Latest Trends Headlines

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

Munich Re to Spend $1.1B by 2020 to Restructure Primary Insurance Unit

Jun 1 2016 // Munich Re, the world’s second-biggest reinsurer, plans to spend 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) by 2020 restructuring operations at its loss-making primary insurance unit in Germany. The plan for ERGO’s German...

Health Insurers Seek Big Premium Increases in Pennsylvania

May 31 2016 // Pennsylvania’s insurance regulators are starting a review of health plans for coverage next year through the federal marketplaces, including several that seek premium increases in excess of 40 percent. The...

NOAA’s 2016 Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecast: 45% Chance of Near-Normal; 30% Above Normal

May 27 2016 // Forecasters at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center say the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 through November 30, will most likely be near-normal, but they also say this season is particularly...

Swiss Re’s List of Emerging Risks Range from Blockchain Tech to Human Cyborgs

May 26 2016 // A fragmented Internet, continued experimentation with monetary policy and another round of economic crises in emerging markets top Swiss Re’s latest roundup of emerging risks to watch out for. Beyond those top three,...

London Re/Insurance Market Faces Risk of Casualty Reserve Shortfall: PwC

May 25 2016 // There is a real risk that casualty reserves for business written in 2015 will run off at a loss in the future, according to PwC’s London re/insurance market review of reserve adequacy. PwC pointed to the fact that...

Small Group of Bermudian Re/Insurers Drive Overall Q1 Premium Growth: S&P

May 24 2016 // At first glance, Bermudian re/insurance companies appeared to start the year with a bang, reporting a 21 percent increase in consolidated gross premiums written (GPW), according to a new report published by Standard &...

Workers’ Compensation Market Improved, Grew Premium in 2015: NCCI

May 23 2016 // The workers’ compensation market is healthy and profitable. This year’s “State of the Line” report, published by the National Council of Compensation Insurance (NCCI), indicates that the...

Drones: An Emerging Market Quickly Taking Flight

May 23 2016 // So what is all the buzz about? Lately it is about unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones, which are emerging as a valuable component in a vast array of American businesses and markets. While UAVs are generally associated...

Early Alert Quake System Could be Operating in California by 2018

May 18 2016 // California Gov. Jerry Brown will seek state funds to help establish a system that issues alerts that an earthquake is occurring – with an eye on rolling out a limited system by 2018, a newspaper reported this week. The...

RMS Says $77B in San Francisco Property at Risk from Sea Level Rise by 2100

May 18 2016 // An analysis by catastrophe risk management firm RMS of economic risk to San Francisco’s property from future sea level rise found billions of dollars worth of property at risk. The analysis was used to inform the...

P/C Insurers Caught Between Slowing Premium Growth and Rising Loss Ratios

May 18 2016 // For U.S. property/casualty insurers, net written premium still grew in 2015, but the rate of expansion is slowing, and the industry’s collective combined ratio worsened slightly, according to a new report from ISO...

50% of Risk Managers Bought or Increased Cyber Insurance in Last Year: HSB

May 18 2016 // Fifty percent of U.S. businesses have either purchased cyber insurance for the first time or increased their level of coverage in the last year, according to a survey of risk managers by The Hartford Steam Boiler...

Delta Lloyd’s Solvency II Ratio Declines to 127% on Fall in Interest Rates

May 18 2016 // Delta Lloyd NV, the Dutch insurer that last month completed a rights offer to shore up its capital buffers, said its ability to absorb losses weakened in the first quarter. The Solvency II ratio, a measure of an...

Previous Telecom Efforts Flopped But Google, Apple See Future for Telemedicine

May 16 2016 // Google and Apple Inc. have some bright ideas about the future of health care. Not so long ago, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. had similar ideas: a networked world of devices and services that would...

Insurers Limit Exposure as Quakes Increase in Oklahoma

May 13 2016 // As the number of earthquakes in Oklahoma exploded into the hundreds in the last few years, nearly a dozen insurance companies moved to limit their exposure, often at the expense of homeowners, a Reuters examination has...

Number of Dog Bite Insurance Claims Falls But Average Claim Rises to $37K

May 12 2016 // The cost of dog-bite claims for U.S. insurers climbed 16 percent last year on higher medical expenses and larger settlements to resolve court disputes. The average claim increased to $37,214 in 2015 from $32,072 a year...

Medical Professional Liability Insurers’ Profits Decline But Outlook Stable: A.M. Best

May 11 2016 // The specialty medical professional liability (MPL) insurance industry remained profitable in 2015, however its net income fell nearly 36.6 percent to almost $1.1 billion in 2015. In a special report, A.M. Best said the MPL...

Agency Mergers Set Record with ‘Unstoppable Momentum’ in Q1: Optis

May 11 2016 // Insurance agency mergers and acquisitions hit an all-time high for the first quarter of a year, with 109 reported transactions in the first three months of 2016. The pace slightly outstripped 107 deals reported in the...

World Drone Business to Grow More Than 6000% by 2020 in $127B Market: PwC

May 10 2016 // Drones will soon be boosting crop yields, verifying insurance claims, and assisting in future Hollywood blockbusters in a business that’s due to boom by more than 6,000 percent by the end of the decade. The global...

Taking Stock of D&O Insurance Market: Capacity, Coverage and Culpability

May 10 2016 // The directors and officers (D&O) liability marketplace continues to find softening rates and intense competition especially in excess layers, according to industry executives. The industry is also seeing a continuing...