Latest Trends Headlines

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

All Commercial Lines Rates, Even Workers’ Compensation, Up in May: IVANS Index

Jun 1 2017 // The May IVANS Index shows that for the first time in several months, premium renewal rates in all major commercial insurance lines are in positive territory. Notably, May is the first time in 2017 that workers’...

Coastal Texans Concerned About Rising Sea Levels Amid Hurricane Threats

May 31 2017 // Lalo Ojeda has lived with hurricanes all his life. The Houston Chronicle reports he was 14 when Hurricane Carla inundated Galveston Island in 1961. He evacuated as Hurricane Rita barreled toward the coast in 2005, then...

State of the P&C Insurance Industry 2017 Report-Chris Burand

May 30 2017 // San Diego, CA, May 30, 2017- Highly respected and outspoken insurance agency and industry consultant Chris Burand shares his “must-read” annual state of the property/casualty insurance industry report with his...

Cyber Insurance Market Growing More Slowly Than Expected: Allianz

May 26 2017 // The tiny market for cyber insurance has been slower to develop than generally anticipated, a member of Allianz’s board said in an interview. The European market for cyber insurance currently has a premium volume of...

NOAA Updates Forecast for Atlantic Hurricane Season, Pacific’s El NIno

May 26 2017 // The Atlantic hurricane season will likely churn out an above-average 11 to 17 named storms, in part due to fading odds than an El Nino will form in the Pacific. Of storms that emerge during the six-month season that begins...

Report: Climate Change to Increase Insured Losses from Windstorms in the U.K.

May 25 2017 // Climate change will drive up wind losses in the U.K. in coming years, according to a recent report from the Association of British Insurers, the Met Office, and Boston, Mass.-based catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide. The...

A.M. Best: Outlook Stable for MGA Insurance in Dallas

May 24 2017 // A.M. Best has revised the long-term issuer credit rating (long-term ICR) outlook to stable from positive and affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of B++ (Good) and the long-term ICR of “bbb” of MGA...

Rhode Island Insurance Agents Have New Coastal Insurance Market

May 24 2017 // Independent insurance agencies in Rhode Island have a new market for coastal homes – Spinnaker Insurance Company. Spinnaker’s New England distributor, Insurance Agency and Customer Service Company (IACSC) of...

Insured Losses for Europe’s Windstorm Thomas Rise to $279.2M: PERILS

May 23 2017 // The latest property insured loss estimate for Windstorm Thomas, which on Feb. 23-24 hit the British Isles, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, is €249 million (US$279.2 million), according to PERILS, the independent...

Cyber Insurance Sales Continue to Grow, Prices Stabilize, Brokers Report

May 23 2017 // Businesses are buying more cyber insurance and prices for the coverage are stabilizing, according to the latest survey by The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers. According to the survey of about 100 commercial lines...

Weather Co. Updates Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecast

May 22 2017 // In its second seasonal tropical forecast for the North Atlantic basin for the 2017 season, IBM’s The Weather Co. said it now expects a total of 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes, a slight...

Crewless Ships: Safer, Faster, Cleaner, Cheaper Future of Shipping – Opinion

May 22 2017 // It sounds like a ghost story: A huge cargo vessel sails up and down the Norwegian coast, silently going about its business, without a captain or crew in sight. But if all goes as planned, it’s actually the future of...

New York Board Proposes 4.5% Workers’ Compensation Rate Decrease

May 16 2017 // New York businesses could soon see some slight relief in workers’ compensation premiums, according to an announcement from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. The governor’s office released a statement Monday saying that the...

Louisiana Flood Damage Survey Help Sessions Planned

May 15 2017 // Louisiana is holding outreach sessions to help homeowners with damage from last year’s floods to fill out a survey that is the initial step to requesting aid from the state. Six events are scheduled across Louisiana...

Survey: Agents Suggest How Carrier Partners Can Move from ‘Good’ to ‘Great’

May 15 2017 // You might expect to see high levels of satisfaction between an independent agency and its top carrier, but that isn’t always the case. Peeling back the layers usually reveals fertile ground for improvement and shows...

Organic Growth Under Pressure: Agencies Show Weakest Growth Since 2011, Reagan Consulting Reports

May 15 2017 // Agencies and brokerage firms reported that their organic growth fell to 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2017, the weakest growth rate since 2011. According to Reagan Consulting’s Organic Growth and Profitability...

Study: Expected Increase in Tornadoes Raises Risk to Mobile Homes

May 15 2017 // Tornadoes and mobile homes don’t mix to begin with, but throw in the volatility of climate change and the potential for massive property damage and deaths is even higher in coming decades, indicates a new study by...

Illinois’ Cost per Workers’ Comp Claim Trending Down

May 15 2017 // The average total cost of a workers’ compensation claim in Illinois has dropped by 6.4 percent since 2010, but the state still has relatively high costs per claim, according to a report by the Workers Compensation...

Michigan Workplace Fatalities Rise in 2016

May 15 2017 // A state agency says 43 people were killed on the job in Michigan last year, and that’s the state’s highest number of workplace fatalities in a decade. The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration...

Louisiana Worker’ Comp Rates Are Down, but Costs per Claim Growing

May 15 2017 // Workers’ compensation rates decreased statewide in Louisiana on May 1 by 9.8 percent, marking the fourth year in a row rates have dropped in that state, according to insurance regulators. In January, the Louisiana...