Latest Market Headlines

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

IBM Joins Insurance Industry Standards Group

May 22 2001 // IBM today announced it had joined the insurance industry’s nonprofit standards organization ACORD (the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development).In joining ACORD, IBM brings its brings global...

Marshall & Swift Merger with E.H. Boeckh and DDS Completed

May 22 2001 // Marshall & Swift, a publisher and source of building cost data and services to the insurance industry, announced the completion of its merger with E.H. Boeckh, a supplier of building cost information, and Digital...

A.M. Best Report: Asbestos Claims Surge Set to Dampen Earnings

May 21 2001 // The property/casualty industry may be facing a surge in asbestos claims that could cumulatively cost the industry as much as $65 billion. This new estimate of ultimate asbestos-related losses is nearly two-thirds higher...

Lloyd’s Admits ‘Foreign’ Brokers, Ins-sure Services Launched

May 21 2001 // The London insurance market achieved two significant milestones recently with the admission to Lloyd’s membership of three non-U.K.-based brokers, and the launch of Ins-sure Services Ltd., which will assume the...

How Agents Won on the Web, Four Web Venture Profiles

May 14 2001 // A century ago, agents found customers where they gathered—at church, their place of business or the local watering hole downtown. This marketing strategy still works today—only now many agents are going through...

XML Provides the Missing Link for SEMCI

May 13 2001 // Agents have faced the problem ever since insurance companies first introduced applications. Each company had its own form, so the agent who wanted to submit the same account to several underwriters had to write the same...

The Producer Dilemma Revisited: There are Solutions

Apr 23 2001 // Four years ago, we wrote an article for Insurance Journal that outlined what we called the “Producer Dilemma.” This article follows up on what has been a chronic problem of finding good producers for the...

Busy Times for Oregon’s DCBS

Apr 23 2001 // The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services revoked the licenses of five agents across the state for unrelated violations.In one case, a Cave Junction agent, Cecile G. Zimmerman, had her license revoked after...

Commissioner Low to Address Annual ITC Forum

Apr 16 2001 // Property/casualty and life/health insurance professionals will find a timely subject on the table at the Seventh Annual Insuring The Children (ITC) Insurance Industry Forum on June 22 in Costa Mesa.Set for discussion is...

Workers’ Comp Reform: Ten Years from Ground Zero

Apr 2 2001 // It’s been 10 years since legislation revamp the Texas workers’ comp system. Most insurers, regulators and legislators agree that the system has improved dramatically, but they also say there is still room for...

Artificial Intelligence Technology Transforms Software Solutions

Apr 2 2001 // For many people not directly involved in the development of software for the insurance industry, any discussion of new technology can rapidly swell into a serious information overload. Compounding this problem is the...

Artificial Intelligence Technology Transforms Software Solutions

Mar 26 2001 // For many people not directly involved in the development of software for the insurance industry, any discussion of new technology can rapidly swell into a serious information overload. Compounding this problem is the...

Oregon Revokes Four Agents’ Licenses, Suspends One

Mar 21 2001 // The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services has revoked the licenses of five agents across the state for unrelated violations.In one case, a Cave Junction agent, Cecile G. Zimmerman, had her license revoked...

From Pin Maps to the World Wide Web

Mar 5 2001 // Since the 1800s, the insurance industry has used technology to track and control catastrophic exposures. Insurers first used mapping after companies were hit by major fires in cities such as Boston, Chicago and...

S&P Study Shows Increase in U.S. Insurance Industry Failures

Feb 28 2001 // According to a recently published study conducted by Standard & Poor’s, the number of U.S. insurers that failed in 2000 increased to 56, compared with 40 in 1999. Of the 56 failures, 31 were property/casualty...

Marine Market in a State of Flux

Feb 26 2001 // For the past decade, the marine insurance market has been struggling to keep its head above water. And to make matters worse, premiums dropped 4.1 percent between 1998 and 1999-marking the third straight year of decline....

New Swiss Re sigma Study: Insurance Industry in Central and Eastern Europe — Current Trends and Pro

Feb 21 2001 // The latest sigma study from Swiss Re provides a detailed overview of Central and Eastern European insurance markets with an analysis of the latest developments in life and non-life insurance in 27 countries, including the...

Commercial Auto-The LONG Road Back to Profitability

Feb 19 2001 // The signs were there in 2000—and now it can safely be said that prices in the commercial auto industry are definitely firming. But how long it will take the industry to truly return to profitability is still hard to...

A.M. Best Report Shows Property/Casualty Industry Excess Capital as Blessing, Curse

Feb 16 2001 // The property/casualty industry could return capital to its stakeholders without risking rating downgrades or insolvency, according to A.M. Best Company, which is conducting an ongoing analysis of risk-adjusted...

Commercial Auto: The Long Road Back to Profitability

Feb 12 2001 // The signs were there in 2000—and now it can safely be said that prices in the commercial auto industry are definitely firming. But how long it will take the industry to truly return to profitability is still hard to...