Research and Trends News

US Auto Insurers’ Strong Performance to Continue Through 2025: Fitch

More favorable mid-year 2024 results of U.S. personal auto insurers are likely to continue through the end of 2024 and into 2025 due to material price increases and a moderation of claims severity trends “vastly” improving the segment’s profit footing, …

Hard Reinsurance Prices Likely to Last Longer Than in Previous Market Cycles: Report

Hard reinsurance pricing conditions are likely to last longer than in previous market cycles mainly due to persistently high claims activity from the accumulation of medium-sized disaster losses and secondary perils, according to an AM Best report. As a result, …

McKinsey Sees AI Surge Boosting Consulting Amid Industry Slump

McKinsey & Co. is seeing an increase in the number of clients seeking artificial intelligence-linked projects, as faster adoption of the technology helps the consulting titan and its peers boost revenue following a period of tumult. About 40% of the …

Was July 2023 or July 2024 the Hottest Month on Record? Yes.

July saw record-breaking heat around the world, including the hottest day ever recorded and multiple national heat records. But whether it was the hottest month in history depends on who you ask. Last week, Copernicus — the EU’s climate science …

Pandemic Shifted US Jobs Out of Big Cities Into Smaller Metros

The pandemic changed where Americans are likely to live and work, with a growing portion of job openings moving away from the biggest cities and into smaller metro areas, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York . Job …

Severe Storms (Mostly in US) Account for 70% of Global Insured Natural Disaster Losses

Global insured losses from natural catastrophes totaled US$60 billion during the first half of 2024, or 62% above the 10-year average, according to preliminary estimates from Swiss Re. Severe thunderstorms (mainly in the US) accounted for 70% of insured losses …

Removing US Subsidies Curbed Building in Climate Risk Zones, Study Finds

The US Congress passed the Coastal Barrier Resources Act in 1982 to preserve relatively undeveloped waterfront areas as natural buffer zones. At least 1.4 million acres along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts were made ineligible for the kind of federal …

Howden to Acquire Allianz UK’s Musical Insurance Book

Howden, the global insurance intermediary group, today announces that it has agreed to acquire the Musical Insurance book from Allianz UK and will incorporate its customer base and marketing and operations teams into Howden’s established music scheme, Lark Music. Financial …

Extreme Weather Sends Insured Losses 70% Above Historical Norms

Natural catastrophes caused about $62 billion of insured losses in the first half of 2024 — roughly 70% above the 10-year average — as extreme wildfires, droughts and floods upend historical norms. The data, which were compiled by Munich Re, …

AM Best: Migration to Cat-Prone States Fuels Record HO Underwriting Losses in 2023

The U.S. homeowners insurance segment suffered a $15.2 billion underwriting loss in 2023, more than double the loss seen in the previous year and the line’s worst underwriting results since at least 2000, according to a new AM Best report. …