Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
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...
