April 20, 2009
Colorado lawmakers voted down SB 103, the Unfair Claims Practices Act. The legislation was killed in the House Health and Human Services Committee in a 6-5 vote. The bill would have “defined as an unfair claim settlement practice and a …
April 20, 2009
Pirates have stepped up their attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. In three days (April 6-8) the marine marauders, based in Somalia, seized four cargo ships and a French yacht (See IJ Web site …
April 20, 2009
A new industry briefing shows reinsurance rates continuing to increase for the U.S. property-catastrophe reinsurance market for April 1, 2009, renewals. According to Guy Carpenter & Co.’s “Rates Up on Tightening Capacity at U.S. 4/1 Prop-Cat Renewal” briefing, national programs …
April 20, 2009
How the Feds Can Address Systemic Risk Without Creating More Bureaucracy America’s market-based economic system once created the largest economic engine in the world and gave this country one of the highest standards of living in history. However, that system …
April 20, 2009
Like just about any company anywhere on earth, medical liability insurers lost money on their equity investments in 2008 due to the meltdown in the U.S. and worldwide economies in the latter half of the year. However, for the first …
April 20, 2009
Property/casualty insurers remained profitable in 2008 despite taking hits from several catastrophes, the recession and the ongoing financial crisis. P/C insurers earned $2.4 billion in net income after taxes in 2008, but profits and profitability both tumbled as catastrophe losses, …
April 6, 2009
The Hawaii Insurance Division is re-issuing license certificates to resident and nonresident insurance producers who sell personal lines insurance. The Homeowners-Personal Lines (HO-PL) and Vehicle-Personal Lines (VE-PL) insurance classes have been combined as Personal Lines (PL-ALL) to conform with the …
April 6, 2009
Most insurance professionals detest a soft market because of the increase in competition, unreasonably low pricing and increased market vulnerability. Some, however, may appreciate a softening precisely because of the change in underwriting and pricing philosophies. No soft market lasts …
April 6, 2009
When it comes to an agency’s satisfaction with its personal lines insurance companies, commissions do not rank as tops. Nor do commissions rank second. In fact, out of six satisfaction factors, compensation from an insurer ranks dead last, according to …
April 6, 2009
Agents Advised to Know How Trusts Differ From Typical Insurance Companies To start off, what exactly is a workers’ compensation group trust? Per the New York State Insurance Department Web site, it is: “[A] group of employers who perform related …