Latest Property Headlines

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

Beazley Group Adds U.S. Builders Risk, Engineered Risk Capabilities

Mar 13 2009 // Beazley Group plc, an insurer of construction and engineering risks in the Lloyd’s market, has established a builders risk and engineered risk capability in the United States. Builders risk, commonly known as...

Mississippi’s Rep. Taylor Renews Push for Federal Wind Insurance Policy

Mar 10 2009 // Rep. Gene Taylor, D.-Miss., isn’t letting opposition by major insurance companies keep him from pushing his plan to make wind coverage for properties available through the federal flood insurance...

Pacific Specialty Expands Texas Residential Property Programs

Mar 10 2009 // Pacific Specialty Property and Casualty Company, the Texas affiliate of California-based Pacific Specialty Insurance Company (PSIC) announced a new suite of preferred tier residential property insurance products in...

People

Mar 9 2009 // Seacrest Partners Inc., a Savannah, Georgia-based insurance brokerage and employee benefits consulting firm, has named J. Cliff McCurry as vice chairman. McCurry will oversee business development activities for the...

Declarations

Mar 9 2009 // Dear Shareholders “It will be interesting to see if Buffett himself has learned lessons he might not have learned in his long career. … Berkshire got hit in four ways. Falling stock prices, the put options,...

Wisconsin Sheriff: Property Owners Can’t Burn Way Out of Debt

Mar 6 2009 // Dodge County’s sheriff is cautioning Wisconsin property owners with financial trouble not to resort to arson to solve their problems. Sheriff Todd Nehls says he’s noticed a disturbing trend. Cars, houses or...

Ace Europe Launches New Program for Sprinkler Protected Property

Mar 3 2009 // ACE Europe has launched ACE Protect, a new property coverage aimed at companies which have installed sprinkler fire extinguishing systems in their premises. ACE said the new coverage “offers training and risk...

Finnis Named Executive VP, National Property Leader at Willis HRH

Feb 27 2009 // Willis HRH, the North American business of Willis Group Holdings, reported that David Finnis has been named executive vice president and national property practice leader, effective immediately. Finnis, who joins Willis...

Returning Florida Lawmakers’ Agenda Includes Property Insurance Woes

Feb 23 2009 // Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s political mantra has been to hold down property insurance rates, taxes and almost anything else costly for people he wants voting for him next year. Whether Crist seeks re-election or Mel...

People

Feb 22 2009 // Andrew Fotopulos has joined Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Brokerage Inc. in Providence, Rhode Island as senior vice president. Fotopulos will lead the brokerage’s financial institutional practice. He will...

People

Feb 22 2009 // Juan Andrade and Jonathan Bennett have been named as interim co-leads of the Property and Casualty Operations of The Hartford. Their appointment to those interim positions follows the departure of Neil Wolin, president and...

People

Feb 22 2009 // American International Group (AIG) named Peter Eastwood president and CEO of Lexington Insurance Co., a unit of AIG Commercial Insurance. Eastwood assumes management responsibility for Lexington from Kevin H. Kelley, who...

France’s Winter Storm Klaus Property Losses Pegged at $1 Billion Euros

Feb 20 2009 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide has updated its insured loss estimates of property losses in France from winter storm Klaus to between 500 million and 1 billion Euros. These losses represent damage to...

American Summit Offers Residential Property Insurance in Arizona

Feb 12 2009 // American Summit Insurance Co. of Waco, Texas, has introduced its residential property insurance program, Home Choice, in Arizona. The program features four packages of coverage: basic, value, ultra and special, plus...

People

Feb 8 2009 // Linda Timmons has been promoted to director of communications for the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT). In this position, Timmons will manage the organization’s internal and external communications,...

Liberty Mutual Drops Direct Sales to Middle Market Businesses

Feb 8 2009 // Puts Faith in Independent Agents Liberty Mutual Group is throwing in the towel on direct distribution of insurance to middle market businesses. Because it couldn’t beat independent agents and brokers — who...

5 Business Owner Policy Gaps and Pitfalls Agents Should Watch Out For

Feb 8 2009 // Business owner policies, traditionally referred to simply as BOPs, were introduced in 1976 and significantly revised in 1987. The BOP evolved gradually since the 1987 revisions to include risk classification and sizes not...

The Hanover Group Sees Profits Shrink

Feb 6 2009 // Fourth quarter profits at The Hanover Insurance Group fell 55 percent from $75.8 million a year ago to $34.1 million. Full-year net income dropped nearly 92 percent to $20.6 million, from the $253.1 million the Worcester,...

State Farm Rejects Call to Let Florida Agents Represent Other Insurers

Feb 4 2009 // Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is urging State Farm Florida to “immediately” let its agents do business with other insurance companies for their more than one million policyholders now that State...

Illinois Court Denies Insurer Claim That Boys’ Deaths Were Single Event

Feb 4 2009 // The accidental deaths of two teenage boys at an excavation site in 1997 were separate occurrences under the liability insurance policy of the property owner, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled in reinstating a $2 million...