Crisis Plan Must Work at Moment’s Notice
The best crisis plan in the world is useless if it sits on a shelf. A company’s employees — from the top down — must be ready to put the plan into action on a moment’s notice. That takes communication …
Commercial Insurers’ Stocks Flat in 2007; M&As Heat Up
Stock Prices: Commercial lines insurers’ stocks have been relatively flat in 2007. Chubb Corp. (NYSE:CB) posted the largest gain at 5 percent. M&A Activity: The fourth quarter started with a bang as two large publicly traded companies were acquired by …
Agents Mind Your Es & Os
As insurance companies face larger, more frequent catastrophe losses, they are increasingly playing hardball with their insureds. Hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, floods and earthquakes can put pressure on a company’s surplus, and ultimately, its solvency. Every claim denied, delayed or underpaid …
WKF&C Offers Earthquake Deductible Buybacks Coverage
Tom Wilson, president of WKF&C Agency, Inc., has announced that his firm will be offering earthquake deductible buybacks from an A.M. Best-rated “A” admitted carrier. With all construction types entertained, this coverage has a minimum premium of $2,500 with limits …
Swiss Re Securitizes $85 Million in Wind and Quake Risks
Swiss Re has structured and placed $85 million worth of securities covering windstorm events in the US as well as earthquakes in California and Central America. “The bond is the first ever linked to Central American earthquakes,” said the announcement. …
Ark. Mayor Says Anti-tremor Measures Could Stop Development
A new Arkansas state law is intended to keep buildings from falling down if a big earthquake strikes in the New Madrid Fault Zone, but Blytheville Mayor Barrett Harrison says the law could keep the buildings from ever going up. …
Frequency of Ohio Earthquakes Seems on the Rise
It was just a relatively small shake, an earthquake beneath Lake Erie that was a mild 3.1 magnitude that could be felt in some lakeshore communities. Still, Ohio seems increasingly prone to the shakes; there have been 25 earthquakes of …
New Tools Can Help Underwrite, Price Winter Storm and Fire Risk
While winter storms do not attract the attention of mega-catastrophes such as hurricanes and earthquakes, these smaller events can add up to impact insurers’ bottom lines. However, insurers can now avail themselves of such risks by using new technology to …
Aiming to Improve Alaska
A small state like Alaska sometimes has trouble convincing the property/casualty insurance industry of creating opportunities in its state. So Alaska Director of Insurance Linda Hall relies on her experiences as a former high school English teacher to school others …
Mo. Earthquake Insurance Task Force to Review Market Changes
Although Midwesterners worry most about tornadoes, snow and ice storms, lurking in the back of every homeowner’s mind is the knowledge that we, like our California brethren, lie just above a major earthquake fault line — New Madrid. Although no …
