Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Survey: Washington Areas Most Secure Places to Live
May 19 2008 // Olympia, Wash., and its metropolitan area are the safest places in the nation to live, work or raise a family, according to the fourth annual Most Secure U.S. Places to Live rankings from Farmers Insurance Group of...
State Farm Files Request for California Rate Increase
May 19 2008 // Reflecting the general upward trends in the cost of property and liability insurance claims, State Farm General Insurance Co. has filed a request for an average statewide 6.9 percent rate increase with the California...
Survey: Small Business Customers Depend on Agents’ Expertise
May 19 2008 // Agent expertise in workers’ compensation insurance is a critical factor in small businesses’ choice of carriers, according to a recent national survey conducted by Employers, which specializes in insurance for...
Survey: Small Businesses Don’t Understand Dollars Spent on Workers’ Comp
May 19 2008 // Too many small business decision-makers appear to be spending money on workers’ compensation insurance coverage without understanding how workers’ compensation insurance works, what they get for their premium...
Catlin Q1 Results in-Line with Forecasts
May 16 2008 // The Bermuda-based Catlin Group Limited, which also does business in the U.S. and the Lloyd’s Market, has released an interim earnings statement, following the Company’s Annual General Meeting, indicating that...
Claims Pile up from Texas Storms
May 16 2008 // Back-to-back storm systems surprised Central Texas overnight on May 14-15 with intense winds and heavy hail damage in localized areas that has insurance agents and companies responding to thousand of property damage...
Study: Moderate Income Households an Untapped Insurance Market
May 15 2008 // Many low- and moderate-income households need more insurance and want to know more about it, according to a recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Overall, these consumers hold positive views about insurance,...
Confessions of an Insurance Geek and the Future of MyNewMarkets.com
May 14 2008 // MyNewMarkets.com users will soon notice changes in the information included on the Web site and available for use. MyNewMarkets.com will soon inaugurate an analysis and technical content database with its first coverage...
Rapid Coastal Growth Places Urgency on Hurricane Forecasts, Chief Says
May 14 2008 // The rapid pace of development along hurricane-prone coasts is adding a new level of urgency for forecasters to more accurately pinpoint potential storm impact zones, the director of the National Hurricane Center...
California Forecasts Stability in Workers’ Comp Insurance Market
May 13 2008 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced that, for the first time in six years, an interim pure premium rate advisory will not be issued by his office because of market strength. In the past, the insurance...
Report: Florida Workers’ Comp Reforms of 2003 Impacted Costs Per Claim
May 12 2008 // Workers’ compensation costs per claim in Florida appear to have decreased in 2004 in the wake of reforms enacted in 2003, but the decrease did not continue in 2005, according to a new study by the Workers...
Dresdner Posts Q1 Loss; Allianz Confirms Profit Decline
May 9 2008 // Dresdner Bank stayed in the red in the first quarter after writing down €845 million ($1.3 billion) on structured finance investments, keeping it in the spotlight as parent Allianz works to split it in two. Dresdner...
State Farm Files Request for California Rate Increase
May 9 2008 // Reflecting the general upward trends in the cost of property and liability insurance claims, State Farm General Insurance Co. has filed a request for an average statewide 6.9 percent rate increase with the California...
Munich Re Q1 Profit Down 19% to $1.2 Billion; Maintains 2008 Profit Targets
May 8 2008 // The Munich Re Group recorded a profit of €785 million ($1.2 billion) for the first quarter of 2008, down 19 percent from the €974 million ($1.495 billion) in the same period of 2007. The Group’s Operating result,...
University Research Aims to Improve Tornado Predictions
May 8 2008 // Three hot-air balloons dropped asphalt shingles, lumber, sticks, leaves and pine needles onto a north Alabama landfill, so scientists at The University of Alabama in Huntsville could gather data needed to improve tornado...
AIG Posts Big Loss Due to Mortgage Woes; Insurance Results Decline, Too
May 8 2008 // The world’s biggest insurance company, American International Group Inc. (AIG), posted a big quarterly loss — $7.81 billion — largely due to write-downs related to bad mortgage investments. AIG blamed much of the...
S&P Affirms Berkshire Hathaway’s ‘AAA’ Ratings; Outlook Stable
May 7 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has affirmed its ‘AAA’ counterparty credit, ‘A-1+’ commercial paper, and ‘AAA’ senior unsecured debt ratings on Berkshire Hathaway Inc....
Survey: Small Businesses Don’t Understand Their Dollars Spent on Workers’ Comp
May 6 2008 // Too many small business decision-makers appear to be spending money on workers’ compensation insurance coverage without understanding how workers’ compensation insurance works, what they get for their premium...
California Earthquake: Damage Predictions of ‘Big One’ Get Bigger
May 5 2008 // A new report is predicting that a repeat of San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake would damage more than 90,000 buildings and cost $150 billion to repair. According to the report, “When the Big One Strikes...
Survey: Majority of October’s California Wildfire Claims Settled
May 5 2008 // A new survey of insurance companies estimated that nearly 90 percent of claims stemming from the devastating October 2007 fire and wind storms in California have been settled. A poll by the Insurance Information Network of...
