Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Insurer AXA, With H1 Net Income Down 40%, Warns of Future COVID-19 Shocks
Aug 6 2020 // AXA SA’s profit sank in the first half as it booked a 1.5 billion-euro ($1.8 billion) charge for claims related to COVID-19 and warned of further shocks from the pandemic. The French insurer saw net income fall 39%...
UK Insurer Direct Line’s H1 Profits Beat Forecasts as Auto Claims Drop During Lockdown
Aug 4 2020 // Insurer Direct Line gave a double bonus to shareholders on Tuesday as first-half profits beat expectations due to a slump in motor claims as Britons drove less during the coronavirus lockdown. Britain’s biggest car...
AstraZeneca Gets Protection from Future Product Liability Claims for COVID Vaccine
Aug 3 2020 // AstraZeneca has been granted protection from future product liability claims related to its COVID-19 vaccine hopeful by most of the countries with which it has struck supply agreements, a senior executive told...
Marsh & McLennan Profit Up in Q2; CEO Sees Aon-Willis Merger ‘Good’ for MMC
Jul 30 2020 // The pending acquisition by insurance broker Aon of rival Willis Towers Watson is “not good for the market or for clients but is good for Marsh & McLennan,” commented Daniel Glaser, president and chief...
The Importance of Forensic Accounting to Future Hurricane BI Claims
Jul 30 2020 // As a licensed general contractor and a certified public accountant in South Florida who has been advising clients in accounting- and construction-related issues for the past 15 years, I have seen hurricane seasons come and...
Rising Virus Cases Spark Concern for Florida Nursing Homes
Jul 29 2020 // The coronavirus transformed Florida’s nursing homes into closely guarded fortresses beginning in March, with the state banning family visits, isolating infected residents in separate wings and now requiring staff be...
Workers Compensation Rates Could Start Rising in 2021, Says W.R. Berkley CEO
Jul 28 2020 // For W.R. Berkley Corp. and most other workers’ compensation carriers, rates have declined for some time. That trend could start reversing itself starting in 2021, CEO W. Robert Berkley Jr. predicted...
Plastic Pollution in Oceans Expected to Triple by 2040
Jul 24 2020 // The annual flow of plastics into our oceans is on a trajectory to triple over the next 20 years, which could add up to 110 pounds of plastic trash for every meter of coastline worldwide, a new report finds. That path is...
New Lloyd’s Syndicate-in-a-Box Created to Insure Transport of Future COVID-19 Vaccine
Jul 23 2020 // Lloyd’s, the specialist insurance and reinsurance market, announced the creation and in principle approval of its newest “syndicate-in-a-box,” Syndicate 1796,* set up to insure the storage and...
Half of Insurance Agencies Lack a Digital Strategy, Applied Systems Survey Finds
Jul 23 2020 // A little more than half (51%) of independent insurance agencies and brokerages say they have some sort of digital strategy in place, with larger firms more likely than smaller to have one. That’s according to...
France Weighs Insurance Options to Protect Companies, Jobs from Future Pandemics
Jul 21 2020 // The French government is looking at ways to shield companies from the impact of future pandemics. The goal is to protect companies and jobs from the damage that major events such as pandemics can cause, Finance Minister...
Americans Ignore Work-From-Home Cyber Attack Risks: Chubb Survey
Jul 16 2020 // A large number of Americans working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic aren’t worried about cyber attacks even though they’re at greater risk compared to working in the office, Chubb found in a new...
Viewpoint: Changing How We Recruit – The Future of Insurance Post COVID-19
Jul 16 2020 // Typically each spring, a crop of fresh college graduates enters the workforce, making the critical first steps to determine personal and professional paths. Today, the job landscape differs greatly from what it was even a...
Insurance Agency and Brokerage M&A Trends to Watch Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
Jul 16 2020 // The COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges for many businesses across the globe, including the insurance industry. But so far, the insurance broker merger and acquisition (M&A) market has remained active even as the...
P/C Insurance Agency M&A Deals Down 12% in First Half of 2020: Optis
Jul 15 2020 // There were 288 announced insurance agency mergers and acquisitions during the first half of 2020, down from 328 in 2019, according to a report from OPTIS Partners. It was the lowest six-month period total since...
Just One-Quarter of UK Firms Are Prepared for End-of-Year Brexit Transition: Survey
Jul 14 2020 // Only one-quarter of business leaders say their organizations are fully ready for the end of the Brexit transition period, according to a survey by the Institute of Directors. Nearly half of the 978 company directors polled...
P/C Insurance Survey: 55% Back Worker Presumption; 54% See Interrupt Cases Failing
Jul 13 2020 // A slight majority (54%) of property /casualty insurance industry professionals think insurers will succeed in defeating legal and political attempts to force them to pay business interruption claims from the coronavirus...
China Braces for Continuing Floods in One of Worst Rainfall Seasons on Record
Jul 13 2020 // China is preparing for flooding in its northern regions that could potentially hurt crop output amid torrential rain that’s lasted over a month and caused billions of yuan in economic damage. The floods have killed...
Litigation Funding Firm’s Profit Outlook Brightens on Coronavirus Disputes
Jul 9 2020 // Analysts have rapidly lifted their earnings forecasts for a global litigation financier on expectations that the pandemic could spark more legal disputes. Forward consensus earnings estimates for Sydney-listed Omni...
Bayer Agrees to Delay Future Claims Portion of Proposed Roundup Settlement
Jul 8 2020 // Bayer said it had agreed to delay a proposed settlement to deal with future claims relating to allegations that its widely used weedkiller Roundup caused cancer after a U.S. judge questioned the plan. The German company...
