2008 // ACE Limited’s earnings report showed a 14 percent drop in fourth quarter net earnings to $572 million, down from $665 million in the same period of 2006. The Company posted Q4 investment losses of $134 million....

I.I.I.’s Hartwig: Texas P/C Market Profitable Along with Rest of U.S.

Feb 5 2008 // The last few years have been good ones for the property casualty insurance industry in terms of profitability. But it’s been a long time coming, according to Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information...

China’s CNinsure Buys Majority Interests in 2 P/C Insurance Agencies

Feb 1 2008 // CNinsure Inc., a leading independent insurance agency and brokerage company operating in China, is acquiring majority interests in Changsha Lianyi Insurance Agency Co., Ltd. (Lianyi) and Jiangmen Fanhua Zhicheng Insurance...

S&P: P/C ‘Reserve Adequacy’ Criteria

Jan 31 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has published an article titled, “Property/Casualty Insurance Criteria For Assessing Loss Reserve Adequacy For U.S.-Based Insurers/Reinsurers” on RatingsDirect, its...

TDI December Enforcements Result in Nearly $1.6M in Fines, Restitution

Jan 31 2008 // Enforcement actions taken by the Texas Department of Insurance December 2007 resulted in eight license revocations, four license denials, and fines and restitution totaling $1,591,264, the department reported. An order...

Munich Re Expects $5.77 Billion 2007 Profit

Jan 30 2008 // The Munich Re Group announced that it expects a record profit for 2007 of €3.9 billion ($5.77 billion) on the basis of preliminary figures. The amount exceeds the profit guidance of €3.5-3.8 billion ($5.18 to $5.62...

For 2007, Hanover Reports P/C Earnings Up 20%; Premiums Up 5%

Jan 29 2008 // The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. in Worcester, Mass. reported a rise in earnings for the fourth quarter and last year overall while its chief executive officer expressed confidence the company has “momentum leading...

People

Jan 27 2008 // Zurich named Kevin Dunham senior vice president and global relationship leader for the western region of its Global Corporate in North America Business unit. Dunham is based in Glendale, Calif., and will manage accounts...