Latest Trends Headlines

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

Baldwin Risk Partners Teams Up With Ryan Insurance & Financial Services of Tampa

Jan 10 2017 // Baldwin Risk Partners (BRP), an insurance distribution holding company based in Tampa, Fla., has partnered with Ryan Insurance & Financial Services, a Deland, Fla.-based independent insurance agency. According to BRP,...

Missouri Expects Another Decrease in Workers’ Comp Rates

Jan 9 2017 // Employers in Missouri should see a continued decrease in workers’ compensation insurance costs. The Missouri Department of Insurance is recommending a 4.6 percent decrease in workers’ comp insurance loss costs...

East Regulation Report Card: Vermont Ranks Best for 3rd Straight Year

Jan 9 2017 // The R Street Institute, an industry think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., found Vermont has the best insurance regulatory environment in the U.S. for the third straight year in its annual Insurance Regulation...

Decline in Reinsurance Prices Slowed at January Renewal: Carpenter

Jan 6 2017 // Reinsurance pricing continued trending downward at the Jan. 1, 2017 renewal — across most classes of business and geographies, but the pace of that decline is slowing, according to Guy Carpenter & Co. Although...

Report on California Workers’ Comp Shows Sharp Increase in ALAE Costs

Jan 5 2017 // Allocated loss adjustment expense costs have increased sharply over the last several years despite implementation of many of the components of a workers’ compensation reform law intended to reduce total loss...

Police in Savannah, Georgia Urge Vigilance After Rise of Business Burglaries in 2016

Jan 4 2017 // Police records show business owners in Savannah, Ga., reported a significant increase in burglaries during 2016. Crime reports by Savannah-Chatham County police show 347 commercial burglaries were reported between last...

Louisiana Workers’ Comp Insurance Rates to Decline Again

Jan 3 2017 // The Louisiana Department of Insurance announced a rate filing from the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) for a statewide decrease of 9.8 percent in workers’ compensation rates has been...

U.S. Refineries’ Accident Risk on Rise Due to Labor Shortage

Jan 3 2017 // After years of running flat out, U.S. Gulf Coast refiners are lining up repairs to plants in 2017 – but facing a severe labor shortage that could delay work, drive up costs and raise accident risks. Fuel producers...

Mississippi Officials Worry About Future Opioid-Related Problems

Dec 30 2016 // Mississippi officials are worried that the state could end up with an opioid problem like other states that have battled with drug addiction. The Daily Journal reported that Gov. Phil Bryant issued an executive order...

How Flood Risk in U.S. Is Changing: Increasing in North, Decreasing in South

Dec 30 2016 // The risk of flooding in the United States is changing regionally, and the reasons could be shifting rainfall patterns and the amount of water in the ground. In a new study, Recent Trends in U.S. Flood Risk, University of...

Report: Operator Error Caused 2015 Wisconsin Train Derailment

Dec 29 2016 // Federal investigators said crew fatigue may have contributed to the derailment of a BNSF freight train that spilled more than 20,000 gallons of ethanol last year in western Wisconsin. The engineer and the conductor scored...

Robberies Surge in 2016, Ending Downward Trend in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Dec 29 2016 // Tulsa experienced a surge of robberies in 2016, ending a five-year downward trend. Tulsa Police Department data showed that over 1,000 robberies were reported from the start of January through November, already 19 percent...

Obamacare Individual Market Profitability Outlook Improving, Says S&P

Dec 29 2016 // The Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual market has proven a tough nut to crack for U.S. health insurers, with the benefit of strong premium growth offset by persistent underwriting losses for most insurers. But 2016 is...

Despite Disastrous Flooding, Future of Louisiana Project Remains Murky

Dec 28 2016 // Despite the flooding that struck south Louisiana in August, prospects for a decades-old project aimed at protecting Baton Rouge, La. area homes remain murky. The 12-mile structure is called the Comite River Diversion...

Study Shows Growth in Virginia’s Medical Payments per Workers’ Comp Claim

Dec 28 2016 // Virginia’s medical payments per workers’ compensation claim with more than seven days of lost time increased 26 percent for claims that occurred between 2009 and 2014, according to a recent study by the Workers...

Top 12 Insurance Trends and News Stories of 2016: Countdown

Dec 27 2016 // In the year 2016, as in past years, there were the familiar or continuing stories including reinsurers still wishing and hoping for a hardening market; property/casualty insurance carriers reporting financial results...

Texas Surplus Office Projects 2016 Increase in Premium, Filings

Dec 22 2016 // Projections show that the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas is on track to surpass fourth quarter premium totals set in the past two years, according to data prepared by the office. The amount of surplus lines filings...

East Regulation Report Card: Vermont Ranks Best for 3rd Straight Year

Dec 22 2016 // The R Street Institute, a nonprofit public policy research organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., has found that Vermont has the best insurance regulatory environment in the U.S. for the third straight year in its...

Hong Kong Agents, China Insurers Face Tech-Related Disruptions: 2017 Predictions, Part 4

Dec 22 2016 // The twin forces of regulation and technology will see the emergence of new distribution models in 2017. This sounds like a commonly heard disrupter scenario for the U.S. and European markets, but it’s actually a...

Emerging Risks/Markets Offer New Opportunities: 2017 Predictions, Part 3

Dec 21 2016 // Insurers and reinsurers continue to look for organic growth where they can find it – sometimes from emerging risks and sometimes from emerging markets. As always, the keys to success are market knowledge and...