Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Highways Deaths Declined in Florida in 2008
Jul 8 2009 // Highway deaths are at an 8-year low in Florida. Also for the first time since 2000, fewer than 3,000 people lost their lives on the state’s roadways, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles...
Survey: Claims Service Is Tops for Agents When Evaluating Carriers
Jul 8 2009 // Quality claims service continues to be the top factor in how independent agents evaluate their carriers, although insurers’ financial strength ratings are now a much bigger concern for agents than in the past, an...
California Commissioner Rejects Workers’ Comp Bureau Rate Increase
Jul 8 2009 // Citing testimony that self-insured employers have been able to reduce overall workers’ compensation costs, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has rejected the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating...
S&P Changes Outlook on PartnerRe’s Ratings to Negative
Jul 7 2009 // While Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services is positive in its outlook for PARIS RE (See related article), it is less so when it comes to the acquiring company, Bermuda-based PartnerRe. S&P said it has revised...
S&P, Best See Positive Outlook for PARIS RE Deal with PartnerRe
Jul 7 2009 // Both A.M. Best Co. and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services have taken a positive outlook for their ratings on PARIS RE and its operating companies, following the announcement that the group would be acquired by...
Mass. Managed Auto System Brings Competition, Lower Rates, Survey Says
Jul 6 2009 // Nine new auto insurers, more carriers for each independent agency to represent, a drop in the number of uninsured drivers, and a decrease in policies written in the residual market — these are some of the advantages...
P/C Industry Posts $1.3B Loss in Q1; Combined Ratio Up to 102.2
Jul 6 2009 // The property/casualty insurance industry suffered a $1.3 billion net loss after taxes for first-quarter 2009, which constitutes a $9.8 billion adverse swing from the industry’s $8.5 billion in net income after taxes...
Cyber Security: Global Risk and Rising Complexity
Jul 6 2009 // Multinationals are fighting a battle on two fronts when it comes to cyber security as they seek to fend off new, emerging security threats and also comply with evolving global regulations. These emerging security threats...
Starr Teams up with Talbot, QBE for Construction Risks through Lloyd’s
Jul 1 2009 // Starr Underwriting Agents Limited and Starr Specialty Lines Insurance Agency, LLC, both subsidiaries of C. V. Starr & Co., Inc. announced that they can now offer additional capacity of up to $75 million “through...
Study Forecasts Deaths, Injuries After GM, Chrysler Bankruptcies
Jun 26 2009 // More than 3,400 Americans will be injured or killed by a defective Chrysler or General Motors vehicle during the first year of the car makers’ bankruptcies, according to a report by a consumer safety advocacy...
Willis is Positive for Future of Offshore Wind Insurance Market
Jun 25 2009 // A team of Willis Group Holdings has concluded that “insurers are increasingly seeing offshore wind as an attractive investment area with considerable growth potential.” The conclusion comes just ahead of the...
Best Affirms Wind River Re’s ‘A’ Ratings, Stable Outlook
Jun 25 2009 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a” of Bermuda-based Wind River Reinsurance Company, Ltd. and its U.S....
Lawyer Says Alabama Agent Trying to Clean Up Ex-Employees’ Fraud
Jun 24 2009 // The lawyer for a Gulf Shores insurance agent has asked state officials to grant her a probation period to allow her to make repayments to customers victimized by fraud. Richard Lively said that revoking the license of...
Study: Number of Customers Shopping for New Insurance Providers Declines
Jun 24 2009 // Good news for insurers and their agents. Fewer insurance customers are shopping for another insurance provider — 28 percent, compared with 36 percent in 2008. Across the industry, 90 percent of auto insurance...
A.M. Best Lower Outlook for Boston’s Plymouth Rock Assurance Corp.
Jun 19 2009 // A.M. Best has revised the outlook to negative for Boston-based insurer Plymouth Rock Assurance Group. Despite the outlook downgrade, A.M. Best Co. affirmed the financial strength rating of A- (Excellent) and issuer credit...
House Divided Over Future of Insurance Regulation
Jun 18 2009 // House lawmakers are divided about how to supervise the insurance industry as Congress reviews the Obama administration’s blueprint for a broad overhaul of the nation’s financial rule book. Rep. Paul Kanjorski,...
A.M. Best Downgrades State Farm Florida; Outlook Negative
Jun 18 2009 // A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the financial strength rating to B (Fair) from B+ (Good) and issuer credit rating to “bb” from “bbb-” of State Farm Florida Insurance Co. The rating agency’s...
S&P Affirms Max Cap’s Ratings – Off CreditWatch; Outlook Positive
Jun 17 2009 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has affirmed its ‘BBB-‘ counterparty credit rating on Max Capital Group Ltd. and removed it from CreditWatch, where it was placed on March 2, 2009.The outlook on...
Red Cross Report Confirms 2008 Rise in Weather-Related Disasters
Jun 17 2009 // A global trend towards increasing weather-related disasters was confirmed in 2008, the second deadliest year in the past decade for natural catastrophes, an annual Red Cross report said Tuesday. The number of people...
Minnesota Workers’ Comp Claims Fall, But Cost Per Claim Rising
Jun 17 2009 // Minnesota’s Department of Labor and Industry has released its annual “Annual Minnesota Workers’ Compensation System Report,” that indicates the number of paid workers’ compensation claims fell...
