Latest Trends Headlines

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

35% of Arkansas Banks Closed in Past Decade

Mar 22 2016 // A lack of succession planning, the costs of fighting cyberattacks and competition with online mortgage companies that have no brick and mortar branches are some of the reasons the number of banks in Arkansas has fallen by...

Insurance Journal Survey for Young Agents: Speak Now!

Mar 22 2016 // Are you a young insurance agent, 40 years old or younger? Do you know a young insurance agent? Insurance Journal is searching for young insurance agents to participate in this year’s Young Insurance Agents Opinion...

Shipping Industry Had Safest Year in a Decade in 2015: Allianz Report

Mar 22 2016 // The shipping industry saw its safest year in a decade in 2015, according to a new report from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), with 85 total losses reported worldwide last year, down from 88 in 2014 and...

Survey: NW Arkansas Companies Seek to Hire Thousands, Expand Rapidly

Mar 21 2016 // A regional employer survey suggests that northwest Arkansas companies want to create more than 3,100 jobs and invest more than $336 million in expansion during the next three years. Arkansas Business reports that a quarter...

‘Brexit’ Could Cost U.K. $145B in Economic Output & 950,000 Jobs by 2020: Study

Mar 21 2016 // Leaving the European Union might cost the U.K. 100 billion pounds ($145 billion) in lost economic output and 950,000 jobs by 2020, the Confederation of British Industry said as it stepped up its campaign against a...

Commentary: Florida’s Failure to Pass AOB Reforms Will Impact State Insurance Market

Mar 21 2016 // Following the 2016 Florida Legislative Session’s failure to pass essential assignment of benefit (AOB) reforms, the insurance industry and Citizens Property Insurance Corp. are working in tandem with the Florida...

Study: Pothole Damage Costs U.S. Drivers $3B a Year

Mar 21 2016 // A new study from the American Automobile Association (AAA) reveals that pothole damage has cost U.S. drivers $15 billion in vehicle repairs over the last five years, or about $3 billion annually. AAA is urging state and...

Vehicles ‘Increasingly Vulnerable’ to Hacking, Warns FBI

Mar 18 2016 // The FBI and U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a bulletin Thursday warning that motor vehicles are “increasingly vulnerable” to hacking. “The FBI and NHTSA are warning the...

Vienna Insurance 2015 Pretax Profit Down 67% on Romanian, Polish Writedowns

Mar 18 2016 // Vienna Insurance Group AG fell the most since 2009 after writedowns at its Romanian and Polish businesses added to earlier impairments of computer systems and helped push pretax profit for last year 67 percent lower. The...

Automatic Braking, Due by 2022 in U.S. Cars, Could Prevent 20% of All Crashes

Mar 17 2016 // Major automakers will announce Thursday they have agreed to install automatic emergency braking systems in nearly all U.S. vehicles by September 2022, three sources briefed on the plans said. The U.S. National Highway...

Los Angeles Sidewalk Plan Passes off Responsibility for Future Repairs

Mar 17 2016 // A joint City Council committee has backed a sidewalk repair plan that calls for Los Angeles to cover the cost of the first repair, then hand off the responsibility for future fixes back to the property owner. The Los...

Florida’s Citizens Pushes Policy Changes to Address Rising Water Loss Claims

Mar 17 2016 // Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s board of governors has approved a slate of recommendations aimed at reducing the impact of what it calls skyrocketing water-loss claims that could reverse progress made in...

Ping An Profit Rises 38% in 2015 on Investment Income, Jump in Life Business

Mar 16 2016 // Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., China’s second-biggest insurer, said profit rose 38 percent last year as investment returns from stock trading expanded and banking revenue increased. Net income climbed to 54.2 billion...

Survey Shows Many Americans Fine with Lying to the IRS, or Their Insurer

Mar 15 2016 // Call it a “little green lie.” A number of Americans apparently find it acceptable to lie when there’s money at stake. A survey of 2,115 American adults from NerdWallet conducted in February shows a...

2 Instech Startups Target Small Business Insurance Market

Mar 15 2016 // Small business insurance providers will soon have two new competitors from the technology world. Next Insurance, an online shopper for small businesses, today announced a $13 million seed investment led by investors Zeev...

What About Cuba as an Insurance Market?

Mar 15 2016 // There may be opportunities for some businesses including insurers in Cuba as the U.S. restores diplomatic ties but there are also significant cultural and regulatory challenges, according to a report from the...

Telematics-Based Car Insurance Policies in UK Increase by 40%: BIBA Survey

Mar 15 2016 // The number of live telematics-based motor insurance policies, including black box policies, in the UK has increased by 40 percent, according to the latest annual research by the British Insurance Brokers’ Association...

Report: JobsOhio Created 23.6K Jobs in 2015

Mar 8 2016 // A privatized Ohio economic-development agency says in its annual report that it’s created a record 23,602 jobs last year. The Columbus Dispatch reports that JobsOhio also attracted $6.7 billion in corporate...

Beazley Reports Industry Data Breaches Up 60% in 2015

Mar 8 2016 // A leading data breach response insurer says its breach response unit handled 60 percent more data breaches in 2015 than in 2014 in the U.S., with a concentration of incidents in the healthcare, financial services and...

The Future, and Present, Belong to Specialty P/C Insurers: Conning

Mar 8 2016 // Specialty property/casualty insurers are now a dominant force in the market and generate more than half of the industry’s premiums, Conning Inc. asserts in a new report. Two-thirds of individual insurance companies...