Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
PIC Wisconsin Med-Mal Rates to Increase in Nevada
Mar 18 2004 // Nevada Insurance Commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman has approved the request of Physicians Insurance Company of Wisconsin Inc. (PIC) for a 15 percent increase for medical malpractice insurance. In addition to the 15 percent...
ACE USA Appoints New VP Head of Emerging Issues
Mar 17 2004 // ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operations of the ACE Group of Companies, has announced the appointment of Kathleen Muedder, CPCU, as Senior Vice President, Emerging Issues. She will focus on identifying strategic...
CRM Underscores NY Health Care Trust Financial Strength, Continues Growth of Customer Base
Mar 17 2004 // Compensation Risk Managers announced from its Poughkeepsie headquarters that its Healthcare Industry Trust of New York (HITNY) product remains on solid financial ground and continues to provide “high quality,...
S&P Reports Top Layer Reinsurance Ltd. ‘AA’ Ratings Affirmed; Outlook Stable
Mar 17 2004 // Standard & Poor’s has affirmed its ‘AA’ counterparty and financial strength ratings on Top Layer Reinsurance Ltd. The outlook is stable. Top Layer Re is a 50%/50% joint venture between State Farm...
Fla. House Says Thumbs Up to Premium Tax Database Bill; Off for Vote in Senate
Mar 16 2004 // A bill creating an electronic database for insurers to use in allocating insurance property and casualty premium taxes was passed Tuesday by Florida’s House and is headed for a vote in the Senate. “We’ve...
Aegon Reports 16% 2003 Profit Rise to $2.187 Billion
Mar 15 2004 // Aegon, the Netherlands’ insurer and financial services giant, reported fourth quarter net income rose 32 percent to 470 million euros ($573 million), while full year earnings rose 16 percent to 1.793 billion euros...
Moody’s Downgrades Lloyd’s Syndicate 1007; Revises Syndicate 2147 Outlook to Stable
Mar 15 2004 // Moody’s Investors Service announced that it has downgraded the A1 Insurance Financial Strength Rating (IFSR) of Lloyd’s syndicate 1007, SVB Syndicates Limited, to A2 and assigned a stable outlook. It also...
Customer Survey Gives IWIF High Marks
Mar 15 2004 // Maryland’s Injured Workers’ Insurance Fund announced the results of a recent survey, which gave the organization high marks for its services, especially from agents and brokers, 97 percent of whom said they...
Risk and Insurance Management Benchmark Survey Chronicles Turbulent Year for 2003
Mar 10 2004 // Commercial insurance buyers experienced a turbulent past year as the hard market reached its peak and then began its current softening trend, according to the annual market survey from the Risk and Insurance Management...
Commercial Rates Going Down, Reinsurance Rates Holding Firm
Mar 8 2004 // As Costello famously asked Abbott, “Who’s on first?” A new report released by leading independent insurance intermediary Benfield concludes that despite “ample capacity and signs of resurgent...
SLSOT Sees Slowing of Surplus Lines Rate Increases
Mar 8 2004 // The Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas was established in 1988 as a result of legislation drafted by a committee that included Texas Surplus Lines Association members, Texas Department of Insurance staff and other...
Survey Reports Organizations at Risk, Unprepared to Secure Data
Mar 8 2004 // The Emmes Group, a strategy consulting and market research organization, and NeoScale Systems Inc., a provider of enterprise storage security solutions for the networked storage and data storage management markets,...
S&P Affirms Inter-Ocean Re ‘A’ Rating; Outlook Revised to Negative
Mar 5 2004 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it has revised its outlook on Inter-Ocean Reinsurance Co. Ltd. (IORe) to negative from stable, but has affirmed its ‘A” counterparty credit and...
Best Affirms GE Frankona ‘A’ Rating; Lowers Outlook
Mar 4 2004 // A.M. Best Co. announced that it has affirmed the financial strength rating of “A” (Excellent) of the GE Frankona Group’s reinsurance subsidiaries, and has revised its outlook to negative from...
Best Affirms Zurich Specialties ‘A’ Rating; Assigns Stable Outlook
Mar 4 2004 // A.M. Best Co. announced that it has affirmed the financial strength rating of “A” (Excellent) of Zurich Specialties London Limited (ZSL); has removed the rating from under review with negative implications, and...
S&P Report Examines U.S. Insurer Failures in 2003
Mar 3 2004 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings announced that it has published an article that examines failures among U.S. insurers in 2003. “The number of U.S. insurance failures fell to its lowest five-year level in 2003...
New Swiss Re Sigma Study Reviews 2003 CAT Losses
Mar 3 2004 // Natural and man-made catastrophes caused the deaths of more than 60,000 people worldwide last year, according to Swiss Re’s latest sigma report. Over two thirds of these were the victims of earthquakes. Overall...
PWC Survey Finds Challenges with Insurer Enterprise Risk Management Implementation
Mar 3 2004 // A new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers has confirmed that enterprise risk management (ERM) is on the boardroom agenda as a key driver for a competitive edge in the insurance industry, but some leading insurers need to close...
Fitch: Competition May Brake Auto Rate Increases
Mar 1 2004 // The U.S. auto insurance sector may be approaching a yield sign of increased competition after cruising through favorable pricing conditions for the last three years, according to a special report by Fitch Ratings. Though...
Market Analyst Summarizes Calif. Results in 2002 NAIC Report on W.C. Profitability
Mar 1 2004 // In late January 2004, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) released its “Report on Profitability by Line by State” for 2002. The NAIC report provides complete, direct income statement data...
