Latest Trends Headlines

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

California Earthquake Authority Policy Sales up 5.4% in 2Q from Year Ago

Aug 7 2017 // Californians may be getting the idea that they live in earthquake country. That’s the underlying message that can be found in the latest figures out from the California Earthquake Authority. The CEA, a...

A.M. Best Revises Outlook to Negative for New York’s Country-Wide

Aug 7 2017 // A.M. Best has revised its outlook to negative from stable for Country-Wide Insurance Company, a family-owned auto insurance company based in New York, N.Y. A.M. Best also affirmed Country-Wide’s Financial Strength...

AIG Joins Other Insurers in Moving Away from Financial Forecasts

Aug 4 2017 // Brian Duperreault, the new chief executive officer of American International Group Inc., said the company will scale back the projections it provides to Wall Street after his predecessors were burned by goals that proved...

Commercial Lines Insurance Renewal Rates Continued Rising in July: IVANS

Aug 2 2017 // In July 2017, premium renewal rate change for the majority of standard commercial lines products remain in positive territory. Workers’ compensation was the one product that trended negatively, dipping below -1.00...

CNA Reports ‘One of Best Quarters’ in Decade in Q2

Aug 1 2017 // CNA Financial Corp. saw its second quarter net income climb at a robust clip and catastrophe losses along with its combined ratio shrink. Chairman and CEO Dino Robusto said the results were better than the...

California Earthquake Authority Policy Sales up 5.4% in 2Q from Year Ago

Jul 31 2017 // Californians may be getting the idea that they live in earthquake country. That’s the underlying message that can be found in the latest figures out from the California Earthquake Authority. The CEA, a...

Turkey’s Insurers Gear Up for Spate of Claims After 2nd Major Storm in 10 Days

Jul 28 2017 // The Borsa Istanbul Insurance Sector Index dropped as much as 2.5 percent on Friday after a brief but ferocious storm in Istanbul on Thursday showered the city with hail as large as golf balls, shattering windows, denting...

Allianz Q2 Profit Rises 23% on Restructuring, Fewer Disaster Claims

Jul 27 2017 // As Allianz SE Chief Executive Officer Oliver Baete slims down the insurer to cut costs, rising second-quarter profit helped by lower natural disaster claims rewarded his strategy. Operating profit jumped 23 percent to 2.9...

Surplus Lines Insurance Premium Up Nationwide

Jul 26 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...

UK to Ban Sales of Fossil Fuel Powered Cars by 2040 to Cut Air Pollution

Jul 26 2017 // The UK became the latest European country to mark the end of the line for diesel and gasoline fueled cars as automakers such as Volvo race to build electric vehicles or face the consequences of getting left behind. In...

UK Faces Future of Record-Breaking Wet Winters, Floods: New Climate Models

Jul 24 2017 // Britain faces a future of record-breaking wet winters, potentially leading to more of the widespread flooding seen in recent years, according to new modeling that incorporates changing climate patterns. England and Wales...

Insurers Say Legal Malpractice Claims Hold Steady But Defense Costs Rise

Jul 24 2017 // Most leading legal malpractice insurers saw claims level off in 2016 although their cost to defend claims continued to escalate. A study by insurance broker Ames & Gough finds while the number of malpractice claims...

How to Succeed in a Soft Insurance Market

Jul 24 2017 // It’s no secret that the insurance marketplace right now is extremely soft. The amount of capacity in the industry continues to rise as new entrants are coming into the market or existing carriers are either opening...

Nonstandard Auto Market Continues to Fall; Sector Posts Worst Loss Ratio in Decade: A.M. Best

Jul 24 2017 // Loss ratios and operating ratios for the U.S. nonstandard auto insurance market fell to their worst levels in a decade, according to a new report from A.M. Best. Escalating repair and medical costs, deteriorating highway...

A.M. Best Revises Outlooks to Negative for Georgia Farm Bureau Group Members

Jul 24 2017 // A.M. Best has revised the outlooks to negative from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of B+ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of “bbb-” of Georgia Farm Bureau...

Report: The Southeast’s Storm Surge Risk and Florida’s Hurricane Wake-Up Call

Jul 24 2017 // The Southeast has seen its fair share of natural disasters and flooding in the last several years, including two hurricanes in Florida last year – the first hurricanes to hit the state in more than a decade. But none...

Carrier Poll Shows Many Agents Expect Minor Tech Disruption by 2020

Jul 24 2017 // A new poll conducted by a Seattle, Wash.-based carrier that asked independent insurance agents what’s ahead in 2020 showed that roughly half of agents expect technology disruption to have a minor impact on their...

Surplus Lines Market Keeps Up with Demand for Cyber Liability Coverage

Jul 24 2017 // In Texas and across the nation, the surplus lines insurance market is keeping up with the increase in demand for cyber liability protection, according to the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX). SLTX recorded a...

Massachusetts Marijuana Deal Calls for Up to 20 Percent Tax on Pot Sales

Jul 19 2017 // State House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement Monday on a revamped version of Massachusetts’ voter-approved marijuana law that would allow retail pot sales to be taxed at a maximum 20 percent rate. The deal...

Blind Americans Want to Participate in Future of Driverless Vehicles

Jul 19 2017 // Anil Lewis was behind the wheel of his Ford Mustang convertible on a sunny Atlanta day in 1988, when he nearly hit a pedestrian who appeared in a crosswalk ahead of him, seemingly out of nowhere. It was then Lewis realized...