Latest Property Headlines

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

XL Names 6 to North America Construction Team

Aug 17 2011 // XL Insurance has made six key appointments to its North America Construction team that it established a year ago. The latest additions to XL Insurance’s North America Construction team include: Lawrence Lejfer...

New Rating and Policy Bureau Breaks Ground With Injudicious Exclusion

Aug 15 2011 // Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in Insurance Journal’s Satire Issue, August 15, 2011. The content in this issue is not real and is not to be taken seriously. It’s supposed to be humorous....

Lloyd’s: Drought Caused Subsidence Costliest Natural Hazard in Parts of Europe

Aug 9 2011 // An article on the Lloyd’s web site notes that “news reports on climate change have focused on dire predictions of more hurricanes and increasing flooding due to rising sea levels. But subsidence caused by...

XL Insurance Appoints Western Property Executive

Aug 5 2011 // XL Insurance has appointed Wade Pitman as senior vice president and Western senior executive for property. Pitman will be based in Los Angeles and will be responsible for managing property underwriting activities in...

Swiss Re Posts $960 Million Q2 Net Income; Combined Ratio 78.4%

Aug 4 2011 // Swiss Re reported Group net income increased by 18 percent to $960 million in the second quarter of 2011, compared to $812 million in the same period of 2010. “All segments contributed to these positive results,...

People

Aug 1 2011 // Wholesaler Swett & Crawford has added Ricky Dawson to its casualty staff in New York. Dawson, who has a background in both insurance wholesale brokerage and underwriting, previously served as a wholesale broker with...

P/C Commercial Prices Showed Modest Increases in Q2: Brokers’ Survey

Jul 28 2011 // Pricing in the U.S. commercial property/casualty market showed modest increases in the second quarter of this year, compared with the first quarter. That’s according to The Council of Insurance Agents &...

Oklahoma Resident’s Protests Prompt Flood Map Change

Jul 25 2011 // Residents of Lake McAlester in Oklahoma are no longer in a Federal Emergency Management Area flood zone after an uncommon re-mapping of the area. “This is the only area in the state of Oklahoma that has been ever...

Volvo Technology Prevents 27% of Low-Speed Crashes: Insurance Study

Jul 20 2011 // Vehicles are doing a better job of protecting people in crashes, but a new crop of advanced technology aims to prevent many crashes from happening altogether. A new study by the insurance industry’s Highway Loss Data...

XL Insurance Strengthens International Property Business

Jul 19 2011 // XL Insurance, the global insurance operations of XL Group, announced changes in its International Property business, which it said are “in line with XL Insurance’s strategy of providing innovative solutions...

Hawaii Blowhole Death Raises Liability Questions

Jul 19 2011 // The fiancee of the Northern California man who was sucked into a blowhole to his apparent death said there should have been signs warning people of the dangers of the geyser-like creation along a rugged stretch of the Maui...

People

Jul 18 2011 // Bob Shepard, board chairman of Shepard Walton King Insurance Group in Harlingen, was installed as president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas for 2011-2012 during the association’s annual business meeting...

Marsh Names Barber to New Role in U.S. Property Practice

Jul 14 2011 // Insurance broker Marsh has named Ryan A. Barber to the newly created role of head of Industry Specialization within its U.S. Property Practice. Barber will be responsible for industry-based risk advisory and insurance...

Midwest Agents Say FEMA Creating Flood Insurance Confusion

Jul 12 2011 // Insurance agents in states along the swollen Missouri River basin say federal officials are causing widespread confusion among property owners by pushing the sale of flood insurance policies that might not cover damage...

Swiss Re Warns Europe of Increasing ‘Soil Subsidence’ from Climate Change

Jul 5 2011 // According to a new study from Swiss Re, “Europe is witnessing a dramatic increase in property damage as a result of soil subsidence.” A new loss model developed by Swiss Re and the Swiss Federal Institute of...

Marsh Risk Consulting Launches Information Protection, IP Coverage

Jul 5 2011 // The protection of critical information and intellectual property (IP) can determine the success or failure of even the most established firms. The advent of cloud computing, social networking, outsourcing, and other modern...

People

Jul 4 2011 // Liberty Mutual Group’s Edmund F. Kelly retired from active management of the company on June 28. David H. Long is now president and CEO. Kelly will continue to serve as chairman of the board of Liberty Mutual Holding...

P/C Insurers’ Profits Fell in Q1 as Underwriting Losses Grew

Jul 4 2011 // Private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income after taxes dropped to $7.8 billion in first-quarter 2011 from $8.9 billion in first-quarter 2010, with insurers’ annualized rate of return on average...

People

Jul 4 2011 // Liberty Mutual Group’s Edmund F. Kelly retired from active management of the company on June 28, 2011. David H. Long replaced Kelly as president and CEO. Kelly will continue to serve as chairman of the board of...

Demotech Inc. Identifies 2011 Near National Property/Casualty Insurers

Jul 4 2011 // The original criteria and objective definition for Near National insurance carriers was established in the Feb. 12, 2007, issue of Insurance Journal. The Demotech Company Classification System categorizes insurers into one...