Articles by Susanne Sclafane

Sclafane is Executive Editor of Carrier Management, a publication of Wells Media Group serving property/casualty insurance carrier executives. She is a media professional with deep background in the P/C insurance industry including 25 years as editor and reporter for trade magazines, online news services, digital journals. Her prior experience includes 14 years as a casualty actuary.

Progressive’s Margins Leave Room for Tariff Impacts: CEO

With its 2024 combined ratio falling comfortably more than 7 points below a targeted level of 96, Progressive has room to deal with the impacts of tariffs on car repair and replacement costs, the chief executive said. But that doesn’t …

State Farm 2024 Underwriting Losses Shrink on Auto Results

After reporting underwriting losses of $13 billion in 2022 and $14 billion in 2023, State Farm recorded another underwriting loss for 2024—but narrowed it thanks to its auto insurance results. State Farm reported a 2024 net income of $5.3 billion …

Consumer Trust Issues Hinder Industry Efforts to Close Protection Gap: Survey

Most insurance executives surveyed last year believe they have “an ethical obligation” to close the protection gap—and also believe that “lack of trust in the insurance industry” is a key barrier standing in the way. Economist Impact, a division of …

S&P Puts State Farm General on CreditWatch

Potential downgrades of State Farm’s California homeowners insurer came closer to reality yesterday when S&P Global Ratings put the “AA” financial strength and issuer credit ratings of State Farm General Insurance Co. on CreditWatch with negative implications. In early February, …

Polished Gem GEICO Fuels Berkshire Hathaway Operating Gains

The work that GEICO’s chief executive has done to “repolish” Berkshire Hathaway’s “long-held gem” got a special shout-out in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway 2024 annual report to shareholders last weekend. GEICO’s $4 billion-plus jump in 2024 underwriting profit (before taxes) …

Data Insight: More Insurers Expect to Boost Top Lines Than Headcount

Continuing a trend that’s persisted for several quarters, the latest Insurance Labor Market Study from Jacobson Group and Aon finds a big gap between the percentage of carriers expecting to boost top lines and those anticipating staff growth. The latest …

Casualty Reinsurance Still Attractive: Arch Capital CEO

While writing primary casualty insurance is more appealing than writing casualty reinsurance, the chief executive of Arch Capital said casualty reinsurance business remains attractive for his company. Speaking during an earnings conference call on Feb. 10, after reporting $3.5 billion …

How to Operate in Today’s ‘Bananas’ Casualty Insurance World

Leaders of the casualty insurance practices of a global insurance carrier and a North American specialty brokerage offered insights for insurance buyers and sellers to deal with today’s casualty insurance market during a webinar last week. Their main message was …

Mercury Expects to Lose $1.6B to $2B From LA Wildfires

Although Mercury Insurance Group expects gross losses from the 2025 California wildfires in the $1.6 billion-$2.0 billion range, potential subrogation and reinsurance recoveries will drop the ultimate bill down to $325 million or less, the company believes. “We believe there …

Bringing Positive Vibes Back to Personal Lines Insurance

Nationwide’s Casey Kempton has a vision to bring positive vibes back to engagements between personal lines insurers and their customers—and it starts with understanding the “mental models” that homeowners and drivers reference to understand insurance. Kempton, who has been president …