Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
13 Specialty Insurers Emerging As Takeover Targets: S&P
Oct 1 2015 // Standard & Poor’s sees a number of specialty insurers as potential takeover targets by both rival carriers and investors seeking to expand in the segment, thanks to stellar operating performance versus the P/C...
NCCI Proposes Decrease for Workers’ Comp Loss Costs in Connecticut
Oct 1 2015 // The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) on Sept. 24 delivered a workers’ compensation loss cost filing to the Connecticut Insurance Department. NCCI said that based upon its review of the most recently...
Study: Flood Risk on Rise for New York City, New Jersey Coast
Sep 30 2015 // A new study looking back over 1,000 years finds the flooding risk along the New York and New Jersey coasts increased greatly after industrialization, and major storms that once might have occurred every 500 years could...
A.M. Best: European Insurers Continue Emerging Markets’ Growth – with Caution
Sep 30 2015 // In an attempt to deploy excess capital, some major European insurers have developed overseas operations over the past several years but are now taking a more cautious approach, as not all overseas strategies have proven...
Watercraft Thefts Down but Texas Still a Top State for Them: NICB
Sep 30 2015 // While the number of watercraft thefts continued on a downward trend in 2014, Texas remains one of the five top states in which such thefts are likely to occur. Texas ranks third for watercraft thefts, behind Florida and...
ACE to Appoint Andrade to Head Future Int’l. Non-Life Insurance Operations
Sep 28 2015 // ACE Ltd. announced that it intends to appoint Juan C. Andrade, as executive VP of the new Chubb Group and President of the International Non-life Insurance division, which encompasses operations with both retail broker and...
Best Affirms ‘A+’ Ratings of Hannover Re and Subs; Outlook Stable
Sep 28 2015 // A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A+’ (Superior) and the issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “aa-” of Germany’s Hannover Rueck SE (Hannover Re) and its main...
Workers’ Compensation Premiums Up 5.3% in First Half of 2015: Demotech
Sep 25 2015 // Workers’ compensation insurers reported a 5.3 percent increase in direct written premiums during the first six months of 2015 versus the same period in 2014, according to actuarial firm Demotech’s review of...
Southwest Louisiana Town Still Struggles a Decade after Hurricane Rita
Sep 24 2015 // Vacant slabs, weed-choked lots and solitary stairs to nowhere permeate Cameron, a tiny town in southwest Louisiana. All that remains of the Klean-N-Kruise car wash is a rusted white sign overlooking an empty, overgrown...
Treasury Names 9 to Panel on Private Insurance Market for Terrorism Risk
Sep 24 2015 // The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the appointment of nine people to serve as members of the Advisory Committee on Risk-Sharing Mechanisms (ACRSM) to spur the private market for terrorism insurance. The...
A.M. Best: Sub-Saharan Re/Insurance Markets Attract Capacity Despite Challenges
Sep 24 2015 // Much has been said in recent years about the opportunities presented by the buoyant strides in economies across the African continent together with challenges that market participants have to overcome; the...
Report: Law Enforcement Claims Cost South Carolina $17M in 2014
Sep 23 2015 // South Carolina taxpayers are spending millions of dollars a year addressing alleged misdeeds by law officers or detention officials including excessive force and civil rights violations. The Greenville News reports the...
Employees’ Share of Health Insurance Costs Rising
Sep 22 2015 // Health insurance costs have been rising at historically low rates over the last several years. Yet it may not feel that way to consumers. While premiums — what companies and workers pay to buy health insurance–...
Californians Pushed by Wildfires into High-risk Insurance Market
Sep 21 2015 // There are lots of reasons people live in California’s Modjeska Canyon. Nestled against the mountains and abutting the Cleveland National Forest, the area has abundant wildlife and access to nature, yet is just a 20...
Texas Surplus Line Stamping Fee Rate to Increase Jan. 1
Sep 21 2015 // The surplus lines stamping fee rate in Texas will increase next year to 0.15 percent of the gross premium amount of surplus lines insurance policies, the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLSOT) reported. The...
Aon Benfield Lists 7 Emerging Business Risk Opportunities for Re/Insurers
Sep 21 2015 // Aon Benfield has identified seven emerging risks that present re/insurers with business opportunities over the next five to 10 years, which the announcement listed as “US mortgage credit, the sharing economy,...
Workers’ Comp Premiums Increase By 5.3% in First Half of 2015
Sep 21 2015 // Demotech’s review of second quarter 2015 data, as recently reported by insurers to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, shows that workers’ compensation insurers reported a 5.3 percent increase...
Commercial Insurance Prices Up But Barely: Survey
Sep 21 2015 // Commercial insurance prices increased in aggregate at a modest pace (one percent) during the second quarter of 2015, continuing a trend of ever smaller increases. That’s according to the latest Commercial Lines...
Survey: Many Drivers Unaware of Auto Safety Technology
Sep 21 2015 // Adaptive cruise control has been an option on some cars for almost a decade. But in a recent national survey, 65 percent of U.S. drivers didn’t know what it was. The survey, by the University of Iowa Public Policy...
Montana’s Wildfire Season Second-biggest So Far This decade
Sep 17 2015 // Montana’s fire season began quietly but has quickly grown to the second-largest so far this decade after lightning storms last month ignited a rash of blazes that spread rapidly amid bone-dry conditions. This season...
