Latest Market Headlines

All the headlines from our Market Topic Page, ordered by recency.

The Insurance Industry Wants You!

Jan 10 2010 // American-born poet, T.S. Eliot, did little to further the cause of attracting people into the insurance business. As far back as 1922, in his famous work, “The Wasteland,” the sometime bank employee created a...

Trends for 2010

Jan 10 2010 // To be proactive, one needs to understand and exploit current and future trends. Most trends can be predicated by understanding recurring cycles and applying that knowledge to current situations. So what will 2010 be like...

Negotiations Falter at UN’s Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change

Jan 10 2010 // The United Nations’ Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change strained mightily and produced — a note. Co-authored by the United States and China as a last minute face saver, only five nations signed it. This...

New York Plans First Steps to Creating Lloyd’s Competitor

Jan 6 2010 // New York regulators are aggressively pursuing plans for a reincarnation of the New York Insurance Exchange and expect to assemble a “working group” of industry insiders within the next two weeks who will guide...

Captives Fuel Growth and Income for Agency Owners

Dec 30 2009 // In times like these, where the insurance industry is now in its fifth year of a soft market, the use of an agency captive insurance company can spark both revenue and profits to improve an agency’s overall financial...

Rocky 2009 Leaves P/C Agents Hoping for a Better 2010

Dec 29 2009 // Once again, agents and brokers are wishing for a harder insurance market in the New Year. But while most agents hope for firmer insurance pricing in 2010, just slightly more than a quarter (26.9 percent) predict a harder...

Report: Deregulation Made Massachusetts Auto Insurance Market Worse

Dec 28 2009 // The deregulation of the Massachusetts auto insurance market has driven up prices, boosted insurer profits, reduced consumer protections and generally created confusion in the marketplace, according to a new report by the...

P/C Industry’s Net Income Up; Combined Ratio at 100.7 for Q3

Dec 22 2009 // Private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income after taxes rose to $16.2 billion through nine-months 2009, partially recovering from the 91.2 percent decline to $4.4 billion through nine-months 2008 from $49.6...

Truth or Lore? Insurance ‘Factorama’ Explores the Known and Little-Known

Dec 20 2009 // It’s the end of the decade that apparently has no name as yet, but that doesn’t stop those of us at Insurance Journal from looking back at the past 10 years and beyond for known and little-known insurance...

Economies Slowly Recovering; Climate Change Negotiators Still Talking

Dec 20 2009 // Swiss Re’s recent Economic Forum at the reinsurer’s iconic London headquarters presented a far more encouraging picture of the world’s financial condition than a year ago. Thomas Hess, Swiss Re’s...

Trends For Insurance Industry To Watch…

Dec 20 2009 // The PricewaterhouseCoopers report suggests that successful insurers will be those that carefully weigh the following considerations:Consolidation: The U.S. insurance market remains highly fragmented, and the strong...

P/C Industry Certain to Face Uncertainty in 2010 and Beyond

Dec 20 2009 // The insurance industry may not see a return to relative stability and certainty for a few years as it reacts to the effects of regulatory reform, increased government intervention and potential tax law changes in the...

Rocky 2009 Leaves P/C Industry Hoping for a Better 2010

Dec 20 2009 // Once again, agents and brokers are wishing for a harder insurance market in the New Year. But while most agents hope for firmer insurance pricing in 2010, just slightly more than a quarter (26.9 percent) predict a harder...

Six Factors Create Volatility in Calif. Workers’ Comp Insurance Market

Dec 18 2009 // “Since insurance rates were partially deregulated in 1995, the California workers’ compensation insurance market has been very volatile. For reasons that go beyond price deregulation, there have been dramatic...

Marsh Warns Recent Losses May Hit UK Jewelry Insurance Market in 2010

Dec 17 2009 // Marsh UK has issued a warning to retail jewelers to review their risk management and security practices ahead of the 2010 insurance renewal season, or risk facing sizeable increases in their premiums next year.Marsh said...

Willis Concludes Financial Institutions’ Hard Market May Soften in 2010

Dec 15 2009 // The hard market for financial institutions (FI) insurance, which has seen insurers push premiums up at renewal by a minimum of 10 to 15 percent, is unlikely to last until the end of 2010, according to the latest Willis FI...

James Nash Joins Mystic Capital’s Investment Banking Team

Dec 15 2009 // New York (Dec. 15, 2009) – Mystic Capital Advisors Group, LLC is pleased to announce its newest associate, James Nash, who joins Mystic Capital as Vice President.Nash comes to Mystic Capital with a wealth of relevant...

Insurance Industry Foundation Grants for 2010 Support Children’s Charities

Dec 15 2009 // The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) announced four new grants at the organization’s annual dinner last week in New York. This year’s grants are primarily directed to children’s charities...

FERMA Comments on Proposed EU Insurance Block Exemption Changes

Dec 14 2009 // The Federation of European Risk Management Associations, has issued a bulletin welcoming the opportunity to comment on the European Commission’s latest draft of the block exemption requirements (BER) for the...

Insurance ‘Central to our Climate Security’ Says Lloyd’s CEO

Dec 11 2009 // Lloyd’s CEO Richard Ward, speaking at an ancillary meeting of the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change, stressed that, although “this is a side event to the main negotiations,’ It shouldn’t...