Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
UK Highlights Rising Political Risk in New Business Guidance on Hong Kong
Feb 17 2021 // The UK highlighted increasing political risks in its latest guidance on conducting business in Hong Kong, pointedly dropping references to relations with its former colony as “positive” and...
As Metal Prices Rise, Atlanta Sees Theft of Catalytic Converters
Feb 17 2021 // Soaring prices for precious metals contained in some auto components is driving a rash of thefts in coastal Georgia. The Brunswick News reports 18 catalytic converters have been stolen from three truck rental companies in...
IVANS Survey Finds Agencies and Insurers Seek Greater Connectivity
Feb 17 2021 // Both agents and insurers express strong support for agent-insurer connectivity and digital collaboration in distribution and servicing. On agency demand for connectivity, 71% of agencies rank the availability of digital...
New Year, New Threats? Cyber Pros Say Attacks Will Continue to Increase in 2021
Feb 16 2021 // Powered by InsuranceJournal.tv Although a new year is underway, many cyber professionals are saying the threat environment will only continue to ramp up in 2021. Cyber attacks are ranked as the fastest growing crime in the...
With Crashes Down, Massachusetts Lawmakers Want Lower Car Insurance Rates
Feb 16 2021 // Lawmakers and the attorney general’s office want a state agency to force car insurance providers to lower rates for Massachusetts customers. The pandemic has kept many drivers off the road, meaning thousands of fewer...
Germany’s Cabinet Advances Bill to Ban Farmers’ Use of Glyphosate by 2024
Feb 12 2021 // Farmers in Germany will have to gradually reduce their use of glyphosate and stop using it completely from 2024 in order to preserve clean habitats for insects, under draft legislation passed by the country’s cabinet...
Report on California’s Formulary Shows Pharmaceutical Costs Declining
Feb 9 2021 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has updated the cost impact evaluation of the Medical Treatment Utilization Schedule Drug Formulary, utilizing additional pharmaceutical transaction...
Banks See Rise Rise in ‘Smash-and-Grab’ Thefts from Automated Teller Machines
Feb 8 2021 // Convicted bank robber Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks, famously said, “because that’s where the money is.” In today’s socially-distanced world, criminals increasingly are turning their...
2020 Hurricane Insurance Claims Up to $7.7B in Louisiana
Feb 8 2021 // Through the end of 2020 property/casualty insurers paid out or reserved $7.7 billion On claims of all types resulting from Hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta in Louisiana, the state insurance department reported. The...
USAA, Serving Military and Veterans, Enters Small Business Insurance Market
Feb 8 2021 // The insurer that targets members of the military and veterans, USAA, is going to start writing its own small business insurance policies for the first time. The company will initially offer the coverage in five states...
Surfacing Emerging Risks From Covid, Cyber, Civil Unrest, Mergers, and More…
Feb 8 2021 // Insurance Journal examined industries experiencing changes and challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, societal unrest and other market forces experienced in 2020. Here are 10 industry sectors that could see new and...
Improvements Bringing Down Flood Insurance Rates in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Feb 7 2021 // When Iowa’s Cedar River flooded over 10 square miles of the city in 2008, few property owners had flood insurance — slowing recovery for residents and business owners as they waited for resources from the federal...
Last Chance for 2021’s Agency Salary Survey
Feb 5 2021 // The deadline to participate in the 2021 Agency Salary Survey is today. Would you like to know where agency salaries and total compensation ranks today? Find out by completing this year’s survey. Survey respondents...
Sadly The One Thing 2020 Did Well Was to Heat Things up
Feb 4 2021 // 2020 wasn’t the bottom of the barrel in all regards – depending on how you look at it. The planet’s average surface temperature in 2020 tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record. An analysis by...
Fed Survey Shows Most Small Businesses Lost Sales Due to Pandemic
Feb 4 2021 // The vast majority of U.S. small businesses took a hit to their revenue last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, with minority-owned businesses struggling the most and worrying more about accessing credit, according...
Bayer Strikes $2 Billion Deal to Resolve Future Roundup Cancer Claims
Feb 4 2021 // Bayer AG struck a $2 billion deal to resolve a class action of future claims relating to allegations that its widely used weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, the company and lawyers for U.S. consumers said on...
Hearing Set for Next Year Over 18.7% North Carolina Dwelling Rate Increase
Feb 3 2021 // A hearing date for the proposed 18.7% dwelling insurance rate increase has been set for Jan. 18, 2022 by North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, a statement from the North Carolina Department of Insurance...
Climate Change Is Causing Sea Levels to Rise Faster than Most Forecasts
Feb 2 2021 // Climate change is causing oceans to rise quicker than scientists’ most pessimistic forecasts, resulting in earlier flood risks to coastal economies already struggling to adapt. The revised estimates published Tuesday...
Revenue-Seeking Cyber Criminals Increasingly Target Businesses Over Individuals
Feb 2 2021 // Cyber criminals shifted away from stealing individual consumers’ information in 2020 to focus on bigger, more profitable attacks on businesses, according to a report from the Identity Theft Resource Center. The...
Cryptocurrency Crime Drops in 2020 but ‘Decentralized Finance’ Losses Rise: Study
Jan 29 2021 // Losses from cryptocurrency theft, hacks and fraud fell 57% last year to $1.9 billion, as market participants boosted security systems, but crime in the “decentralized finance” space continued to grow, a report...
