Massachusetts News

10 Tips for Mass. Insurance Agents Moving into Competitive Market

Massachusetts independent agents are facing a challenge to hang onto their whopping 86 percent market share in personal lines as the state embarks upon a new competitive auto insurance system that will bring some of the predictive analytics that agents …

AIG Pays $12.5M to Settle with States Over Bid-Rigging Allegations

American International Group, Inc. (AIG) confirmed today that it has reached settlements with nine states and the District of Columbia relating to their investigations into alleged bid-rigging and price-fixing and questions about undisclosed contingent commissions paid to brokers. Under the …

National Hurricane Center Names New Director

The National Hurricane Center’s new chief said he would deal with problems behind the scenes and work to boost morale among staffers who helped oust the former director for his outspokenness. Bill Read, 58, had been the center’s interim deputy …

Mass. Allows Rates and Commissions of 2 Largest Auto Insurers

The two largest auto insurance writers in Massachusetts have been given the green light to use the rates they filed for 2008 in rulings that characterize the state attorney general’s objections as “irrelevant” in the state’s new competitive marketplace. The …

Business Moves

Lighthouse Underwriters, Cooley and Darling Cooley and Darling Insurance Agency Inc., a new retail agency based in Haymarket, Va., has acquired the retail book of non-profit business from Lighthouse Underwriters LLC, a member company of U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. …

New Markets

The following markets were selected from the MyNewMarkets database of 25,000 coverages and programs. To find additional markets, or to submit markets, go to www.MyNewMarkets.com. Three Year Policies — EPLI Nuts & Bolts: International Excess is offering online quotes at …

Regulators Address the Politics of Underwriting

There is an X-factor in setting insurance rates that even actuaries would have a hard time calculating: Politics. For those who serve as their state’s ultimate authority on what factors insurers can use to raise or lower rates, political calculations …

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 …

States Look to Curb Text Messaging Drivers; Could GPS Users Be Next?

Text messaging is all the rage. Hopefully, not a road rage. An increasing number of state lawmakers are concerned by the rash of accidents caused by text-happy drivers. Although many states already have laws that require cell phone-users to wear …

Declarations

Please Call “Those of you that don’t write in Massachusetts, please call us.” —Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Nonnie S. Burnes, addressing a crowd of property casualty insurers at the Insurance Information Institute’s Joint Industry Forum in New York last month. The …