Research and Trends News

Global Q2 Commercial Insurance Rates Remain Flat, Ending 7 Years of Price Hikes: Marsh

Global commercial insurance rates remained flat during the second quarter of 2024 (down from a 1% increase in Q1 2024), according to Marsh’s Global Insurance Market Index. The findings mark the first time in nearly seven years – since the …

J.D. Power: Auto Insurance Shopping Hits New High, Could Drop With Rate Adequacy

The national auto insurance shopping and quoting rate reached a new high between April and June, but many insurers appear to have achieved or are approaching rate adequacy, “which should lead to less rate activity and perhaps less shopping in …

Personal Auto Driving P/C Insurers to 2024 Underwriting Profit

S&P Global Market Intelligence is forecasting a combined ratio of 99.2 for the U.S. P/C insurance industry overall in 2024, signifying a return to underwriting profitability for the first time since 2021. According to the analysis, private passenger auto insurance …

British Insurers Propose Green Infrastructure Funding Model

Britain’s insurers set out plans on Monday on how to channel billions of pounds freed up from their safety buffers into infrastructure such as EV charging stations to boost growth. The new Labour government in Britain has said that chunks …

US Severe Storms Continue to Drive Global Natural Disaster Losses: Gallagher Re

US severe convective storms (SCS) continued to drive global natural catastrophe losses during the first half of 2024. Of the estimated $61 billion in global H1 insured losses from natural disasters, US SCS accounted for a minimum $37 billion – …

Somali Piracy Revives Sharply After Years of Quiet

Somali piracy — the scourge of merchant shipping more than a decade ago — has had a resurgence this year, the industry’s main observer of the crime said. There were eight acts of piracy and hijackings in the first half …

Tesla’s California Car Registrations Fall for Third Straight Quarter

Registrations of Tesla cars in California fell 24% in the April to June period, marking the third consecutive quarter that the company posted a sales drop in its key market, indicating mounting challenges for the EV maker, according to industry …

Study Urges Rethinking of Disaster Management in Era of Compounding Events

A new report warns that compounding natural disasters introduce new, interconnected, and complex risk scenarios — and points to a need to reimagine efforts that support disaster preparedness, mitigation, and recovery “in an era of intensifying extreme weather-climate events and …

Hard Market Conditions Expected to Ease in 2025 as Claims Inflation Softens: Swiss Re

Hard market conditions in the global non-life insurance sector will continue this year, but will begin to ease in 2025, as general inflation and claims inflation conditions soften, according to Swiss Re in a report, which discusses the macroeconomic factors …

Parametric Insurance Helps Farmers and Others Hit Hard by Extreme Weather

Joemar Flores, a spindly 28-year-old, gestured across his family’s farmland, nestled between a steep hill and a river, and expressed gratitude for the rice paddies in the distance. They’re still there, producing food and an income for him, thanks in …