Latest Trends Headlines

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

Maine Agents Told Markets, InsurBanc, IIABA Enjoying Spring Growth

Apr 19 2004 // Speakers at this year’s annual meeting of the Maine Insurance Agents Association didn’t let a sneaky spring snowfall get them down as they issued positive reports on markets, products, association business and...

Bringing Steady Leadership to Mississippi for Several Decades

Apr 19 2004 // With continued service to the state of Mississippi since the mid-70’s, Insurance Commissioner George Dale has been a steadying influence for the industry in the Magnolia State. When Dale was elected commissioner in...

Court Decision Threatens Stability in California’s Insurance Market

Apr 19 2004 // If after 16 years of off-and-on court cases, attempting to interpret the ambiguous and contradictory language of Proposition 103 isn’t enough, this month, another interpretation came down from the Second District...

S&P Report Says Despite 2003 Profitability Global Reinsurance Market’s Poor Outlook Remains Unchanged

Apr 15 2004 // The ratings outlook for the global reinsurance market remains negative, despite an expectation that the market’s 2003 reported financial year-end results will return it to overall underwriting profitability for the...

RIMS Survey Says Workers’ Comp Affecting Calif. Businesses

Apr 14 2004 // The Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) received 261 responses from corporate risk managers regarding the workers’ compensation system in California supporting a conclusion that California may be losing jobs...

Checks on Workers’ Comp Claims Rise to 10 Percent in Annual ADP Hiring Index

Apr 13 2004 // ADP Employer Services, a provider of integrated outsourced payroll and human resources services, has released its seventh annual Hiring Index, a yearly evaluation of hiring trends and issues. Compared to last year’s...

S&P: Alfa Mutual Insurance Co., Affiliates Ratings Lowered, Outlook Stable

Apr 13 2004 // Standard & Poor’s has lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on the members of Alabama-based Alfa Insurance Group (Alfa) to ‘AA-‘ from ‘AA’. Standard &...

State Farm Condo Insurance Rates to Increase in Nev.

Apr 13 2004 // Nevada Insurance Commissioner Alice A. Molasky-Arman has approved the request of State Farm Fire and Casualty Company for an overall statewide average increase of 28.8 percent for rental condominium unitowners insurance,...

Report Estimates Potential Costs to U.S. Insurance Industry from a Repeat of 1974 Tornado Super Outbreak

Apr 6 2004 // Risk Management Solutions Inc. (RMS), a provider of products and services for catastrophe risk management, announced the release of an in-depth study of potential costs to the U.S. insurance industry from a recurrence of...

Up for Sale: Success in Today’s Homeowners Market

Apr 5 2004 // States show signs of stability, but problem areas remain Despite continuing availability issues and sky-high loss ratios, the U.S. homeowners market is stabilizing as a whole. Of course, most industry observers who make...

Buckeye State Bucks National Trend on Medical Malpractice

Apr 5 2004 // The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2000 census estimated Iowa’s population at nearly 3 million. About 86 percent of the adult residents had graduated from high school and about 21 percent had earned a bachelor’s...

Swiss Re Finds Increasing Demand for Broker Services

Apr 5 2004 // A recently released Swiss Re Sigma study has concluded that as the complexity of risk increases brokers face a greater demand for their services. The report entitled ‘Commercial insurance and reinsurance brokerage...

Tenn. Commissioner Unveils Bulletin for Insurers on Rate Increase Notification

Apr 5 2004 // Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Paula Flowers has issued a new bulletin cautioning that Tennessee insurers must notify their policyholders about rate or rate factor increases on Commercial Risk policies. The Department of...

Allianz Foresees Growth in Chinese Market

Apr 1 2004 // Michael Diekmann, Chairman and CEO of the Allianz Group, has expressed his confidence in the company’s prospects in the Chinese market. On his first visit to the country since taking over Allianz, Diekmann and Werner...

S&P Revises Nationwide Outlook to Stable

Apr 1 2004 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it has revised its outlook on Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. (NMIC) and its affiliates (collectively referred to as Nationwide) to stable from...

Brokerage Growth Slowing, Study Claims

Apr 1 2004 // The eight leading brokerage firms saw only an 8 percent growth in organic revenue in the fourth quarter of 2003, according to a year-end survey by WFG Capital Advisors, an insurance industry investment banking...

ATRA Survey Reports Frivolous Lawsuits Undermine Healthcare System, Prove Negative to Patients

Apr 1 2004 // Doctors believe that patients are paying the price for frivolous lawsuits that are driving up the cost of healthcare and negatively affecting the practice of medicine, according to a survey released today by the American...

S&P Revises Sompo U.S. Outlook to Stable

Mar 31 2004 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it has revised its outlook on Sompo Japan Insurance Co. of America (SJA; A+/Stable/–) to stable from negative. S&P said the “outlook revision...

Alabama P/C Market Gaining Momentum

Mar 30 2004 // Walter Bell With signs of improvement on the horizon for the property/casualty market in Alabama, Insurance Commissioner Walter Bell recently set aside time to talk with Insurance Journal Southeast about conditions in the...

Hannover Re 2003 Net up 32.8% to $431 Million

Mar 30 2004 // Germany’s Hannover Re Group joined Swiss Re and General Re in reporting a very successful 2003. The world’s fourth largest reinsurer posted net income of 354.8 million euros ($43I million) compared to 267.2...