Latest Market Headlines

All the headlines from our Market Topic Page, ordered by recency.

P/C Direct Premium Written Up Nearly 4.7 Percent

Nov 16 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...

‘We Start Businesses Instead of Buying Them,’ Berkley Says in Last Earnings Conference Call as CEO

Nov 16 2015 // William R. Berkley’s last earnings conference call as chief executive officer of the company that bears his name lasted just over 20 minutes, with a lack of questions about a less-eventful quarter than competitors...

The Rebound Continues as Contractors & Builders Expect to Grow Again in 2016

Nov 16 2015 // The Rebound Continues as Contractors & Builders Expect to Grow Again in 2016 Builders and contractors can expect another year of steady growth in 2016 and so can the insurance specialists that serve this rebounding...

Michigan’s Consumers Mutual to Exit Health Insurance Market

Nov 16 2015 // Consumers Mutual Co-Op, in consultation with the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS), has decided to enter into a run off of its health insurance business, the DIFS announced. Consumers Mutual...

Westfield Insurance Foundation Scholarship Honors Outgoing CEO

Nov 12 2015 // The Westfield Insurance Foundation is creating the James R. Clay Scholarship to honor its outgoing chairman and CEO. The Ohio Farmers Insurance Co. (OFIC) board of directors authorized the transfer of $100,000 to the...

A Conversation on Innovation and the Industry’s Future with ACORD’s Hartnett

Nov 9 2015 // There are not many insurance executives who will quote inventor Thomas Edison, Microsoft’s Steve Baumer, futurist Alvin Toffler, Moore’s Law and philosophers Aristotle and Plato. There are also not many people...

Michigan’s Consumers Mutual to Exit Health Insurance Market

Nov 6 2015 // Consumers Mutual Co-Op, in consultation with the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS), has decided to enter into a run off of its health insurance business, the DIFS announced. Consumers Mutual...

ACORD Names 2 Insurance Innovation Challenge Winners: Livegenic, Insurity

Nov 5 2015 // A technology that gives claimants more control of the claims process and another that makes data conversion easier for insurers have been named winners of the 2015 ACORD Insurance Innovation Challenge. ACORD, the insurance...

China Asked to Revise Draft Cyber Security Rules Affecting Insurance Industry

Nov 5 2015 // Foreign business lobbies have asked China to substantially revise proposed cyber security regulations for the insurance industry, signaling a dispute that started with the publication of similar bank technology rules...

A.M. Best: Europe Insurance Market Begins Recovery; Life Sector Drives Growth

Nov 2 2015 // Europe’s largest insurance markets have continued to show some signs of recovery, with many experiencing top-line growth, driven by the life sector, according to a new report by A.M. Best. In general, the increases...

Flipped Upside Down

Nov 2 2015 // A rise in on-demand car services and the adoption of autonomous vehicles will be contributing factors to a huge reduction in the size of the auto insurance market, according to a report by the consulting firm KPMG. In its...

Outlook for Homeowners Insurance Market Improves: Report

Nov 2 2015 // The outlook for the U.S. homeowners market has improved over last year thanks in part to rate increases and lower reinsurance costs, according to reinsurance intermediary Aon Benfield. A new report by Aon Benfield...

Best’s Italian Insurance Sector Report Sees Growth Despite Weak Economy

Oct 28 2015 // A special report from A.M. Best concludes that “Italy’s insurance market remained buoyant in 2014 and is well-placed to continue to grow in 2015, driven by demand for life products.” Best foresees a...

Outlook for Homeowners Insurance Market Improves: Aon

Oct 27 2015 // The outlook for the U.S. homeowners insurance market has improved over last year thanks in part to rate increases and lower reinsurance costs, according to reinsurance intermediary Aon Benfield. A new report by Aon...

Aon Expands Florida Reinsurance Operations

Oct 27 2015 // Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon plc, is expanding its reinsurance and analytical capabilities in the state of Florida. Beginning January 2016, Aon Benfield will increase the...

Auto Insurance Market to Shrink 60% by 2040: KPMG

Oct 23 2015 // By the time today’s millennial insurance professionals are its top executives, the U.S. personal auto insurance industry will be a skeleton of its current self. Within 25 years, the private passenger automobile...

Spain’s Insurance Market has Continued to Show Resilience: A.M. Best

Oct 23 2015 // Spain’s insurance market has continued to show resilience, with companies focusing on profitability as the country’s economy showed further signs of recovery, according to a new report from A.M. Best, entitled...

Don’t Strangle the Cyber-Insurance Market in its Cradle

Oct 22 2015 // We live in an era of disruption. Technology redefines our world on a regular basis, as the wonders of networks that allow data to be transferred virtually without restriction have enmeshed knowledge and commerce into our...

Insuring against Terrorism: America’s Post-9/11 Recovery

Oct 19 2015 // In a nation founded on a system of checks and balances – House against Senate, Supreme Court versus the Presidency – gridlock can be a fact of life, especially in peacetime. But in a time of real trouble from...

October Storm Devastates South Carolina, Insurance Industry Responds

Oct 19 2015 // The claims filing and damage recovery process is underway in South Carolina after the mega-storm that hit the state Oct. 1 through Oct. 5 brought extensive damage statewide with some areas receiving more than two feet of...