Hurricane Season News

FAIA’s Grady: Florida Needs to Improve Its Insurance Reputation

The following are excerpts from a wide-ranging interview by Insurance Journal’s Andy Simpson with Jeff Grady, president and CEO, Florida Association of Insurance Agents, from Grady’s Tallahassee office. Insurance Journal: There are various players in the Florida property insurance market; …

Double Trouble: Oil and Hurricanes in the Gulf Coast

AIR Worldwide Reviews Implications of the Gulf Oil Spill for Hurricane Season The current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico followed soon after a large explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform, 50 miles off the Louisiana Coast, …

71 As of June 5, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals had received 71 reports of health complaints thought to be caused by exposure to pollutants from the British Petroleum oil well blowout off the coast of Louisiana. The …

Senate Again Rejects Bill Containing Flood Insurance Program Restart

The U.S. Senate yesterday again voted down a legislative package on jobless benefits, Medicare payments to doctors and business tax breaks that also contains reauthorization of the nation’s flood insurance program. Despite reducing the overall cost of the package, Democrats …

Nation’s Flood Insurance Program Remains in Limbo

The Senate today voted against legislation that included a provision to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Along with short term extensions for numerous other federal programs, the NFIP extension was passed by the House just prior to the …

Weak Predators, Demanding Prey Stymie Lloyd’s M&A

A bid for Lloyd’s of London insurer Brit is unlikely to trigger acquisitions in the battered sector because targets feel they can hold out against lowball private equity bids and trade buyers remain strapped for cash. Shares across the Lloyd’s …

Storm Management

The Atlantic hurricane season forecasts are in and they aren’t pretty. All the major forecasters have predicted the season will be much more active than last season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expects an “active to extremely active” …

Congress’s inability to act leaves many in flood prone areas vulnerable – for the second time this year and the fourth in 12 months’ time. When it rains it pours, as the saying goes. By extension, one could say that …

Declarations

Reauthorization Needed “Congress needs to pass a long-term extension because homeowners living in flood prone regions of the country don’t have anywhere to turn should another major flood occur during this Congressional recess.” —Blain Rethmeier, spokesman for the American Insurance …

Florida Insurers Head Into Hurricane Season with Fingers Crossed

Florida’s property insurance companies haven’t suffered hurricane losses for nearly five years, but many claim to be losing money even while collecting hefty premiums. It’s a complex paradigm for almost anyone to follow. “We keep going round and round and …