Dr. Robert Hartwig News

‘Big One’ Looms in Minds of Experts Before California ShakeOut

A day before more than 9 million people in California took part in a massive nationwide earthquake drill on Thursday, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones stood in a room full of risk professionals in the San Fernando Valley and …

P/C Industry Should Not Expect Traditional Hard Market Soon: Hartwig

Although insurance rates have been drifting upward in recent months, the property/casualty industry is unlikely to see a return to the traditional hard market this year or next, an insurance expert told reinsurance actuaries at the Casualty Actuarial Society’s Seminar …

Insurer Group NAMIC Honors Hartwig

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) named Robert P. Hartwig, Ph.D., president/CEO of the Insurance Information Institute, New York, N.Y., as the association’s 2011 Chairman’s Award winner. Hartwig has been with III since 1998, initially as an economist …

Insurance Expert to Testify at Hearing on Oil Spill Liability Today

Dr. Robert Hartwig, an economist and president of the Insurance Information Institute, will testify today at a hearing before the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. House of Representatives, in Washington, D.C. The hearing will focus on liability and financial …

Insurers’ Gulf Coast Oil Spill Losses Estimated at $1.4B

Companies with exposure to the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico are insured for losses totaling about $1.4 billion, according to initial reports. “The insurance losses from the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon will …

Bank Style Regulations Would Raise Insurance Costs, Analyst Says

Bank style regulation on property/casualty insurers would lead to significant policy error, says a leading insurance industry econmist. “Bank style regulation would needlessly raise insurance costs for hundreds of millions of insurance consumers and could unfairly require insurers to subsidize …

Tragedy in Haiti; XL Moves to Ireland; NYC Exchange Doesn’t Worry London; WEF Prepares for Davos

The tragedy in Haiti is a reminder of how fragile life can be in developing countries.Despite the massive loss of life and widespread destruction in and around the capital Port-au-Prince, vital rescue efforts have been hampered by a lack of …

Declarations

Little Property Coverage “Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and poor countries tend to purchase very little property insurance coverage. The fact that there is very little information about Haiti’s private insurance market suggests that the market …

Private Insurance Market in Haiti Small

Haiti’s private insurance market is very small but its government did provide a level of insurance coverage to its citizens by participating in a regional risk sharing pool. “Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and poor countries …

P/C Industry Must Strengthen Underwriting to Counter Weak Investments

The most recent reports of property/casualty insurers indicate a return to profits, thanks in large measure to a quiet hurricane season. But behind the rosy reports is a thorny problem — lower investment income. According to Dr. Robert Hartwig, president …