Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Reinsurers Expect Financial Storm Will Cause Premium Increases
Oct 28 2008 // The world’s reinsurers expect the intensifying financial market storm will allow them to push through higher prices for the risk cover they offer insurance companies. The world’s No. 2 and No. 4 reinsurers,...
Survey: Insurance Agent Salaries Could Freeze in 2009
Oct 28 2008 // Given today’s tough economic times, most insurance agencies and carriers in the Southern California region are not planning to give their employees cost of living increases in 2009, although many companies have not...
Survey: P/C Premiums Decline Again as Industry Enters ‘Uncertain Times’
Oct 27 2008 // Commercial property/casualty premiums continued a downward slide during the third quarter of 2008, but there were suggestions the market decline may have leveled off, at least between July and September, for small and...
S&P Says QBE, PMI Australia Ratings, Outlooks Unchanged
Oct 24 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said that its ‘A-‘ rating on Australia’s QBE Insurance Group Ltd. and its ‘A+’ ratings on QBE’s core operating entities remain unchanged...
Liberty Mutual Serves Up Loss Control Unit for Insurance Agents, Buyers
Oct 24 2008 // Liberty Mutual Group has created a new loss control organization, Loss Control Advisory Services, to give middle and national market commercial insurance buyers and their agents and broekrs better access to professional...
California Commissioner Announces 5% Workers’ Comp Rate Increase
Oct 24 2008 // Rejecting the Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s (WCIRB) call for a 16 percent increase in the benchmark for determining workers’ compensation costs, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner...
S&P Affirms ING’s Group Ratings; Outlook Remains Stable
Oct 22 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has affirmed its ‘AA-/A-1+’ counterparty credit ratings on both ING Groep N.V. and ING Verzekeringen N.V. S&P also affirmed its ‘AA/A-1+’...
European Commission to Crack Down on Derivatives Risk
Oct 21 2008 // The European Commission said on Friday that it intends to make proposals to control risks in the $60 trillion credit derivatives market, which is seen as one of the causes of the worst financial crisis in 80...
ING Seen up After Dutch Government Cash Deal; Taiwan Life Sale
Oct 21 2008 // The Dutch government has agreed a €10 billion ($13.25 billion) cash injection into financial group ING, and ING shares were expected to rally on Monday after a 27.5 percent slump in the previous session. ING sought...
Brown & Brown: Revenues Up Even as Insurance Prices Falling
Oct 21 2008 // Florida-based insurance agency Brown & Brown, Inc. reported that its total commissions and fees revenues for the third quarter of 2008 increased 8.1 percent over the third quarter of 2007. While revenues were up, net...
Survey: U.S. Firms Prepare for Rise in Litigation After Two Years of Declines
Oct 21 2008 // Following two straight years of reporting declines in the number of new lawsuits and regulatory proceedings — including a drop in large-dollar cases — U.S. companies now anticipate an uptick in new actions and...
Annual Survey Lists Top 10 Ease of Doing Business P/C Insurers
Oct 20 2008 // West Bend Mutual Insurance Company of Wisconsin (No. 1), Central Mutual Insurance (No. 2), Safety Insurance (No. 3), Frankenmuth Insurance (No. 4), and Selective Insurance (No. 5) earned the top five spots when it comes to...
Florida Warns Rising Energy Costs Could Increase Home Fires
Oct 20 2008 // Florida Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Alex Sink is joining the American Red Cross and the National Fire Protection Association in warning Floridians about the risks of using alternative and unconventional...
Shrinking Citizens Signals Progress in Florida Property Market
Oct 20 2008 // Florida remains focused on recovery of its property insurance market. But new rules for reinsurers, a national catastrophe plan and the use of occupational rating in insurance are also on the radar of Florida Insurance...
Colorado Orders 16% Decrease in Workers’ Comp Loss Costs
Oct 20 2008 // Colorado employers may be paying lower premiums for workers’ compensation insurance in 2009, because a significant component of workers’ compensation premiums, known as loss costs, will drop 16 percent, the...
Premium Growth: Top 25 P/C Premium Gainers Through Q2 2007
Oct 20 2008 // Vita Sackville (1892-1962) was a British novelist and poet. In 1928, she wrote, “Growth is exciting; growth is dynamic and alarming.” Eighty years later, her description of growth is more accurate than ever....
Survey: Massachusetts Drivers Slow to Shop Under New Insurance Rules
Oct 17 2008 // Barely six months into Massachusetts’ new deregulated auto insurance system – one that supposedly favors consumers who shop around for the best rates – fewer than one in four drivers have actually done...
Marsh Warns Economic Slowdown Increases Supply Chain Risk
Oct 17 2008 // Marsh has issued a warning that the current “financial instability and deteriorating economic conditions in the UK are prompting companies to improve efficiency and drive down operating costs in their supply chains....
XL Estimates $1.65 Billion Loss But Beats Forecast
Oct 15 2008 // XL Capital Ltd, a large Bermuda-based insurer, estimated Tuesday a quarterly net loss of $1.65 billion to $1.67 billion, and said its chairman involuntarily sold about 80 percent of his common shares last week to meet a...
Forecast: NYC Building Boom Will Peak in 2008
Oct 15 2008 // New York City’s building boom will peak this year, with construction jobs plunging from a record 130,100 in 2008 to 100,250 in 2010, according to a report released yesterday. The report by the New York Building...
