Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Best Revises Outlook on BP’s Jupiter to Stable; Affirms Ratings
May 10 2011 // A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited has revised the outlook to stable from negative and affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating of “a” of...
Hiscox Issues Interim Management Statement; Sees Future Rate Hikes
May 10 2011 // Hiscox Ltd., which operates in the U.S., Bermuda and Europe, as well as the Lloyd’s and UK market, has issued its Interim Management Statement for the first three months of the year to 31 March 2011. Hiscox said its...
Arctic Nations Meet to Chart Future of World’s Final Frontier
May 10 2011 // Leaders of Arctic nations will gather in Greenland this week to chart future cooperation as global warming sets off a race for oil, mineral, fishing and shipping opportunities in the world’s fragile final...
Report: Workers’ Comp Line Deteriorates Further in 2010
May 5 2011 // Workers’ compensation continued to worsen in 2010 as the combined ratio jumped five points to 115 in 2010 from 2009. In its State of the Line workers compensation market analysis, NCCI Holdings Inc. described the...
Survey: Commercial Lines Prices Fall 3% in Q1
May 4 2011 // Commercial property/casualty pricing declined again with an average decline 3 percent in the first quarter of 2011. But according to a new industry survey, the pace of pricing declines may be slowing down. The market...
Cat Losses Rise but State Auto Q1 Income Nearly Even with Last Year
May 4 2011 // State Auto Financial Corp., based in Columbus, Ohio, has reported first quarter 2011 net income of $12.7 million versus net income of $12.9 million for the first quarter of 2010. STFC’s GAAP combined ratio for the...
Despite Rise in Cyber Threats, Businesses Forego Buying Network Liability Coverage
May 3 2011 // Despite the threat of increasing incidents of cyber attacks on businesses worldwide, the vast majority of companies (73 percent) report they do not have network liability policies, according to a new industry survey. The...
Report Shows Fewer Massachusetts Worker Deaths Last Year
May 3 2011 // A new report finds that fewer workers died on the job in Massachusetts in 2010 than in the previous year. But the report from the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health...
Survey: Businesses Not Doing Enough to Protect Against Discrimination, ID Theft
May 2 2011 // Nearly a third of Americans report that businesses are not doing enough to protect them from workplace discrimination and identity theft. A recent survey by the Chubb Group of Insurance Cos. found that one in three people...
Property Rates Expected to Rise From Catastrophes, Revised Cat Model
May 2 2011 // Property insurance rates could be on the rise thanks to first quarter catastrophe losses, including the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and a revised catastrophe model. During the second quarter, rates for North American...
Mercury General Reports Modest Increase in Net Premiums
May 2 2011 // Los Angeles-based Mercury General Corp. has reported net income in the first quarter 2011 was $58.2 million, compared with net income of $61.2 million for the same period in 2010. Included in net income are net realized...
3 Ways Boat Insurance Can Help an Agency Increase Sales
May 2 2011 // Over the past few months, the boat industry has shown signs of life. Boat show attendance has been steadily rising, and a major boat manufacturing executive recently declared, “The worst is over.” Now could be...
Overcapacity in P/C Insurance Keeping Commercial Prices Down
May 2 2011 // Most commercial lines insurance prices continued their downward trend in the first quarter, as underwriters’ efforts to hold the line on premiums buckled under the pressure of a highly overcapitalized market. Three...
P/C Premium Growth Not Enough for Market Turnaround: Conning
May 2 2011 // The property/casualty insurance industry can expect premium growth of between 3 and 4 percent in 2011, and about 5 percent for the following two years, according to a forecast from analysts at Conning Research &...
The Future of the Independent Agency (Has Nothing to Do with Age)
Apr 29 2011 // For the last 20 years, at least, consultants, associations and publications have been worrying about the future of the independent agency system because the average age of agency owners has been in the late 50s. The same...
Young Agents Survey Shows Strong Family Ties
Apr 28 2011 // Bryan Hanes grew up in the family business listening to stories about life in a small town. He heard his grandfather and then father sharing cheerful conversations with local towns folk about personal relationships, local...
S&P: Japan’s Rating Outlook Now Negative on Quake Costs; Affirms Debt Ratings
Apr 27 2011 // Standard and Poor’s threatened to cut Japan’s sovereign credit rating again, warning the huge cost of last month’s devastating earthquake will hurt already weak public finances unless bickering...
W.R. Berkley Reports Slight Price Increases in Q1
Apr 26 2011 // Prices were up in nearly all segments at W.R. Berkley Corp. in the first quarter while overall net written premiums grew 10 percent. Net income for the quarter was $116 million, or 79 cents per share, compared to $119...
Health Insurers’ Claims Cost Continues to Rise
Apr 26 2011 // The cost of claims in employer-sponsored health plans continues to increase, although the rate is slightly lower than six months ago. A new trend survey by Wells Fargo Insurance Services projects that overall claim cost...
Overcapacity in P/C Insurance Keeping Commercial Prices Down
Apr 26 2011 // Most commercial lines insurance prices continued their downward trend in the first quarter, as underwriters’ efforts to hold the line on premiums buckled under the pressure of a highly overcapitalized market. Three...
