Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
State Farm Homeowners Rate Increase Denied in Louisiana
Feb 21 2010 // Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon declined to approve a rate request filed by State Farm Fire and Casualty Company that would have raised homeowners insurance rates by a statewide average of 19.1 percent. State...
M&A Activity at Decade Lows
Feb 21 2010 // Leading into 2009, agencies were at a crossroads; uncertain of whether to sell, buy, or implement new or improved organic growth strategies. The path was uncertain, but it was widely believed that market, economic and...
Young Agents Survey
Feb 21 2010 // Most enter the insurance business by accident but for young independent insurance agents, the decision to stick with insurance as a permanent career is a matter of choice. A healthy 84 percent of young insurance agents say...
Lee & Mason Increases Limits on Insurance Agents’ Professional Liability
Feb 19 2010 // Lee & Mason Financial Services, Inc. has increased its limits for insurance agents’ errors and omissions coverage from $5 million to $10 million. Insurance agents E&O coverage, with limits of up to $10...
Statewide Auto Theft Continues to Decline in Michigan
Feb 19 2010 // An organization dedicated to reducing auto theft in Michigan reports that while there has been a decline in auto theft in the state, incidents of insurance fraud and component theft have increased. Michigan’s...
Combined Agents Group Premiums Grow to $410M in 2009
Feb 18 2010 // Austin, Texas-based Combined Agents of America LLC (CAA) announced it achieved more than $410 million in combined property and casualty premiums and more than $53 million in revenue for 2009. The group, which recorded...
Lockton Expert Analyzes Product Contamination, Recall Insurance Market
Feb 17 2010 // The specialist market for insurance covering product recall and product contamination is resilient and stable, according to Ian Harrison, an expert in the field, in a new report – “Supply and Demand Growing for...
Anthem Blue Cross Agrees to Delay Rate Increase
Feb 16 2010 // Anthem Blue Cross has agreed to a Feb. 8 request by California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner to delay its individual health insurance rate increase until May 1 to allow an independent actuary to review their rates,...
EMEA Commercial Insurance Market ‘Stable’ Says Marsh Report
Feb 16 2010 // A new report from Marsh has concluded that “despite the global recession, the commercial insurance market remained stable in the second half of 2009. This provided many organizations across Europe, the Middle East...
Increase in Commercial Rates Proposed for Louisiana Citizens
Feb 16 2010 // The board of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation will vote in March on a proposed increase for commercial policy holders that will average 4.57 percent. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon told The...
Survey: Risky Online Behavior Exposes Many to Lawsuits
Feb 16 2010 // Nearly 30 percent of people have cleaned up their social networking profiles for job interviews, and the economic downturn has made them more cautious about postings on social media sites. A new telephone survey sponsored...
Zurich Enhances E&O Coverage to Address Increasing Technology Risks
Feb 12 2010 // Zurich has introduced Zurich Pro Plus, an enhanced Errors & Omissions (E&O) coverage to address the needs of a range of business professionals, including consultants, and media and information technology...
Italian Auto Insurers’ Shares Could Gain from Price Increases
Feb 12 2010 // Shares in Italy’s top motor insurers could become more attractive this year because of the likely success of tariff [premium] increases in a market where rivalry from online and bank sales is still weak. Fund...
Louisiana Commissioner Denies State Farm’s 19% Rate Increase
Feb 11 2010 // Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has declined to approve a rate request filed by State Farm Fire and Casualty Company that would have raised homeowners insurance rates by a statewide average of 19.1...
Best Affirms CNA and Subs Ratings; Revises Outlook to Stable
Feb 11 2010 // A.M. Best Co. has revised the outlook to stable from negative and affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a” of CNA Insurance Companies...
California Regulator Wants Anthem Blue Cross To Postpone Rate Increase
Feb 10 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, responding to a dramatic proposed rate hike by WellPoint’s California affiliate, Anthem Blue Cross, has called on WellPoint executives to postpone the rate increase,...
Mercury Insurance Sees 3.5% Decrease in Q4 Net Premium
Feb 8 2010 // Mercury General Corp. reported that net income for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $34.2 million compared with net loss of $168.3 million for the same period in 2008. For the year, net income for the Los Angeles-based...
Collapse Concerns Grow as Snowstorm Slams Eastern States
Feb 8 2010 // Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. were particularly battered by a weekend snowstorm that caused massive power outages and resulted in moderate structural damage to areas in the region. At least two deaths were...
State Farm Says It Warned U.S. Officials About Toyota Accident Trend in 2007
Feb 8 2010 // Private insurer State Farm informed a U.S. government regulator of a worrying trend of vehicle-caused accidents involving Toyota Motor Corp. as far back as late 2007, an official at the company said. “When you start...
On Average, Texas Homeowners Rates Are Down, Agents Group Says
Feb 7 2010 // Reduction Is in Cost per $1,000 in Property Value There’s a common perception that homeowners insurance rates in Texas go up and up, and never come down. That’s not necessarily true, however, according to the...
