Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Massachusetts DOI Rejects FAIR Plan Rate Increase
Jun 9 2014 // Massachusetts Commissioner of Insurance Joseph G. Murphy announced Monday his decision rejecting the Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association’s (“FAIR Plan”) request to increase its...
N.H. Businesses Vexed by Latest Delay in Small Group Health Insurance Market
Jun 9 2014 // New Hampshire businesses aren’t happy with the latest delay in the small group health insurance market created by the Affordable Care Act, but some are more understanding than others. Companies have been able to...
Cyber Theft, Already a $445 Billion Business, to Grow Bigger
Jun 9 2014 // Cybercrime remains a growth industry. That’s the main message from former U.S. intelligence officials, who in a report today outlined scenarios for how $445 billion a year in trade theft due to computer hackers will...
Nationwide to Re-Enter New Jersey’s Auto Insurance Market
Jun 6 2014 // New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Commissioner Ken Kobylowski said today Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company has been approved to write auto insurance in New Jersey, and the company will begin offering auto...
Study: Houston Police Failed to Investigate Over 20,000 Cases Last Year
Jun 6 2014 // More than 20,000 burglary, assault and other cases were not investigated last year by Houston, Texas, police because of a lack of personnel, according to a report released June 2. The findings recommend that at least 45...
GM Report Uncovers 11 Years of Mishandling Ignition Switch
Jun 5 2014 // A 325-page report on General Motors Co.’s mishandling of a deadly ignition switch details missteps by employees and officials over 11 years – from lawyers who failed to heed warnings the company could be liable...
Drive Underway to Increase Truckers’ Minimum Insurance Limits
Jun 5 2014 // Truckers would be required to buy higher insurance limits under a government proposal, although how much higher is not yet known. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) concluded in a report to Congress...
Willis Exec Warns of Rise in ‘White Collar Crime’ in UK
Jun 4 2014 // Francis Kean, executive director in Willis’s financial and executive risks practice has examined a growing trend in white-collar crime in a WillisWire blog. He indicated that” according to a report in The Times...
Dryad Maritime Warns of Increases in Southeast Asia Cargo Thefts
Jun 4 2014 // The latest report of a tanker hijack in Southeast Asia has prompted Dryad Maritime to issue an advisory to its shipping clients, based on the supposition that “crime follows a pattern, which has seen up to six such...
Texas Windstorm Insurer’s Financial Outlook Improved as Hurricane Season Starts
Jun 3 2014 // Low catastrophe activity and claims experience so far this year have helped to put Texas’ insurer of last resort for properties along the Gulf Coast in a better position to face the 2014 hurricane season than it has...
Hurricane Forecast Upped By 1 Over Weaker El Nino
Jun 3 2014 // Colorado State University increased the number of storms it expects to develop during the Atlantic hurricane season to 10 from nine. The forecast calls for four of those to become hurricanes, one of them a major system,...
Best Affirms AmTrust Financial and Subs P&C Ratings; Outlook Stable
Jun 2 2014 // A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a” of the property/casualty subsidiaries of AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. (AFSI),...
Best Affirms Fairfax Financial and Subs Ratings; Outlooks Stable
Jun 2 2014 // A.M. Best has affirmed the issuer credit rating (ICR) of “bbb” and the unsecured debt and preferred equity ratings of Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. Best also affirmed the financial strength...
1 Year Later, Moore Is Study in Resilience
Jun 2 2014 // Just over one year ago, a deadly EF5 tornado ripped through Moore, Okla., making it the third most violent storm in less than 15 years to pummel the small city, which was struck by an EF5 tornado in 1999, and an EF4 in...
Hurricane Forecasts’ Consensus Is for Near-or-Below Normal Season
Jun 2 2014 // In its 2014 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center has forecast a near-normal or below-normal season. NOAA said the main driver of this year’s outlook is the anticipated development...
North Carolina Wants Shorter Sea Level Forecast
Jun 2 2014 // A North Carolina commission is asking scientists to only make a 30-year prediction of how fast the ocean will rise off the state’s coast. The N.C. Coastal Resources Commission caused an uproar in 2010 when its...
Changing Weather Patterns Mean an Uncertain Future and Increased Risks
May 30 2014 // In his discussion of the effects of climate change at the European insurance Forum in Dublin, Prof. Richard Tol of the Economics Dept. of the University of Sussex, pointed out that even “after 40 years all climate...
ABI Calls for Action as Fraudulent Accident Claims Rise by 18%
May 30 2014 // The Association of British Insurers latest study concludes that “the value of fraudulent insurance claims uncovered by insurers rose to a record £1.3 billion [$2.177 billion] in 2013, up 18 percent on the previous...
Various Factors Contributing to Stability in Property/Casualty Insurance Market
May 29 2014 // The federal terrorism risk insurance backstop, in place in one form or another since 2002, will likely be reauthorized by Congress, and in the absence of a major catastrophe — man-made or otherwise — the current...
Insurers See Claims Rising in Pennsylvania Following Last Week’s Hail Storm
May 29 2014 // Some insurers say they are seeing an increased volume of claims in Pennsylvania following last Thursday’s freak hail storm that caused widespread damage in communities in the eastern part of the state. State Farm...
