Latest Pricing Trends Headlines

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

The Hard Market’s Over … Or Is It’

Mar 8 2004 // Although I’ve been around the specialty industry for more years than I care to reveal (this information is in poor taste, akin to discussing a woman’s age), and now have seen multiple hard and soft markets,...

The Hard Market’s Over … Or Is It’

Mar 8 2004 // Surplus lines company executives and wholesalers at NAPSLO responded uniformly with broad smiles when asked about their 2003 results.Although I’ve been around the specialty industry for more years than I care to...

Fitch: Competition May Brake Auto Rate Increases

Mar 1 2004 // The U.S. auto insurance sector may be approaching a yield sign of increased competition after cruising through favorable pricing conditions for the last three years, according to a special report by Fitch Ratings. Though...

Farmers Cuts N.D. Homeowners Rates Up to 15%

Feb 26 2004 // Captive agency carrier the Farmers Insurance Group of Cos. announced the introduction of the new home/life discount for its North Dakota homeowners customers. Customers who have both a life insurance policy and a...

RIMS: Commercial Rates Going Down; Benfield: Reinsurance Rates Holding

Feb 23 2004 // As Abbott and Costello famously observed, “Who’s on First?” A new report from independent insurance intermediary Benfield concludes that despite “ample capacity and signs of resurgent competition,...

RIMS: Commercial Rates Going Down; Benfield: Reinsurance Rates Holding

Feb 23 2004 // As Abbott and Costello famously observed, “Who’s on First?” A new report from independent insurance intermediary Benfield concludes that despite “ample capacity and signs of resurgent competition,...

Mo. Comp Rate Hikes Almost Flat

Feb 17 2004 // Insurers are applying the brakes to workers’ compensation rate increases in Missouri, according to the state’s insurance department. After almost one-third of such insurers filed rate changes in January,...

Swiss Re Reports 7% P/C Renewal Premium Growth

Feb 17 2004 // Swiss Re announced that it has registered a seven percent increase in P/C premium growth following the latest round of renewals, occasioned by a “combination of further rate increases and portfolio...

Mich. Auto Rates Rise Slower Than National Average

Feb 12 2004 // Auto insurance rates for Michigan policyholders rose slower than the national average in 2003, according to the Insurance Institute of Michigan (IIM). Michigan’s auto insurance rates increased an average of 7 percent...

First Premium Insurance Group Expands

Feb 10 2004 // First Premium Insurance Group Inc. of Covington, La., a growing regional property and casualty insurance broker, announced its newest team members, Steven J. Weisgerber and Elizabeth W. Jenkins. Weisgerber joined First...

RIMS: Commercial Rates Going Down; Benfield: Reinsurance Rates Holding

Feb 9 2004 // As Abbott and Costello famously observed, “Who’s on First?” A new report from independent insurance intermediary Benfield concludes that despite “ample capacity and signs of resurgent competition,...

RIMS: Commercial Rates Going Down; Benfield: Reinsurance Rates Holding

Feb 9 2004 // As Abbott and Costello famously observed, “Who’s on First?” A new report from independent insurance intermediary Benfield concludes that despite “ample capacity and signs of resurgent competition,...

Physicians Insurance Looks to Rate Reduction with Cap for Non-Economic Damages

Feb 5 2004 // Physicians Insurance A Mutual Company (PI), Washington’s largest professional liability insurer, announced in a letter to Washington state legislators that it will reduce its premiums by at least 10 percent effective...

D&O Liability Premiums Jump 33 Percent; Tillinghast Study Reports Hard Market is Stabilizing Despite Record Premiums

Jan 27 2004 // Directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance premiums grew approximately 33 percent on average from 2002 to 2003, according to the Tillinghast business of Towers Perrin’s 2003 Directors & Officers...

Earlybird Forecast for 2004: Street Sees Premium Growth in Store

Jan 26 2004 // Each year the Insurance Information Institute invites a panel of Wall Street stock analysts and industry professionals to review the prospects for the industry in the current and coming year. The survey reveals that the...

E&S Foresight and Good Management Ease Hard Market Pains

Jan 26 2004 // As you have no doubt heard by now, this hard market is not just longer; it is fundamentally different. It is by all reports the most moderate in memory, characterized by fewer and less dramatic disruptions of normal market...

Texas FAIR Plan Wants Rate Increase

Jan 23 2004 // The Texas Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan Association requested that the Texas Department of Insurance allow the Plan to increase homeowners insurance rates by an average of 12 percent statewide in order...

Commercial Insurance Buyers Say Property Premiums Fell Nearly Nine Percent in Fourth Quarter

Jan 22 2004 // Commercial insurance buyers say the cost of property insurance fell 8.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003 marking the first decline in premium prices in any major line of commercial insurance in nearly four years,...

CALIF. FUND SEEKS RATE DECREASE

Jan 12 2004 // State Compensation Insurance Fund—California’s largest workers’ compensation insurance carrier—has filed for an average 2.9 percent rate decrease effective Jan. 1, 2004. The decrease is within the range...

CALIF. SEES REDUCTIONS IN WC RATE FILINGS

Jan 12 2004 // Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi announced that workers’ compensation pure premium rates filed by insurers to date are below current rates by an average 3.6 percent, a “clear sign” that the historic...