Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Colorado State Ups Atlantic Hurricane Forecast to 15 Storms
Jul 1 2016 // Colorado State University edged up its seasonal Atlantic hurricane forecast to 15, three more than in an average year. The new prediction is that six of those storms will become hurricanes and two will grow into major...
London Re/Insurance Market Will Weather Brexit Storm: Execs
Jul 1 2016 // Brexit has created great uncertainty for the UK, the European Union and perhaps the world. Pretty much everyone agrees on that. But there is less agreement about how an EU exit will affect London’s financial...
73% of U.S. Drivers Welcome Commuting with Robot Behind the Wheel: Survey
Jun 30 2016 // Almost three-quarters of U.S. drivers are eager to replace the daily commute’s drudgery with a self-driving car and 80 percent say they would pay extra to have a robot take the wheel, according to a survey that...
Global Insurance Premiums up 3.8% in 2015, Despite Trade Slowdown: Swiss Re
Jun 29 2016 // Despite a challenging business environment and global trade slowdown in 2015, global direct premiums written grew by 3.8 percent in real terms, up from 3.5 percent in 2014, according to Swiss Re’s latest sigma...
Out-of-Pocket Hospital Costs Were Rising 6.5% a Year… Before Obamacare
Jun 28 2016 // If you have private health insurance, the good news is you may be helping your employer keep its health care spending down. The bad news is it’s coming out of your pocket. The amount that people with private...
Data Theft by Employees Affects 69% of Businesses: Accenture Survey
Jun 27 2016 // As businesses spend billions of dollars a year trying to protect their data from hacking that’s costing trillions, they face another threat closer to home: data theft by their own employees. That’s one of the...
California’s Last Nuke Plant Would Be Closed by 2025 Under Deal
Jun 24 2016 // California’s last nuclear power plant will close by 2025 under an accord announced this week, ending three decades of safety debates that helped fuel the national anti-nuclear power movement. The state’s...
Florida’s Citizens Says AOB Abuse to Blame for Statewide Rate Increase of 6.8%
Jun 23 2016 // Citizens Board of Governors has approved recommended rates for 2017 that equal an average rate increase of nearly 7 percent statewide. The company said the increase is a necessary response to rising non-weather water...
Why Customer Satisfaction Is Falling for Large Auto Insurers, Rising for Small: J.D. Power
Jun 21 2016 // After climbing in each of the past two years, customer satisfaction is falling among the nation’s largest auto insurers, while satisfaction is actually up a tad for small insurers. This rising dissatisfaction with...
Environmentalists Warn of Spill Risk from Increasing Oil Shipments on Hudson River
Jun 21 2016 // The Hudson River may still become a major corridor for the shipment of thick, tar sands oil from Canada despite moves last year by New York officials that many thought stopped those efforts. At issue is a key air permit...
AXA Plans $2.4B in Cost Cuts by 2020; Acquisitions Eyed for Growth
Jun 21 2016 // AXA SA, France’s largest insurer, plans to increase profitability through 2020 by seeking 2.1 billion euros ($2.4 billion) of cost cuts and growing digital investments to tap rising demand for policies protecting...
Construction Market Keeps Building: Brokers’ Outlook on Current & Future Opportunities
Jun 20 2016 // Amid ups and downs, the construction market has seen steady growth over the past four years, and now construction insurance specialists believe the market is set to finally start to heat up. The intense competition has...
Commercial Insurance Pricing Inched Up in Q1: Willis Towers Watson
Jun 20 2016 // Commercial insurance prices increased only a bit in aggregate (less than 1 percent) during the first quarter of 2016, according to the latest Commercial Lines Insurance Pricing Survey (CLIPS). While price changes in the...
How Autonomous Car Sales Will Accelerate in Next Two Decades
Jun 20 2016 // Global sales of autonomous vehicles will reach nearly 21 million vehicles by 2035, a substantial increase from previous estimates, according to a forecast from auto industry information firm IHS Automotive. Roughly 600,000...
How to Avoid D&O Policy Pitfalls – and Declined Claims: Marsh Report
Jun 20 2016 // When a directors and officers (D&O) claim is declined, it can be catastrophic for an insured, forcing the company to deal with “the financial costs of a claim or loss entirely on its own,” according to a...
As On-Demand Economy Grows, Professor Sees New Kind of Capitalism Emerging
Jun 16 2016 // It goes by many names: the “sharing economy,” the “gig economy,” the “on-demand economy.” Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business who has...
Outlook for Farmers Alliance Mutual Insurance Revised to Negative
Jun 14 2016 // A.M. Best has revised the outlook to negative from stable and affirmed the financial strength rating of C++ (Marginal) and the issuer credit rating of “b” of Farmers Alliance Mutual Insurance Co. (Farmers...
Storm Model Forecasts Beach Changes and How Far Ocean Will Overrun
Jun 14 2016 // When John Couch is certain a storm will hit Hatteras Island, he goes into action, moving merchandise in his auto parts store from bottom shelves to top ones and hauling away the most valuable items. But at 64 years old,...
Ongoing Soft Market Tops Reinsurers’ Concerns: Xuber Survey
Jun 14 2016 // Soft market conditions continue to be the biggest concern for the industry, followed by regulation, competition from third party capital, low investment returns, cyber crime and maintaining underwriting discipline,...
Commercial Insurance Pricing Inched Up in Q1: Willis Towers Watson
Jun 13 2016 // Commercial insurance prices increased only a bit in aggregate (less than 1 percent) during the first quarter of 2016, according to the latest Commercial Lines Insurance Pricing Survey (CLIPS). While price changes in the...
