Latest USA Headlines

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

Lost at Sea: Hardening Marine Market Challenges Agents and Brokers

Mar 10 2003 // Marine insurance is, as Insurance Journal put it last year, “a unique animal.” The belly of the beast consists of cargo and yacht coverage, which account for 50 percent of U.S. written premium. But another...

TRIA – a Flood of Paper, a Trickle of Buyers

Mar 10 2003 // December is the most dreaded month for a surplus lines broker. In addition to all the 12/31 and 1/1 renewals, one must deal with underwriters and employees having the gall to go on vacation, holiday parties, holiday...

Hartford Agents Have Access to Online Global Business Data Resource

Mar 6 2003 // Agents seeking to help their business customers succeed in the global marketplace now can access a wide range of relevant tools and information right from their computer. Through its sponsorship of the International Trade...

Zurich N.A. Small Biz Launches Direct Bill Web Site

Mar 1 2003 // Zurich North America Small Business today announced a new Direct Bill website on zurichna.com. The new site gives agents and brokers direct online access to their customers’ billing information, including the status,...

Kingsway Comments on Best’s Rating Actions

Feb 28 2003 // Toronto-based Kingsway Financial Services Inc. issued a statement following the completion of a review of the financial strength ratings of it operating subsidiaries by A.M. Best Co., which affirmed current ratings on most...

AXA Reports 10% Gain in 2002 “Underlying Earnings”

Feb 27 2003 // France’s AXA Group posted a 10 percent increase in “underlying earnings” for the year 2002, helped by significant increases in premiums in its P/C business. The results, while generally good, also reflect...

S&P’s Report Examines U.S. Insurer Failures for 2002

Feb 25 2003 // Standard & Poor’s has published a report that examines failures among U.S. insurers in 2002. “Despite the hardening pricing environment in property/casualty and health insurance lines, the number of U.S....

Time to Jump on the Employee Benefits Bandwagon’

Feb 24 2003 // In some respects, the world of employee benefits seems to be on a roll. The Indepen-dent Insurance Agents & Brokers Association (IIABA) reports that about 26 percent of the U.S. agencies examined in its “2002...

AIG Shocks the Industry with $1.8 Billion After-tax Reserve Strengthening

Feb 24 2003 // Neither the insurance industry nor the stock market was prepared for the announcement made by American International Group recently, that it would “incur a net, after tax charge of $1.8 billion in the fourth quarter...

AIG Shocks Industry with $1.8 Billion After-Tax Reserve Strengthening

Feb 24 2003 // Neither the insurance industry nor the stock market was prepared for the announcement made by American International Group on Feb. 3, that it would “incur a net, after tax charge of $1.8 billion in the fourth quarter...

Texas Versus New Jersey

Feb 24 2003 // Is Texas the next New Jersey? That was one of the many questions posed about the state by Robert Hartwig, chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute, at the 40th Annual Joe Vincent Management Seminar held by...

TORT COSTS ROSE IN 2001

Feb 24 2003 // The U.S. tort system cost $205 billion in 2001, or $721 per U.S. citizen, representing a 14.3 percent increase in tort costs since the year 2000, according to a study by Tillinghast- Towers Perin (Tillinghast) in...

Time to Jump on the Employee Benefits Bandwagon’

Feb 24 2003 // In some respects, the world of employee benefits seems to be on a roll. The Indepen-dent Insurance Agents & Brokers Association (IIABA) reports that about 26 percent of the U.S. agencies examined in its “2002...

Fla. Business Associations Demand a Fix for Medical Liability Problems

Feb 20 2003 // Florida’s top business associations demanded that state legislators fix the broken medical liability system, saying it is one of the key reasons healthcare costs are skyrocketing for employers and workers. According...

P/C Reserves in for Tighter Scrutiny

Feb 19 2003 // The property/casualty industry’s reserves will be scrutinized more closely, Fitch Ratings has announced. Specifically, Fitch’s analyses will target reserves from U.S. casualty business written between 1997 and...

RMS Launches 3rd Generation Earthquake Models For Western U.S.

Feb 14 2003 // Risk Management Solutions (RMS) announced the launch of new earthquake models for the western U.S. and western Canada. The models use the latest data on seismic risk from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 2002 National...

Allstate Adjustor Found Guilty in Fraud Conspiracy

Feb 14 2003 // An insurance adjustor who allegedly defrauded Allstate Insurance Company and several Allstate-insured homeowners who suffered damages during the 1994 Northridge earthquake was recently convicted of federal fraud...

Rep. Pickering to Address Professional Agents in D.C. April 3

Feb 14 2003 // Rep. Charles “Chip” Pickering (R- Mississippi) will address members of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA National) during the group’s annual Federal Legislative Summit April...

RMS Unveils First Hurricane Model to Include Effects of Extratropical Transition

Feb 13 2003 // Risk Management Solutions (www.rms.com), a provider of products and services for the management of catastrophe risk, has launched the third generation of its U.S. Hurricane model, the first such model to fully represent...

Tillinghast Study Reports U.S. Tort Costs Jumped to $205B in 2001

Feb 12 2003 // The U.S. tort system cost $205 billion in 2001, or $721 per U.S. citizen, representing a 14.3 percent increase in tort costs since the year 2000, according to a study by Tillinghast- Towers Perin (Tillinghast) in U.S. Tort...