In this edition of “Focus”, WRIN.tv speaks with Bob Rusbuldt, President & CEO of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) about the health of “Independent Agents”, which Mr. Rusbuldt describes as “robust and well.” Mr. Rusbuldt notes an Agency Universe Study of the independent agency system, conducted by the “Big I”, which found that revenues are up, …

According to Stefan Holzberger, Chief Rating Officer at A.M. Best, the property-casualty sector of the insurance industry saw improvements in performance. And with levels of capitalization “robust”, A.M. Best is maintaining a “Stable Outlook” on the Personal Lines, Commercial Lines and Reinsurance sector from a credit perspective. The reinsurance sector was only recently upgraded to “Stable” from “Negative”, despite heavy …

Cyber risk and insurance continue to evolve, but the insurtech explosion is the real news at the moment, according to Gavin Souter, Editor of Business Insurance. Like all things related to technology, cyber insurance is evolving rapidly. Insurers and brokers are keen to sell cyber policies, but commercial buyers do not believe the insurance offered is enough to cover their …

Craig Bedell, Global Insurance Industry Executive at IBM, sees many challenges facing the insurance industry, including the buying habits of personal lines or commercial lines customers. New data and technologies are mitigating, but sometimes increasing risks faced by consumers. Security and privacy surrounding risk information is also important for insurers. Even more basic, according to Mr. Bedell, is the changing …

The 2017 Hurricane Season brought over $100 billion in insured losses. According to John Kapitan, an SVP at RMS, “the (insurance) industry has coped well.” There are numerous improvements in the industry since the storms of 2004/2005. The industry is better capitalized, (over $600 billion). From a risk management perspective, Mr. Kapitan says few insurers or reinsurers were surprised by …

In part two of this special AAIS Advisory Report on the auto insurance market, John Kadous, VP of Personal Lines at AAIS, talks about how emerging exposure, technology and Big Data are impacting carriers’ approach to auto policies. With increasing uptake of telematics, we see more data is being generated and more underwriting tools for auto insurance carriers. Mr. Kadous …

Current stability and underwriting profits are giving way to growing loss trends, investment headwinds and deteriorating profits. Still, that will not be enough to harden insurance markets in 2017, according to Jim Auden, Managing Director & Head of U.S. Property & Casualty at Fitch Ratings The overall industry is “pretty stable” right now, as is Fitch’s ratings outlook. That stability …

A.M. Best Vice President Andrew Colannino explains the rating agency’s ‘negative’ outlook on the commercial lines segment of the U.S. property/casualty (P&C) industry, despite relatively solid aggregate results over the past several years. He says A.M. Best’s expects more downgrades than upgrades in the coming year. The negative outlook largely reflects the concerns that have been prevalent in recent years: …

At the 2015 European Insurance Forum, WRIN.tv asked Arjen de Boer, the Founder of ITDS Business Consultants for his take on technology trends affecting insurers and for his advice on the industry’s use of social media. According to Mr. de Boer, the decline in insurance penetration these days is due, in part, to the economic recession. In England, he says …

In highlights from a recent edition of A.M. Best’s First Monday series, Senior Financial Analyst Doniella Pliss discusses the risk-sharing provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). According to Ms. Pliss, there are three risk stabilization programs for the ACA: Risk Corridor, Reinsurance and Risk Adjustment. “The goal of the Risk Corridors program was to protect the insurer from …

In a recent edition of A.M. Best’s First Monday series, Vice President Rich Attanasio discusses how usage-based data and advances in automobile technologies are driving changes in the U.S. personal automobile sector. The advancement of safety features in vehicles is having a positive impact in regards to frequency trends in the personal automobile sector said Mr. Attanasio. New technologies including crash avoidance …

In highlights from the First Monday series, A.M. Best Assistant Vice President Joseph Zazzera and Senior Financial Analyst Bridget Maehr discuss how health insurance carriers are navigating health reform provisions that began in 2014, and the sector’s “stable” outlook. More than 11 million people have selected health plans through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2015, 3.1million more than in …

There is a mixed outlook for the U.S. Property and Casualty industry according to A.M. Best. While the industry as a whole is on its second straight year to a strong performance competitive pressure and emerging risks could impact insurers bottom lines. Here, Group Vice President Anthony Diodato discusses the reasons for concern for the U.S. Property and Casualty Industry …

Progressive’s personal lines business is seeing some management changes. Pat Callahan is taking over as president of the group after serving as personal lines acquisition leader. Tricia Griffith will be COO of personal lines. CEO Glenn Renwick quote:  “These moves confirm what I’ve said in the past, which is that we have benefited from the long-term stability of our senior …

Spring is in the air, but insurers and residents of the eastern U.S. are still dealing with the aftermath of a severe winter. According to an Aon Benfield report, insured losses from winter weather events are expected to top $1 billion. As of March 9, Boston was less than 2 inches away from the all-time seasonal high for snowfall, and …

Dr. Robert Hartwig, President of the Insurance Information Institute (III), shares his outlook on key segments of the insurance industry, including the commercial P&C market, personal lines, agents and brokers, and reinsurance. Among the highlights: Economy, jobs, infrastructure investment hitting Commercial P&C market Millennials postponing household formation affecting Personal Lines Insurance agents/brokers still consolidating and attracting next gen Will return …

FEMA is in talks with lawyers representing Superstorm Sandy victims to settle customer allegations that insurers denied or underpaid Sandy-related claims based on falsified reports.

Through a special arrangement with ACORD, WRIN.tv offers a glimpse of what went on during the CEO Panel that took place during the Joint Industry Forum in New York.  On the panel were Paula Downey from  California State Auto, Jaime Tamayo from MAPFRE U.S.A., Christopher Swift from The Hartford, Steven Linkous from The Harford Mutual Insurance Companies, Thomas Lawson from …

One of the biggest concerns for insurance companies today is medical fraud, tied to the medical component of an auto policy.  Roger Morris from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, says common approached to fraud include staged accidents, victim recruitment, and billing fraudulent claims through health clinics, particularly in No Fault States like New York, Florida and Michigan. He says “there …

Vehicle theft continues its downward trend. That’s the good news, according to Roger Morris from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB).  He says the most recent figures from 2013 put vehicle theft in the United States fell below 700,000 – the lowest t’s been in many years. It is particularly good since there are more cars on the road, a …