Latest Trends Headlines

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

Best’s Italian Insurance Sector Report Sees Growth Despite Weak Economy

Oct 28 2015 // A special report from A.M. Best concludes that “Italy’s insurance market remained buoyant in 2014 and is well-placed to continue to grow in 2015, driven by demand for life products.” Best foresees a...

Ping An Profit Rises 32% as Higher Premiums Offset Stock Market Slump

Oct 28 2015 // Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., China’s second-largest insurer, said third-quarter profit rose 32 percent as higher premium income and banking revenue helped offset the impact of a stock market rout on investment...

Outlook for Homeowners Insurance Market Improves: Aon

Oct 27 2015 // The outlook for the U.S. homeowners insurance market has improved over last year thanks in part to rate increases and lower reinsurance costs, according to reinsurance intermediary Aon Benfield. A new report by Aon...

XL’s Q3 Operating Net Income Down to $70.8M on Integration Costs, Cat Losses

Oct 27 2015 // Dublin-headquartered XL Group reported third quarter operating net income of $70.8 million, or $0.23 per share, down from $187.1 million, or $0.70 per share, in the prior year quarter. The current quarter’s results...

Judge Claims Regulators Not Enforcing Duke Coal Ash Clean-Up in North Carolina

Oct 27 2015 // North Carolina’s environmental watchdog agency has not been trying very hard to force Duke Energy to clean up toxic groundwater pollution near a coal-burning power plant where neighbors can’t drink their well...

Louisiana Workers’ Comp Insurance Rates Set to Decline Again

Oct 26 2015 // Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon reports that Louisiana businesses are expected to see a decrease in their workers’ compensation rates in 2016. The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) recently...

Qatar Insurance Posts 20% Premium Rise for 1st 9 Months of 2015

Oct 26 2015 // Qatar Insurance Company (QIC), the parent company of Qatar Re and Antares, has announced that for the first nine months of 2015 its gross written premiums increased by 20 percent from $1.23 billion to $1.48 billion. It...

Best Affirms Munich Re and Subs Ratings; Outlook Stable

Oct 23 2015 // A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A+’ (Superior) and the issuer credit ratings of “aa-” of Munich Reinsurance Company and its subsidiaries. Best has also affirmed the...

Auto Insurance Market to Shrink 60% by 2040: KPMG

Oct 23 2015 // By the time today’s millennial insurance professionals are its top executives, the U.S. personal auto insurance industry will be a skeleton of its current self. Within 25 years, the private passenger automobile...

Spain’s Insurance Market has Continued to Show Resilience: A.M. Best

Oct 23 2015 // Spain’s insurance market has continued to show resilience, with companies focusing on profitability as the country’s economy showed further signs of recovery, according to a new report from A.M. Best, entitled...

Cat 5 Patricia ‘Strongest Eastern North Pacific Hurricane on Record:’ NHC

Oct 23 2015 // Hurricane Patricia has strengthened into a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, which is tracking the storm. The NHC’s latest bulletin said Patricia is...

Don’t Strangle the Cyber-Insurance Market in its Cradle

Oct 22 2015 // We live in an era of disruption. Technology redefines our world on a regular basis, as the wonders of networks that allow data to be transferred virtually without restriction have enmeshed knowledge and commerce into our...

ACE Q3 2015 Net Income Down 32.7% at $528 Million; Operating Income Up

Oct 22 2015 // ACE Group reported net income for the quarter ended September 30, 2015, of $1.62 per share, compared with $2.32 per share for the Q3 2014, an overall decline of 32.7 percent from $785 million in Q3 2014 to $528 million....

Allied World Posts $51.6 Million Q3 Net Loss; GWP Increase

Oct 22 2015 // Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, AG reported a net loss of $51.6 million, or $0.57 per share, for the third quarter of 2015 compared to net income of $30.9 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, for the third quarter...

Workers’ Comp Medical Payments in Illinois Rose in 2013: Report

Oct 21 2015 // Medical payments per workers’ compensation claim in Illinois rose 4.1 percent in 2013, after decreasing 20 percent between 2010 and 2012 as a result of a 30 percent reduction in fee schedule rates, according to a...

Back to the Insurance Future: What Marty McFly Saw in 2015

Oct 21 2015 // According to my history book (or “future” book), well, at least the history taught by the movies, Marty McFly landed in Hill Valley today after skipping over the last 30 years. If you see him, compare notes...

Willis Capital Market Report Finds Decline in ILS Issues as Growth Stabilizes

Oct 21 2015 // According to the latest ILS report from Willis Capital Markets & Advisory (WCMA), part of Willis Group Holdings plc, “$650 million of non-life Rule 144A catastrophe bond capacity was issued across three...

ABI Notes UK Government Report Shows Rising Cyber Crimes

Oct 20 2015 // The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has noted that the latest UK Government crime figures, released on Monday, “show a rise in recorded crime due to cyber offences being recorded for the first time. Matt...

Marine Crimes in SE. Asia at Highest Level in Years: Dryad Maritime Study

Oct 20 2015 // In its latest report for the third quarter of 2015 Dryad Maritime, the UK’s maritime intelligence company, found that global maritime crime is showing “a stark rise of 38 percent of incidents across Southeast...

Reinsurers See Further Price Declines for 2016 in Wake of Mergers

Oct 19 2015 // The world’s largest reinsurers are anticipating even bigger price declines when policies are renewed in 2016 than envisaged a month ago as a flurry of takeovers in the industry fails to absorb some of the excess...