Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
2013 Hurricane Prediction: 72% Chance on East Coast; 48% for Florida
Apr 10 2013 // The Colorado State University team is predicting an above-average 2013 Atlantic basin hurricane season with 18 named storms and a 72 percent chance one will make landfall somewhere along the entire Eastern seaboard. Nine...
Best Affirms Ratings of Endurance Specialty and Subs; Outlook Stable
Apr 10 2013 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a” of Endurance Specialty Insurance Ltd. and its affiliates, as well as the ICR...
Best Affirms Aegon’s U.S. and Canadian Subs Ratings; Outlook Stable
Apr 10 2013 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A+’ (Superior) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “aa-” of the U.S. life/health subsidiaries of the Netherlands Aegon N.V....
Lawsky Urges Fellow Regulators to Reform Force-Placed Insurance Market
Apr 9 2013 // New York Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky, whose department reached a settlement with the country’s largest “force-placed” or “lender-placed” insurer Assurant last month, is...
What’s in a Blog? Blogging About What’s Trending – Part 3
Apr 9 2013 // This post is part of a series on insurance marketing and training sponsored by Astonish. In part one and part two, I shared some secrets on what to blog about to attract web visitors to your website. This is the final...
Best Affirms Baldwin & Lyons and Operating Subs Ratings; Outlook Stable
Apr 8 2013 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A+’ (Superior) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “aa-” of Protective Insurance Company (PIC) and its wholly owned subsidiary,...
Commercial Rates Continued Up in March, Even for Large Accounts: MarketScout
Apr 5 2013 // Commercial insurance rates were up about five percent in March, according to the latest barometer from MarketScout and the National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research. Manufacturing continues to post the largest...
Survey Shows Growth in Midwest Economy
Apr 3 2013 // A monthly economic survey index for nine Midwest and Plains states jumped last month, suggesting improving economic growth for the region over the next three to six months. The Mid-America Business Conditions index hit...
State Fund 2012 Annual Report Shows Net Income Increase
Apr 2 2013 // California’s State Compensation Fund’s annual report for 2012 was released online Tuesday, and it reflects an increase in net income for California’s largest workers’ comp insurer. The report comes...
Nearly 40% of Texans Admit Being Scared by Texas Weather: Survey
Apr 2 2013 // Thirty-seven percent of Texans say Lone Star State spring storms scare them, and more than a third say they feel the weather is getting worse year after year, according to a new survey by Allstate Insurance Co. The number...
Willis Re Sees Increased Capital Inflows as Threat to Reinsurers
Apr 2 2013 // A report from Willis Re, the reinsurance brokerage arm of Willis Group Holdings, concludes that “many traditional reinsurers now see the flow of capital coming into the reinsurance market as a direct threat to their...
PERILS Updates European Cat Exposure Database for 2013; 1.9% Rise in Values
Apr 2 2013 // PERILS AG, the independent Zurich-based company providing industry-wide European catastrophe insurance data, has released an update for 2013 of its European Industry Exposure Database, which contains updated market-wide...
UK’s New Regulators Take Over; FCA Now Responsible for Insurance Sector
Apr 1 2013 // In a move that is certainly not an April Fool’s Day joke, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which has been responsible for regulating the UK’s financial services industry since 1997, including insurance...
Best Affirms Fairfax Financial and Subs Ratings; Outlook Stable
Mar 29 2013 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the issuer credit rating (ICR) of “bbb” and the unsecured debt and preferred equity ratings of Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, and has also affirmed the financial...
Study Shows Medical Claims Cost Increasing in Delaware
Mar 28 2013 // A new study says medical claims costs in Delaware will increase by almost 30 percent for individual policies under President Obama’s health care reform plan. The report released Tuesday by the Society of Actuaries...
A.M. Best: Outlook Negative for Columbia Mutual Insurance Co.
Mar 28 2013 // A.M. Best Co. has revised the outlook to negative from stable and affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of A- (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a-” of Columbia Mutual Insurance Co....
P/C Mergers Down in 2012 But Private Equity Still Favored Brokers: Conning
Mar 28 2013 // Amounting to just $4.7 billion in aggregate deal value, the 46 merger and acquisition transactions announced in the property/casualty insurance sector in 2012 were near record low levels, according to the latest annual...
North Carolina’s ‘Other’ Auto Insurance Market
Mar 27 2013 // I’ve already covered in these pages some of the things the editorial pages of North Carolina’s leading newspapers are getting wrong about S.B. 154, legislation to modernize the state’s system of setting...
A.M. Best: Outlook Negative for Ellington Mutual Insurance Co.
Mar 27 2013 // A.M. Best Co. has revised the outlook to negative from stable and affirmed the financial strength rating of B+ (Good) and issuer credit rating of bbb- of Ellington Mutual Insurance Co. (EMIC) of Hortonville, Wis. Best said...
Emerging Powers China, Brazil Move Closer to Non-Dollar Trade Pact
Mar 27 2013 // China and Brazil agreed on Tuesday to swap up to the equivalent of $30 billion in each other’s currencies if need be so that their fast-growing commercial ties will not suffer if a new banking crisis causes dollar...
