Insurance Journal Online Unveils New Industry Stock Feature

Ever wondered how financial stocks for the industry’s largest carriers are doing today? Now finding out is as simple as visiting Insurance Journal Online.

Insurance Journal Online (www.InsuranceJournal.com) has recently launched a new feature that includes daily updates on industry company stocks, courtesy of SNL Financial.

“The charts give industry professionals a snapshot of market performance for the biggest one-day price gainers and losers on a percentage basis,” said John Leonard, research analyst for SNL. “Readers should keep in mind that this pricing data is very short term in nature and not necessarily indicative of future performance or intrinsic value,” Leonard advised.

The daily updates can be accessed by visiting Insurance Journal’s homepage, then by scrolling down to the “Insurance Gainers/Losers” stock charts. The updates provide a quick view into what’s happening in the industry stock market that day.

Leonard says the biggest concern at the moment affecting industry stocks is the numerous investigations surrounding contingent commissions, bid rigging and non-traditional insurance products.

“Until there is some closure to these issues (probably in the form of severe penalties, fines and a change in business practices) any additional upside is limited,” he said.

Despite the investigations, Leonard said the industry is still experiencing increased competition, especially in the property/casualty market, because of huge surpluses resulting from the hard market over the past few years. However, the market seems to be more rational this time around, he added.

“Instead of writing unprofitable policies for the sake of growing or maintaining market share, everyone is maintaining pricing discipline and instead focusing on increased marketing initiatives as a way to reach out to consumers.”

According to Leonard, one of the biggest surprises in 2004 for SNL analysts has been the affect of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s investigation on the industry.

“Everyone has known about them (contingent commissions) for years and it was a standard industry practice,” Leonard said. “What’s really surprising is how powerful a state attorney general can be … he’s brought entire industries to their knees while the SEC and state regulatory agencies did almost nothing.”

“The under performance of the P/C market is not as surprising,” he said. “The industry is facing a ‘perfect storm’ with huge catastrophe losses, increased competitive pressures and investigations into commonly accepted business practices.”

Topics New Markets