Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
Court Denies Allstate’s Request to Avoid Rate Decrease
May 5 2008 // A San Francisco judge has refused Allstate’s request to block a 15.9 percent automobile insurance rate decrease. Thus, the California Department of Insurance said the rate decrease should take effect immediately, and...
Earthquakes Raise Questions of Future Shocks, Public Readiness
May 5 2008 // Just weeks after earthquakes rattled Nevada, the Midwest and the coast of Oregon, and on the heels of the 102nd anniversary of San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake, the public, government officials and insurance industry...
Analysts See Increase in P/C Mergers Ahead; Rate Climate Top Challenge
May 5 2008 // Insurance equity analysts expect a significant increase in property/casualty mergers and acquisitions this year, according to findings of a global survey by Accenture. More than two-thirds (71 percent) of all P/C analysts...
S&P Revises its Outlook on Aegon and Core Subs to Negative; Affirms Ratings
May 2 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on Netherlands-based AEGON N.V. and its core subsidiaries to negative from stable. Concurrently S&P affirmed its ‘A+/A-1’ counterparty...
Florida-based Old Dominion Insurance Earns Top Spot in Agent Survey
Apr 29 2008 // In a Florida Association of Insurance Agents commissioned survey, independent insurance agents ranked Old Dominion Insurance Co. as the top property-casualty carrier in the state. Jacksonville-based Old Dominion scored...
Hartford’s 1st Quarter Profit Tumbles 83%; Cuts Outlook
Apr 29 2008 // Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. said Monday that net income plunged more than 83 percent in the first quarter, in large part from losses on investments, including credit derivatives. On an operating basis, the...
Allianz Forecasts $2.8 Billion Q1 Profit
Apr 29 2008 // Germany’s Allianz SE said it expects a “solid operating profit” for the first quarter of 2008 of €1.8 billion ($2.8 billion) “despite a difficult market environment.” The Allianz Group...
Insurance Australia Group Lowers Outlook
Apr 28 2008 // Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) announced lower earnings projections for its insurance activities for the full year ending 30 June 2008 of between 6 and 8 percent, “mainly due to the impact of high storm...
Survey: Medical Liability Insurers Optimistic About Short-Term Market
Apr 25 2008 // U.S. medical liability insurers anticipate their primary rate levels to decrease in 2008, compared with 2007, while the average frequency and severity of claims sustained by their firms will remain about the same as last...
Workers’ Compensation Rates Continue to Decline in Arkansas
Apr 24 2008 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Julie Benafield Bowman announced a decrease in workers’ compensation rates effective July 1, 2008. Since the passage of an all-encompassing workers’ compensation legislative...
Report: 2008 Insurance Agency-Broker Value Forecast
Apr 24 2008 // Marsh, Berry & Company Inc. has released an overview of the state of the insurance distribution system for 2008 and beyond. This research report documents historical and projected insurance agency/broker value, merger...
Survey: Majority of October’s California Wildfire Claims Settled
Apr 23 2008 // A new survey of insurance companies estimates 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...
Insurance Sector Ranks Second in Federal Political Giving
Apr 21 2008 // The nation’s lobbyists spent $17 million for every day that Congress was in session, watchdog group says Corporations, industries, labor unions, governments and other interests spent a record $2.79 billion in 2007 to...
Snowmobile Deaths in Michigan Rise Slightly in 2007-08
Apr 21 2008 // The number of snowmobile-related deaths in Michigan rose slightly this past winter — the first increase in five years. A report says 22 people died from snowmobile injuries during the 2007-08 winter, compared with 20 the...
Florida Agent Bucks Trends With Growth, Recruitment Strategies
Apr 21 2008 // Riemer’s on a collecting spree that includes new employees, green offices, Rolex watches and cookie jars When Fireman’s Fund introduced its Green-Gard program covering environmentally sound commercial building...
Federal Charter: A Future ‘Insurance Subprime’ Debacle?
Apr 21 2008 // The banking and securities industry is facing worldwide subprime mortgage-related losses which knowledgeable sources – including the International Monetary Fund — now suggest could top $1 trillion, according to...
Federal Charter: A Future ‘Insurance Subprime’ Debacle?
Apr 21 2008 // The banking and securities industry is facing worldwide subprime mortgage-related losses, which knowledgeable sources – including the International Monetary Fund — now suggest could top $1 trillion, according to...
White Papers and Blueprints: Agents Chart Their Own Regulatory Future
Apr 21 2008 // Independent agents hold onto market share, prepare for post-November election politics Insurance Journal‘s Editor-in-Chief Andrea Wells interviewed Robert Rusbuldt, CEO and president of the Independent Insurance...
Survey: 1Q Commercial Lines Premiums Drop Most Since 2005
Apr 21 2008 // Commercial lines insurance premiums experienced the largest quarterly drop since 2005 during the first quarter of 2008, according to an industry survey of risk managers. Undeterred by mounting claims from the meltdown of...
