Latest Carriers Headlines
All the headlines from our Carriers Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Bermuda Adopts Solvency II ‘Equivalency’ Measures for ‘Open Insurance Markets’
Jul 10 2015 // A bulletin from Bermuda notes that the island’s parliament took regulatory action this week to align its regulatory insurance procedures, which it hopes will lead to “recognition by the European Commission as...
Bank of England to Rule on Risk Models as Insurers Prepare for Solvency II
Jul 10 2015 // The Bank of England will issue its verdict in December on the models insurance companies use to quantify risk and determine capital requirements as the industry prepares for the new European Union rules known as Solvency...
N.Y. Court: Insurer’s $5M Flood Sub-Limit Applies to Delay-in-Completion Loss
Jul 9 2015 // The New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division affirmed that a $5 million flood sub-limit in a builders risk policy that Zurich American Insurance issued to a New York property developer applies to the...
Va. City Could Face Foreclosure on City Hall Over Bond Debt, Insurer Says
Jul 9 2015 // An insurance company says Buena Vista, Virginia, could face foreclosure on its city hall and police department if a bond debt isn’t paid. The Roanoke Times reports that ACA Financial Guaranty Corp. sent a letter on...
2015 Tennessee Insurance Legislation Wrap-Up
Jul 9 2015 // Below is a summary of Tennessee legislation that pertains to insurance enacted in 2015. Uninsured Motorist, “James Lee Atwood Jr. Law” The James Lee Atwood Jr. Law, named for a driver who was killed by an...
UK Chancellor of Exchequer Angers Insurers by Raising Premium Tax
Jul 8 2015 // UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne angered Britain’s insurance industry by unexpectedly increasing a tax on policy holders that is expected to raise an extra 1.8 billion pounds ($2.8 billion). The...
Berkshire Hathaway’s MedPro Buying Oklahoma Medical Liability Insurer PLICO
Jul 8 2015 // Berkshire Hathaway’s MedPro Group has agreed to acquire Oklahoma healthcare liability insurer PLICO Inc., which is owned by the Oklahoma State Medical Association (OSMA). The boards of each entity have approved...
N.Y. Assembly OKs Bill to Expedite Claims Processes After Disasters
Jul 8 2015 // The New York State Assembly recently approved a bill (A04458) that would require insurers to expedite claims investigation and settlement processes after declared disasters and emergencies. Under the legislation, which...
IMF Urges U.S. Adopt Tougher Rules for Insurers
Jul 8 2015 // The U.S. needs to follow through on plans to impose tougher rules on non-bank financial institutions such as mutual funds and insurers that are increasingly posing a risk to the financial system, the International Monetary...
Georgia Hopes to Establish State as Captive-Friendly with Newly-Revised Law Lowering Taxes, Capital Requirements
Jul 6 2015 // Companies looking to form captives in Georgia can now do so with more favorable conditions since the passage of several business-friendly amendments to the Georgia captive insurance law, which became effective July 1. The...
Conn. Insurer Settles Ebola Fear Lawsuit
Jul 6 2015 // The insurance carrier for a Connecticut city paid $30,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a third-grader who was barred from school for several days because of Ebola fears. School officials in Milford,...
Supreme Court Opinion to Have No Effect on Health Insurers: S&P
Jul 6 2015 // The Supreme Court opinion upholding current tax subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will not have any impact on rated U.S. not-for-profit and for-profit health insurance firms because it continues the current...
P/C Direct Premium Written Up Nearly 4 Percent
Jul 6 2015 // Direct premium written (DPW) for property/casualty insurance companies continues to increase, albeit gradually. At year-end 2014, more than $570 billion of DPW was reported, a record-high for the industry. For 2014, total...
Plugging the Hole in the U.S. Flood Market: How Risk Modelers Can Help to De-Risk the NFIP
Jul 6 2015 // The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has long been the dominant player in the U.S. flood insurance market, providing subsidized flood insurance based on actuarially unsound rates for millions of property owners, in...
‘Seismicity’: Re/insurers Ponder the Impact of Human-Caused Earthquakes
Jul 6 2015 // Earthquakes, the natural kind caused by the movements of vast tectonic plates, have been occurring since the dawn of time. But now there is a new type of quake, the study of which has been labeled “seismicity,”...
BP Settlement Doesn’t Cover Claims by Insurers, Banks, Casinos and Others
Jul 5 2015 // BP Plc’s record $18.7 billion settlement ended government claims over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, leaving numerous smaller private lawsuits to be mopped up. While investors, residents and businesses that...
Regulatory Review of Aetna’s Humana Deal Could Affect Other Insurer Deals
Jul 5 2015 // Aetna Inc.’s $37 billion deal to buy smaller health insurer Humana Inc. will face rigorous scrutiny from U.S. regulators, which antitrust experts said could also make other large-scale mergers in the sector more...
Vermont Issues Bulletin on Price Optimization in Personal Lines Ratemaking
Jul 2 2015 // Vermont regulators issued a bulletin last week addressing the issue of “price optimization” in personal lines ratemaking. The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) noted in the bulletin that some...
Loyalty to Insurer Doesn’t Always Pay Off for Drivers
Jun 30 2015 // When Jonathan G. Stein became unhappy with his long-time car insurance carrier earlier this year, the 41-year-old lawyer from Elk Grove, California switched to a new company. How was he rewarded for his disloyalty after...
Web Services Turns Hit Ratios Upside Down for Surplus Lines MGA.
Jun 30 2015 // Dallas, TX, June 30 2015–To use a baseball metaphor, Texas All Risk General Agency (TAR) is batting .725 with Atlantic Casualty Insurance Company at the mid-year point. According to TAR VP David Day, “With the All...
