Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Fatalities Increase, Seat Belt Use Decreases in 2015 in NW Missouri
Jul 21 2015 // Northwest Missouri has seen a rise in fatal wrecks, and authorities are alarmed because most of the victims weren’t wearing seat belts. A Missouri State Highway Patrol troop for the area reports a 54 percent increase...
Re/insurance Market Conditions Will Lead to More M&A Activity: A.M. Best
Jul 20 2015 // Merger and takeover activity is likely to continue in the coming months as re/insurers increasingly seek ways to deploy capital and create scale against a backdrop of ongoing soft market conditions and weak investment...
Citizens to Hold Off on 2016 Sinkhole Rate Increases, For Now
Jul 20 2015 // In Citizens’ 2016 rate proposal, approved last month by the Citizens Board of Directors and awaiting approval by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, the insurer of last resort did not recommend any sinkhole...
Analysis of Chubb’s Future Position in P/C Product Lines
Jul 20 2015 // Just a little over six months ago, ACE announced a deal to acquire the high-net-worth personal lines business of Fireman’s Fund from Allianz, competing against Chubb, which holds the leading position in the...
Opioid Abuse Rises in Construction, Manufacturing Sectors: CNA
Jul 20 2015 // CNA recently issued two new reports that examine the growing prescription opioid abuse epidemic and its effect on the U.S. workforce, focusing on the construction and manufacturing industries, which are particularly at...
New York Approves Average 5.9% Increase in Workers’ Comp Loss Costs
Jul 16 2015 // The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has approved an average 5.9 percent increase in workers’ compensation loss costs for new and renewal business to become effective on Oct. 1, 2015. The...
Carriers See Growth Ahead in Specialty Insurance Program Market: Survey
Jul 16 2015 // The outlook is good for the specialty insurance program market, with carriers looking more favorably on smaller accounts, single state programs and startups, according to a new survey. Carriers see the program...
Number of Food Recalls and Their Costs Are Increasing: Swiss Re Report
Jul 15 2015 // “Food manufacturers operate in a vast, globalized supply chain, where one mislabeled product or contaminated ingredient can cause sickness, death, multi-million dollar losses and massive reputational damage for the...
Home Insurance Rates in Massachusetts Rising After Harsh Winter
Jul 14 2015 // Some of the largest home insurers in Massachusetts are raising premiums by about 9 percent to recoup what they paid out in claims for damage caused by last winter’s record-setting snowfall. The Boston Globe reports...
UK Insurers Ponder Implications of Premium Tax Increase
Jul 14 2015 // The unexpected announcement in UK Chancellor George Osborn’s budget, which would raise the Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) from 6 percent to 9.5 percent starting in November, poses a problem for UK-based insurers. David...
Survey: Many Consumers Stress Over Safety of Financial Information
Jul 10 2015 // While the safety of their private financial information is a big deal for a lot of people, when it comes to protecting it, many are actually pretty lax, a new survey says. According to the phone survey commissioned by...
Law Firms Face Large Malpractice Claims as Risks Grow: Study
Jul 10 2015 // As law firms adjust to the realities of the current business environment, they continue to fall victim to malpractice claims, which can be costly to defend and may result in enduring reputational damage. A new study by...
Bermuda Adopts Solvency II ‘Equivalency’ Measures for ‘Open Insurance Markets’
Jul 10 2015 // A bulletin from Bermuda notes that the island’s parliament took regulatory action this week to align its regulatory insurance procedures, which it hopes will lead to “recognition by the European Commission as...
Latest U.S. Forecast Sees Stronger El Nino into 2016
Jul 9 2015 // The Pacific Ocean’s weather-changing El Nino will probably last into 2016 and be stronger than previously forecast, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center says. El Nino, a warming of the equatorial Pacific, has a 90...
2015 Tennessee Insurance Legislation Wrap-Up
Jul 9 2015 // Below is a summary of Tennessee legislation that pertains to insurance enacted in 2015. Uninsured Motorist, “James Lee Atwood Jr. Law” The James Lee Atwood Jr. Law, named for a driver who was killed by an...
What Those Smart Cars of Future Will Look Like
Jul 7 2015 // Much of the talk surrounding autonomous cars these days is centered on testing and regulations and not on what the car of the future might look like. A 2012 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) press...
Florida’s Citizens Approves Rate Increases Along Coast
Jul 6 2015 // Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s Board of Governors has approved a 2016 rate package that lowers rates for nearly half of Citizens’ personal lines policyholders while responding to increased water loss...
P/C Direct Premium Written Up Nearly 4 Percent
Jul 6 2015 // Direct premium written (DPW) for property/casualty insurance companies continues to increase, albeit gradually. At year-end 2014, more than $570 billion of DPW was reported, a record-high for the industry. For 2014, total...
Reinsurance Industry Faces Uncertain Future as Time Moves On
Jul 2 2015 // It’s around two months until the annual Reinsurance Rendezvous in Monte Carlo, where the reinsurers, brokers, carriers, lawyers, accountants and cat modelers discuss the state of their industry. That industry, until...
XL Catlin Appoints Plessis as Head of Emerging Markets
Jul 2 2015 // XL Catlin announced the appointment of Brendan Plessis to the newly created role of head of emerging markets. In this new position, Plessis will lead the development of emerging market strategies, partnering with business...
