Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
U.S. Insurers Increasingly Outsourcing Actuarial Work to Overseas Talent
Dec 23 2008 // U.S. insurers and actuarial firms increasingly are outsourcing, offshoring, and importing actuarial talent from abroad, industry experts report. They are also learning that good management practices and an understanding of...
Mergers Slow as New Agencies Pop Up
Dec 21 2008 // Report: Number of Agencies Unchanged Since 2006 A new study by an industry trade group has found that the decade-long contraction in the number of insurance agencies has ceased during the past two years — a move...
Example of a Lost Bid Survey
Dec 21 2008 // Modify our sample questions and add your own to match up with how you sell. Here’s an example: Thank you again for the opportunity to prepare a proposal of insurance for your firm. We regret that we were unable to...
Lost Bid Surveys Reveal Reasons Behind No-Sales
Dec 21 2008 // Learn From Your Past Sales Mistakes There is always some type of reasoning behind why a hesitant commercial prospect won’t buy their policies from you. Maybe it’s one of those dating things, where the declining...
Ho-Ho-Ho Holiday Parties? Survey Says Homeowners Unaware of Risks
Dec 19 2008 // As millions of Americans host and attend holiday parties across the street or across the country, many are unaware of the risks they may be taking or of their own responsibilities to ensure their guests don’t hit the...
Willis Survey Finds ‘Financial Lines Insurance’ Increasingly Important
Dec 19 2008 // A report from Willis Group Holding notes that a “majority of attendees at a recent Financial Institutions seminar hosted by Willis, believe that financial lines insurance will play a more prominent role in their...
Mississippi Approves Alfa Auto Insurance Rate Decrease
Dec 18 2008 // Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney says Alfa Insurance customers are about to pay less for their automobile coverage. Chaney has approved Alfa’s plan to decrease auto rates by as much as 2.1 percent,...
S&P: Outlook on White Mountains Primary is Negative; Reinsurers Stable
Dec 18 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. (WTM), OneBeacon Insurance Group Ltd. (OB), and the members of OneBeacon Insurance Group (OneBeacon) to negative...
Swiss Re Study: 238,000 Dead, Losses $225 Billion from 2008 Catastrophes
Dec 18 2008 // According to initial estimates from the forthcoming Swiss Re sigma study on catastrophes, more than 238,000 people lost their lives to natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2008 – the fourth largest number...
Aon Highlights ‘Emerging Risks’ for UK Businesses
Dec 17 2008 // Aon has issued a warning from its London office to UK companies, which indicates that they may “face new insurance claim burdens in 2009 with fraud on the increase and spiraling legal fees.” Aon also said that,...
Forecast Pioneer Clark Says Short-Term Hurricane Models Overstate Losses
Dec 17 2008 // A new report finds that hurricane risk models designed to predict insured losses in the U.S. from Atlantic hurricanes for the five-year period ending in 2010, significantly overestimated these losses for the cumulative...
Willis Sees Hardening in Airline Insurance Market
Dec 17 2008 // Willis Group Holdings has said that it “expects aviation insurance prices to rise and the insurance market to harden further through the end of 2008 and into 2009,” according to the latest report issued by the...
S&P Lowers XL and Operating Companies Ratings; Outlook Negative
Dec 16 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on XL Capital Ltd.’s core operating companies to ‘A’ from ‘A+’. S&P also...
California Workers’ Compensation Premiums Down in 2008
Dec 16 2008 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has completed its report summarizing insurer loss and premium experience through Sept. 30, 2008. WCIRB said: “California written premium (gross of...
Best Affirms Max Capital Ratings; Revises Outlook to Positive
Dec 12 2008 // A.M. Best Co. has revised the outlook to positive from stable for all ratings of Bermuda-based Max Capital Group Ltd. (MXGL), and its subsidiaries. Best also affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A-‘...
Best Affirms Zurich Ratings; Revises Outlook to Stable
Dec 12 2008 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a+” of Zurich Insurance Company (ZIC), the main operating company of Zurich Financial...
A.M. Best Lowers Outlook for The Hingham Group
Dec 12 2008 // The credit rating agency A.M. Best Co. has revised its outlook for Massachusetts-based The Hingham Group to negative from stable. Best also affirmed the financial strength rating of B+ (Good) and issuer credit ratings of...
S&P Finds European Insurance Holds Up Despite Market Conditions
Dec 11 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has published its latest findings on the state of European insurers. It concludes that for the most part, “with the exception of the relatively small number of...
S&P Affirms ING Ratings; Outlook Revised to Negative
Dec 11 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today that it has revised its outlooks on ING Groep N.V., ING Verzekeringen N.V., ING Bank N.V., and certain related entities to negative from stable. S&P also...
Cost of Flood Insurance for Oklahomans Could Rise
Dec 9 2008 // More than 16,000 Oklahomans might have to pay higher premiums for flood insurance after a federal report recommended an overhaul of the program that determines rates for such coverage. The U.S. Government Accountability...
