Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
El Niño Strengthens as Pacific Temperatures Show Same Trend as ’97-’98
May 26 2015 // The El Niño taking hold across the Pacific strengthened, according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, citing indexes of sea-surfaces temperatures that showed the same trend for the first time since the event in...
Texas Workers’ Comp Claims See Slow Growth: WCRI
May 21 2015 // Workers’ compensation claims in Texas grew more slowly than in most of the other states, according to a Workers Compensation Research Institute report out Thursday that studied 17 states. The total average cost per...
Zurich Aims to Cut Costs by $1B, Seeking to Reverse Earnings Decline
May 21 2015 // Zurich Insurance Group AG, Switzerland’s biggest insurer, will cut costs by more than planned as it seeks to reverse a drop in earnings. Chief Executive Officer Martin Senn said he will make additional annual savings...
Swiss Re Identifies Top Emerging Risks
May 20 2015 // De-globalization and political conflict, large natural catastrophes, financial repression and the challenge posed by the “Internet of Things” are some of the risks identified in this year’s “New...
Solvency II’s Impact and Its Future Analyzed at EIF Conference
May 20 2015 // Solvency II – all 2000 plus pages of it – has been completed and is slated to go into force as of the first of January 2016. As befits a major reorganization of a major EU industry, it took a long time – eight years...
Finance Execs Question Effectiveness of Regulation to Prevent Future Crises
May 18 2015 // Chief executive officers and chairmen of some of Europe’s biggest banks and insurance companies called for more studies on the effectiveness and impact of regulation to prevent financial crises. While macroprudential...
A.M. Best: Middle Eastern Insurance Market Primed for M&As, Stakebuilding
May 18 2015 // Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity and stakebuilding is gaining momentum in the Middle East as financially strong and profitable insurers seek to deploy surplus capital to broaden their profiles and satisfy...
Report: 2014 North Carolina Bridge Collapse Caused by Design Flaw
May 18 2015 // Design flaws on supporting girders of a pedestrian bridge under construction at Wake Technical Community College led to a collapse that killed one worker and injured four others in November, according to a state...
Fitch Upgrades Citizens’ Coastal Account, Outlook Stable
May 18 2015 // Fitch Ratings has assigned an ‘AA-‘ rating to the following senior secured bonds of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Coastal Account (formerly known as the High Risk Account): $750 million series 2015A-1;...
The Value of Hurricane Forecasts
May 18 2015 // While state of the art of hurricane forecasting has improved over the last two decades, coastal exposures and populations at risk have also increased, offsetting those gains. Given the importance of forecasts to the...
Outlook for Dallas-Based MGA Insurance Revised to Positive
May 15 2015 // A.M. Best has revised the outlook to positive from stable for the issuer credit rating (ICR) of MGA Insurance Co. Inc. (MGA) in Dallas and affirmed its ICR of “bbb.” Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the...
Outlooks for American Agricultural Insurance Positive
May 15 2015 // A.M. Best has revised the outlooks to positive from stable and affirmed the financial strength rating of A- (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of “a-” of American Agricultural Insurance Co. (AAIC) of...
Louisiana Workers’ Comp Claim Costs Flat after Growth: WCRI
May 15 2015 // A recent study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) found costs per workers’ compensation claim in Louisiana changed little from 2011 to 2013 ― a flattening that followed three years of 5 percent...
Old Mutual Q1 Sales Rise 18% on Growth in Emerging Markets Business
May 14 2015 // Old Mutual plc, the London-based insurer, said first-quarter sales gained 18 percent as revenue from operations in Africa jumped by a third. Gross sales increased to 7.3 billion pounds ($11.5 billion), from 6.3 billion...
Fitch Upgrades Citizens to ‘AA-‘, Outlook Stable
May 14 2015 // Fitch Ratings has upgraded the rating on the following senior secured bonds of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp., FL, PLA/CLA to ‘AA-‘ from ‘A+’: –$1.1 billion series 2012A-1; –$200...
Use of Captives Rises for Non-Traditional Risks: Marsh
May 13 2015 // Captive insurance vehicles are increasingly being used by businesses to provide cover for non-traditional risks, according to a new benchmarking report published by Marsh. Marsh’s report, “The World of...
European Insurers’ Dividend Growth Unlikely With Rock-Bottom Interest Rates
May 11 2015 // Expectations of rising dividends and share buybacks from Europe’s insurance companies are fading as ultra low interest rates make it harder for them to meet new capital regulations. Rock-bottom interest rates reduce...
Third Point Re Reports Q1 Net Income of $50.5M, Up From $39.8M in Q1 2014
May 8 2015 // Bermuda-based Third Point Reinsurance Ltd. reported first quarter net income of $50.5 million, or $0.47 per diluted common share, compared with net income of $39.8 million, or $0.37 per diluted common share, for the first...
Beazley Reports Q1 Premiums Up 6% to $546 Million
May 8 2015 // Beazley plc reported that first quarter premiums grew by 6 percent to $546 million, compared to $516 million in 2014. Beazley’s largest division, specialty lines, wrote $226 million during the first quarter, which is...
Survey: More Than 96% in Massachusetts Have Health Insurance
May 7 2015 // Massachusetts continues to the lead the nation in health care with more than 96 percent of residents reporting coverage despite lingering cost barriers. That’s according to a survey by The Center for Health...
