Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Survey: Parents Fed Up With ‘Party Schools’ and Politicians
Aug 20 2008 // Americans continue to overwhelmingly reject an ongoing push to lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 18. According to a Nationwide Insurance survey, 72 percent of adults think lowering the drinking age will make alcohol...
Survey: Renters Ill Equipped to Protect Belongings
Aug 19 2008 // As the number of Americans renting homes increases with the current housing foreclosure crisis, a survey by Allstate finds most renters are inadequately prepared to protect their belongings. While homeowners coverage is...
California Proposes 16% Workers’ Comp Rate Increase
Aug 14 2008 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California indicated it plans to submit a filing to the California Department of Insurance (CDI) recommending a 16 percent increase in pure premium rates effective...
S&P: ING Ratings, Outlook ‘Unchanged’ by Q2 Profit Decline
Aug 14 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that its ratings and outlooks on ING Groep N.V. (currently ‘AA-‘ – Stable – ‘A-1+’) and related entities are unchanged following...
Florida Regulators May Reject State Farm Rate Increase
Aug 14 2008 // A State Farm rate increase appears in jeopardy after regulators grilled company officials for hours about a request to jack up rates in Florida by 47.1 percent. Florida’s insurance consumer advocate office told...
S&P: U.S. Commercial Lines Outlook Revised To Negative From Stable
Aug 14 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services revised its outlook on the U.S. commercial lines property/casualty insurance sector to negative from stable. Standard & Poor’s credit analyst John Iten explained...
Looking to Increase Your Bottom Line During This Soft Market?
Aug 12 2008 // For over 16 years, MGA’s and Carriers have trusted QualCorp for their Rating and Policy Issuance Software. Their flagship product – FormsPlus – automates all lines of business for both admitted and...
Small Businesses Lose $200K to Fraud, Survey Reports
Aug 12 2008 // U.S. organizations lose an estimated 7 percent of their annual revenues to fraud – but damages are more among small businesses, according to a new study. The median loss suffered by organizations with fewer than 100...
Catlin Posts 21% Decline in First Half Net Income; GPW Top $2 Billion
Aug 11 2008 // The Bermuda-based Catlin Group Limited posted mixed financial results for the first half of 2008. While gross written premiums were up four percent to $2.075 billion, net income before taxes for the period declined by 21...
Argo Group Bucks the Trend as Q2, H1 Net Income Increases
Aug 11 2008 // The Bermuda-based Argo International Holdings, Ltd. (The successor to Argonaut Insurance) announced comparatively good financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2008. Net income for the second quarter...
Survey: New Orleans Residents Optimistic in Spite of Troubles
Aug 11 2008 // New Orleans residents are surprisingly optimistic three years after Hurricane Katrina, considering that most see little or no progress in key areas and feel the rest of the country has forgotten their lingering troubles,...
Colorado Climatologist Raises Hurricane Forecast
Aug 8 2008 // Noted hurricane researcher William Gray, a former Colorado State University climatologist, has revised his Atlantic forecast upward and now calls for a total of nine hurricanes this season — an increase of one. Gray...
S&P: Munich Re Ratings ‘Unaffected’ by Reduced Earning Forecast
Aug 8 2008 // Following the release of Munich Re’s six-month earnings report (See above), Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said that its ‘AA-‘ long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength...
Best Makes Results of Car-Insurance Buyer Survey Available
Aug 6 2008 // In a new service A.M. Best is providing consumers with a way to learn which companies scored highest in consumer satisfaction among new car insurance buyers. All an interested party has to do is visit a new multi-media...
Ohio Official Predicts Slight Increase in Auto Insurance Rates
Aug 6 2008 // An Ohio official is forecasting slight increases in auto insurance rates through the end of this year and larger increases in homeowners premiums. State Insurance Director Mary Jo Hudson revealed the prediction on August 4...
Louisiana Citizens Rate Increase Delayed
Aug 6 2008 // Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. policyholders won’t see planned rate increases for at least two months because the agency can’t get a quorum on its board to approve the measure. Premiums had been...
Mid-Year 2008: Securities Lawsuit Filings Remain Up
Aug 4 2008 // Subprime and Credit Crisis Filings Show No Sign of Abating Is litigation stemming from the subprime- and credit crisis-related activity increasing directors’ and officers’ insurance premiums? Despite the steady...
Washington Residents Savvy About Identity Theft, Survey Says
Aug 4 2008 // While Washington state has one of the highest per-capita rates of identity theft in the nation, Washingtonians are aware of the risks and are taking the precautions necessary to prevent identity fraud, according to a...
GAO: Flood Program Lacks Funds to Face Future
Aug 4 2008 // The National Flood Insurance Program owes the federal Treasury more than $17 billion from hurricane-related losses and has been unable to set aside enough money to meet catastrophic losses that could arise in the future,...
Aon Net Income Way Up for Q2 on Sale of Combined Insurance
Aug 1 2008 // Giant insurance broker Aon Corp. reported that second quarter net income skyrocketed 372 percent largely from its sale of business units including Combined Insurance Companies of America. Net income increased to $1.1...
