Latest Trends Headlines

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

Insurance Fraud Following Catastrophes an Unwelcome Trend, Oklahoma’s Doak Tells U.S. Senators

Aug 21 2017 // In testimony on Capitol Hill in early August, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak told federal lawmakers that fraud across all lines of insurance costs the industry an estimated $80 million to $100 million...

Increase in California Workers’ Comp Pure Premium Sent to Department of Insurance

Aug 18 2017 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau has submitted its Jan. 1, 2018 pure premium rate filing to the California Department of Insurance proposing advisory pure premium rates that average $2.01 per $100 of...

Middle Market Growth Spells Opportunity for California’s Insurance Community

Aug 17 2017 // The insurance community has at least two reasons to be interested in a new report on middle market companies, particularly those who are doing business in California. According to a report released this week from American...

Report: Written Premiums for California Comp Insurers to be Flat Through 2017

Aug 17 2017 // Written premiums from workers’ compensation insurers in California for the year are expected to be flat at $18.1 billion compared with 2016 thanks largely to rate decreases, according to analysts with the...

NotPetya Cyber Attack Cost World’s Biggest Container Shipping Line up to $300M

Aug 17 2017 // The June cyber attack that paralyzed the computer systems in companies around the world is estimated to have cost the world’s biggest container shipping line between $200 million and $300 million, A.P. Moller-Maersk...

China’s Ping An Reports Biggest Half-Yearly Profit in Decade

Aug 17 2017 // Ping An Insurance Group Co of China , the country’s second-largest insurer by market value, on Thursday reported its biggest half-yearly profit in at least a decade on robust growth in life insurance premiums. The...

A.M. Best Revises Outlooks to Negative for West Virginia National Auto Insurance Co.

Aug 17 2017 // A.M. Besthas revised the outlooks to negative from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B (Fair) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bb” of West Virginia National Auto Insurance Co.,...

Motor Vehicle Deaths Declined 1% in 2017

Aug 16 2017 // Preliminary data show U.S. motor vehicle deaths and injuries were down slightly in the first six months of 2017, although they were still significantly higher than they were two years ago, according to the National Safety...

Obamacare Individual Premiums Would Rise 20% Without Insurer Subsidies: CBO

Aug 16 2017 // Health insurance premiums for many customers on the Obamacare individual insurance markets would be 20 percent higher in 2018 if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on a threat to stop billions of dollars of...

What Agents Want from Carriers in 2022: Survey

Aug 14 2017 // Independent agents and brokers who work primarily in personal lines believe competitive pricing, carrier technology and customer service will be more important in five years than they are now. The sentiment is quite...

Reinsurers Invest in Fintech Startups to Diversify and Grow in Soft Market

Aug 11 2017 // When Micah Carr-Hill wanted to insure Chief, the Labrador that helps with his son’s autism therapy, he found an ally in Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer. The German company had just teamed up with a...

American Meteorological Society Report Confirms 2016 Was Warmest Year on Record

Aug 10 2017 // A new State of the Climate report released today by the American Meteorological Society has confirmed that 2016 surpassed 2015 as the warmest year in 137 years of recordkeeping. The report was compiled by the National...

Demand for Cyber Insurance in China Expected to Rise After WannaCry Attack: AIG

Aug 9 2017 // Demand for cyber insurance from firms in Greater China and elsewhere in Asia is poised to soar, based on inquiries received after the “WannaCry ransomware” attack earlier this year, executives at American...

Updated Atlantic Hurricane Forecast Calls for More Storms as El Nino Fades

Aug 7 2017 // Researchers again boosted the number of storms the Atlantic may produce before the hurricane season ends as a missing Pacific El Nino and warm waters present favorable storm conditions. As many as 16 named storms may form...

Needs of Flood-Damaged Small Businesses in Louisiana Sought in Survey

Aug 7 2017 // Louisiana’s flood recovery program is trying to determine the needs of flood-damaged companies by asking small businesses to fill out a statewide survey. The small business survey is expected to take about 10 minutes...

Future of Job-Based Health Insurance Seems Secure

Aug 7 2017 // Are employees worried about losing their health insurance from their employer? The ongoing political turmoil around “Obamacare” all but guarantees they’ll still be able to do that. Ask Walt Rowen, whose...

5 Companies Agree to Fill Gaps in Ohio’s Individual Health Insurance Market

Aug 7 2017 // Five health insurance companies in Ohio, including Molina Healthcare Inc., have stepped up to sell health plans in 19 counties that would have been without Obamacare individual coverage in 2018, the state’s insurance...

Top 25: P/C Direct Premium Written Up 4.8 Percent

Aug 7 2017 // Direct premium written (DPW) for property/casualty insurance companies continues to increase, albeit gradually. At year-end 2016, approximately $606 billion of DPW was reported, a record high for the industry. For 2016,...

Surplus Lines Insurance Premium Up Nationwide

Aug 7 2017 // A mid-year compilation of excess and surplus (E&S) insurance premium amounts by the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX) shows a 6.6 percent increase in premium nationally compared with the same period last...

Insurers Respond to Rising Claims Abuse

Aug 7 2017 // Whenever severe weather strikes and there is property damage, insurers are among the first responders to help throughout the recovery process. However, in too many cases, some shady contractors, public adjusters and...