Articles by Chad Hemenway

Chad is National News Editor at Insurance Journal. He has been covering the insurance industry since 2007, reporting on trends and coverage in most lines of insurance as well as natural catastrophes, modeling, regulation, legislation, and litigation. Chad can be reached at chemenway@wellsmedia.com

Allstate’s National General Sued by DOJ Over Alleged Force-Placed Insurance ‘Scheme’

Allstate’s National General auto insurance brand has been sued by the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations that National General and subsidiaries “engaged in a scheme to defraud customers” by putting its insurance product onto vehicles financed by Wells Fargo. …

WR Berkley CEO: Losses From Tech Outage Expected to Be ‘Manageable’

W.R. Berkley CEO W. Robert Berkley, Jr. said the company does not see last week’s global network systems outage “being a material loss to the organization.” “I would be surprised if we didn’t have any loss activity, but we certainly …

Chubb Q2 Net Income Up 24% to $2.2B

Chubb said second quarter net income was up more than 24% to about $2.2 billion despite higher catastrophe losses than a year ago. Catastrophe losses for the second quarter were $580 million, pretax, compared to $400 million last year during …

Trigger Warning: Cyber Policy Wordings to Impact Coverage for Tech Outage

Industry stakeholders continue to try to get a grasp of the implications from last week’s massive technology outage affecting motley industries around the world, but the theme of policy language is reoccurring for a cyber insurance industry not known for …

OPTIS: Insurance Agency M&A Reaches 4-Year, First-Half Low

The total of insurance agency mergers and acquisitions during the first six months of 2024 was the lowest over the first half since 2020, according to investment banking and financial firm OPTIS Partners. OPTIS Partners’ M&A database counted 300 announced …

Progressive Q2 Net Income Skyrockets Over 320%

Progressive Corp. today reported second quarter 2024 results of about $1.5 billion and a combined ratio of 91.9. Results for the Mayfield Village, Ohio-based insurer are in comparison to second quarter 2023 net income of $345.4 million and a combined …

AIG Files Amended Suit Against Former Execs, Dellwood Insurance

American International Group and a group of its companies have filed a new, amended complaint against Dellwood Insurance Group, started earlier this year by a group of former AIG executives. The lawsuit filed July 10 in U.S. District Court for …

Cyber Insurance Market ‘Stable’ With Potential for Growth, Says AM Best

According to industry rating agency AM Best, there are enough positive factors to give the cyber insurance market a “stable” outlook despite a stall in premium growth. Analysts at AM Best issued a segment outlook and report in late June, …

Big ‘I’ Report: Independent Agency Channel Placed 62% of Premiums in 2023

Independent agents placed more than 62% of all property/casualty insurance written in the U.S., according to the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”). The association’s 2024 Market Share Report said independent agents have high penetration rates …

CSU Research Team Increases Atlantic Hurricane Forecast

Hurricane Beryl got the respected team of researchers at Colorado State University to rethink its forecast for the Atlantic hurricane season, which has already seen three named storms. CSU’s Department of Atmospheric Science now calls for an “extremely active” total …