Latest Underwriting Headlines
All the headlines from our Underwriting Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Best Affirms Flagstone Re’s Ratings
Oct 22 2009 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a-” of Flagstone Reassurance Suisse SA and the ICR of “bbb-” of...
Drop in Catastrophe Losses Leads Travelers to Strong Underwriting Gain
Oct 22 2009 // Travelers Companies Inc., the No. 1 publicly-traded U.S. property/ casualty insurer, said its quarterly profit more than quadrupled, strongly beating expectations, as a dearth of costly catastrophes left the company with...
Westrope Hires Irvine-Based Underwriter
Oct 16 2009 // Westrope General Insurance Agency, of Kansas City, Mo., has hired Chris Frost, who joins the company as a production underwriter in the company’s office in Irvine, Calif. Frost has experience underwriting all classes...
People
Oct 5 2009 // David Daniel was named chairman of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big “I”). He will lead the organization as chairman for the 2009-2010 term. Daniel is president of Daniel &...
People
Oct 5 2009 // Jim Newberry, assistant vice president and risk control manager of Island Insurance in Honolulu, has received the Risk Management/Insurance Practice Specialty Safety Professional of the Year Award. The award is from the...
Catlin Group Opens Rome Office
Oct 2 2009 // Global specialty property/casualty insurer Catlin Group Limited has established an underwriting office in Rome, its second office in Italy. The Rome office for Catlin Europe will be staffed by a five-member reinsurance...
AmWINS Names Francavilla President of Program Underwriters
Oct 1 2009 // Charlotte, N.C.-based specialty insurance broker AmWINS Group, Inc. has named Ben Francavilla as president of AmWINS Program Underwriters (APU). In this role, Francavilla will be responsible for the day-to-day operations...
P/C Industry Net Income Falls Nearly 60% in First-Half 2009
Sep 28 2009 // Private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income after taxes fell 59.3 percent to $5.8 billion in first-half 2009 from $14.1 billion in first-half 2008. Insurers’ overall profitability as measured by their...
Insurance Execs Not Confident of Underwriting Profit Over Next 3 Years
Sep 23 2009 // Insurance executives see their companies performing above general market expectations in 2010, but their outlook on the industry’s ability to generate underwriting profit in the next one to three years remains...
Newest Florida Carrier, Prepared Insurance, Targets ‘Older’ Homes
Sep 23 2009 // Florida has given the go-ahead to a new homeowners insurance company that plans to focus on what it says is the underserved market of homes built before 2002. Prepared Insurance Co., headquartered in Tampa, intends to use...
People
Sep 21 2009 // Wells Fargo Insurance Services of Minnesota Inc. named Gina Samland managing director for its Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas City, Kan., operations. She is based in the Omaha, Neb., office. In her new role, Samland is...
People
Sep 21 2009 // Louisiana-based insurance wholesaler, Specialty Risk Associates Inc., announced several changes to its management team. Thomas Garland was named chief operating officer. Garland joined Specialty Risk in 2004 as vice...
A.M. Best: New Regulations, Market Conditions and Financial Crisis Wreak Havoc on Workers’ Comp Line
Sep 21 2009 // Challenging market conditions, the financial crisis and the recession drove profitability downward for the U.S. workers’ compensation market in 2008. Changing regulatory conditions and reforms have also impacted the...
Chalmers Named AVP, Misc. Professional Underwriting at Nautilus
Sep 17 2009 // Curtis R. Chalmers has been named assistant vice president-miscellaneous professional liability, for Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Nautilus Insurance Group, comprised of Nautilus Insurance Co. and Great Divide Insurance Co.,...
London American Expands Underwriting Division in Dallas
Sep 17 2009 // London American Risk Specialists Inc. is expanding its Dallas, Texas, underwriting division and has created an underwriting/binding authority department in the Dallas office. The department will offer in-house quoting and...
Matheessen Named Underwriting Head at ACE’s Energy Risk Unit
Sep 16 2009 // Philadelphia-based ACE USA has appointed Keith Mattheessen as senior vice president and chief underwriting officer of the ACE Risk Management Energy Underwriting Unit. This new unit within ACE Risk Management provides a...
Validus Names Cooper to Head No. Am. Catastrophe Re Underwriting
Sep 10 2009 // Bermuda-based Validus Holdings, Ltd. Has appointed Charles F.A. Cooper as the Head of North American Property Catastrophe Reinsurance Underwriting of Validus’ wholly-owned subsidiary Validus Reinsurance, Ltd.,...
Liberty International Underwriters Names Donovan, McAbee as VPs
Sep 10 2009 // Liberty International Underwriters (LIU) announced two new executive appointments in the company’s Primary Casualty and Marine units. LIU named Peter Donovan as vice president – Primary Casualty. Donovan is a...
People
Sep 7 2009 // ProMutual ProMutual Group has promoted José R. “Joe” Zorola to vice president of underwriting. Zorola previously served as director of underwriting for the Boston-based medical liability insurer. In this new...
People
Sep 7 2009 // Texas-based Specialty Insurance Managers Inc. appointed several new vice presidents. Karen Ashton was named vice president of the Arlington, Texas, branch. Bonnie Stalkfleet is now vice president of the Granbury branch....
