Latest Trends Headlines

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

European Reinsurance Buying Continues to Increase But Demand for Cover Slows: A.M. Best

Mar 21 2017 // The 20 largest European cedants have continued to buy more reinsurance as soft market conditions prevail, although the pace at which retention ratios are falling has been more subdued, according to A.M. Best in a new...

Half of Global Insurance Premium Growth Tied to China: Allianz Research

Mar 21 2017 // Allianz Research projections show that total global premium income rose to a new record high of 3,650 billion euros ($3.9224 billion U.S. dollars) last year (excluding health insurance). In a year-on-year comparison, the...

Federal Flood Insurance Rates Expected to Rise in Houston Area

Mar 20 2017 // The cost of federal flood insurance is expected to rise for thousands of Houston-area homeowners as Congress looks to overhaul a program that’s billions of dollars in debt. The National Flood Insurance Program...

Industry Disruption and the Future of Talent: The Jacobson Group’s David Coons

Mar 20 2017 // From smart TVs and live streaming turning the entertainment industry on its head, to mobile health monitoring systems that are revolutionizing the way patients interact with their doctors, disruption is changing the way...

Manufacturing Boosting Midwest Economy, Survey Finds

Mar 20 2017 // Results from a monthly survey of business supply managers suggest that manufacturing is boosting economic conditions in nine Midwest and Plains states, according to a report issued on March 1. The Mid-America Business...

West Virginia Overdose Deaths Up 13% in 2016

Mar 17 2017 // Fatal drug overdoses in West Virginia continued to rise last year and its overdose death rate still far outpaces any other state in the country. A Feb. 13 analysis by the West Virginia Health Statistics Center shows at...

Rising Sea Temperatures Could Kill 90% of Coral Reefs by 2050: Scientists

Mar 14 2017 // There were startling colors here just a year ago, a dazzling array of life beneath the waves. Now this Maldivian reef is dead, killed by the stress of rising ocean temperatures. What’s left is a haunting expanse of...

Workers’ Comp Insurance Costs in Arkansas Going Down

Mar 13 2017 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr has approved a decrease in workers’ compensation cost of 8.4 percent in overall loss in the voluntary market and a 10.6 percent rate decrease in overall average assigned...

Kansas Traffic Fatalities Increased by 22% in 2016

Mar 13 2017 // Kansas recorded a 22 percent increase in traffic fatalities in 2016 compared with the previous years and some experts say the blame falls on drivers who are looking at their phones instead of the road. Kansas Highway...

London Insurance Market Provides Brexit Negotiations’ Wish-List

Mar 10 2017 // A Brexit trade deal needs to benefit both the UK and the EU – while protecting clients’ access to the London insurance market, according to the London Market Group (LMG), an association representing London’s...

Common Sense Reasons Health Insurance Costs Never Seem to Go Down

Mar 8 2017 // An interesting article came across my email this morning about legislation seeking to amend McCarran-Ferguson (McCarran-Ferguson solidified the regulation of the business of insurance at the state level, limiting Federal...

Vermont to See Decrease in Costs for Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Mar 6 2017 // Vermont Gov. Phil Scott has announced that workers’ compensation insurance will cost less for most Vermont employers when new rates approved by the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) become effective on...

Tiny Homes: How agents, insurers are helping to lay a foundation for a growing insurance market

Mar 6 2017 // Despite big media hype that has included TV shows, magazines and blogs, the tiny home market is still small. Figures on its current size are hard to come by but the tiny home movement of people looking to downsize and...

Florida CFO Atwater to Step Down After 2017 Legislative Session

Mar 6 2017 // In a move sure to shake up Florida’s political landscape, Jeff Atwater, the state’s chief financial officer, resigned Feb. 10 to take a job at Florida Atlantic University. Atwater, a Republican from Palm Beach...

Tennessee Captive Industry Sets Record Growth in 2016

Mar 6 2017 // Tennessee’s captive insurance market saw a record annual total of 104 risk bearing entities (RBEs) added in 2016, according to data released by the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI). The new...

PwC’s Oscars Screw-Up Could Risk Defense at MF Global Malpractice Trial

Mar 3 2017 // PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s epic screw-up at the Oscars could carry a high cost if jurors arrive at a malpractice trial next week suspecting the global accounting firm is error-prone. Until a PwC accountant handed...

Confusing, Costly Cyber Policies Create Obstacles to Market Growth: Deloitte

Mar 3 2017 // Despite the rising profile of cyber risks, buyers have failed to widely embrace cyber coverage. At the same time, insurers generally have remained cautious about writing the coverage on a large scale basis. A recent report...

Manufacturing Boosting Midwest Economy, Survey Finds

Mar 2 2017 // Results from a monthly survey of business supply managers suggest that manufacturing is boosting economic conditions in nine Midwest and Plains states, according to a report issued on March 1. The Mid-America Business...

5 Not-So-Surprising Results of our Survey (so far)

Mar 1 2017 // Last week, we launched our first State of Learning in Insurance survey and we are already learning about you and your learning needs. The survey isn’t over yet; we still need your input, but I thought I would give...

Investments in Insurtech Expected to ‘Keep Booming’ in 2017: KPMG Report

Feb 23 2017 // Investor interest in insurtech is expected “to remain hot across all regions of the world” during 2017, following strong growth in 2016, according to a report published by KPMG. In the coming year, most...