Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Terrorism insurance market hits federal radar
Oct 9 2006 // Two new federal reports have found that the long-term development of the private terrorism insurance market remains at best uncertain due to the unpredictable nature of terrorist attacks. Both reports acknowledged that a...
The Future for Agents’ E&O
Oct 9 2006 // David Duncan of David C. Duncan Insurance Services in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., is worried about whether and how much the cost of his agency errors and omissions insurance might go up next year. Duncan started his...
Best Affirms Turkey’s Milli Re ‘B+’ Rating; Revises Outlook to Positive
Oct 5 2006 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of “B+” (Very Good) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) of “bbb-” for Turkish reinsurer Milli Reasurans Turk Anonim Sirketi (Milli Re). Best...
Updated Atlantic Hurricane Forecast Indicates Below-Average Activity
Oct 5 2006 // Colorado State University hurricane expert William Gray downgraded his forecast for the 2006 Atlantic storm season again this week, predicting one more hurricane, two more named storms but no intense hurricanes. The new...
Citizens’ Rates for Fla. Keys Homes Going Down, Mobile Homes Up
Oct 2 2006 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty and Citizens Property Insurance Corp. have agreed on property insurance rate changes – including an average 35 percent decrease for homes and a 15.2 percent increase for...
Benfield Report Sees Major Changes, Rapid Growth in Chinese Market
Sep 30 2006 // A new report by international reinsurance broker and risk intermediary Benfield, entitled “China Insurance Market Review: Major changes, rapid growth,” examines the changes that have taken place in in the...
ATV Thefts on Rise in Ark. as Hunting Season Nears
Sep 27 2006 // Arkansas law enforcement officials are warning hunters to keep an eye on their all-terrain vehicles when they get out in the woods this fall. Although thieves nab four-wheelers all year, deer season is an especially big...
Hawaii, Washington, Wyoming bringing down workers’ comp rates
Sep 25 2006 // Hawaii, Washington and Wyoming proposed lowering workers’ compensation rates in their states from 2 percent to 12.3 percent. The Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs’ Insurance Division announced...
Post-storm season forecast
Sep 25 2006 // With lots of luck, the second half of the 2006 hurricane season will be as uneventful for most East Coast residents and businesses — and insurers — as the first half has been. Not that the first half...
Survey: young agents value rates, technology, products from insurers
Sep 25 2006 // The five most important things carriers can offer independent insurance agencies are: competitive rates; technology that helps them more easily write business and service customers; a variety of markets and products;...
Specialty program market continues to grow, but new business still a challenge
Sep 25 2006 // The program administrator specialty market continues to grow, according to survey results by Guy Carpenter & Company Inc. More than 65 percent of survey respondents estimate the size of the program administrator...
Editor’s Note: Post-storm season forecast
Sep 25 2006 // If the immediate hurricane trend does continue, there may be another storm that the insurance industry will have to weather: a political storm. With lots of luck, the second half of the 2006 hurricane season will be as...
RMS Forecast Factors in El Nino Cycle
Sep 22 2006 // Newark, Calif.-based Risk Management Solutions has released its perspective in anticipation of a possible El Niño cycle between 2006 and 2011, and hurricane activity. On Wednesday, September 13, the National Oceanic and...
Lloyd’s Market Process Reform Gains Momentum
Sep 20 2006 // Momentum is usually used in the context of football games and political campaigns, not in referring to 300-year old insurance markets. But Lloyd’s certainly seems to be gathering momentum when it comes to business...
Surplus Lines Premium Volume Shows Little Growth
Sep 19 2006 // Direct premium volume for the surplus lines insurance market remained relatively flat in 2005 as it did in 2004, after growing significantly during the three prior calendar years. The significant growth had been a...
Safety Board Reports Transportation Fatalities Up in 2005
Sep 18 2006 // Transportation fatalities in the United States increased last year, according to preliminary figures released today by the National Transportation Safety Board. Deaths from transportation accidents in the United States in...
FBI: Overall N.Y. Crime Rate Continues Decline; Car Thefts Down 13%
Sep 18 2006 // Overall crime rates continued to decline in New York during 2005 as vehicle thefts dropped almost 13 percent and robberies edged up from 2004, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation report. The rate of violent...
Calif. Workers’ Comp Rating Bureau Proposes Rate Decrease
Sep 15 2006 // California’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Board has proposed a 6.3 percent reduction in the pure premium rate. On August 16, 2006, the WCIRB submitted its Jan. 1, 2007 pure premium rate filing to the...
E&Y Survey: 80% of EU Insurers Start Solvency II Compliance; Will Affect U.S.
Sep 15 2006 // The shoe doesn’t fall until 2010, but already, according to a survey by the Ernst & Young Global Insurance Centre, 80 percent of “major European insurance companies have already begun Solvency II (SII)...
U.S. to Require Anti-Rollover Technology on New Cars by 2012
Sep 15 2006 // New automobiles will be required to have anti-rollover technology by the 2012 model year, which should save thousands of lives annually, the government’s traffic safety agency said Thursday. “No other safety...
