Latest Trends Headlines

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

Middle Market Firms Miss Out on Agents as Risk Management Resource: Survey

Sep 27 2021 // Many middle market companies are failing to use a key risk management resource: their insurance agents and brokers.According to a survey sponsored by insurer Chubb, only 15% of middle market companies rely heavily on an...

Report: California Independent Medical Review Volume Declined Through 1st Half of 2021

Sep 24 2021 // The number of independent medical reviews used to resolve California workers’ comp medical disputes hit a record low in the first half of 2021 as statewide unemployment remained stubbornly high, non-COVID job injury...

Q&A: New Director Criswell Prepares FEMA for a Hot, Chaotic Future

Sep 24 2021 // Deanne Criswell, the first woman to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in April took over a 20,000-person operation exhausted by managing responses to disasters linked to global warming: wildfires and the 2020...

Private Flood Insurance Market Small But May Grow With New NFIP Rating: AM Best

Sep 23 2021 // The country’s flood insurance market is slowly transitioning toward private insurers providing additional options to the federal government’s program for those seeking coverage, according to a new AM Best...

Washington Proposes 3.1% Increase in Workers’ Comp Rates for 2022

Sep 21 2021 // The Washington Department of Labor & Industries is proposing an increase in the average price employers and workers pay for workers’ compensation insurance next year.If the proposal is adopted, it would be the...

UK Insurers Cautiously Willing to Underwrite Fire Safety Risks for High-Rise Recladding Projects: Survey

Sep 20 2021 // Insurers have revealed a cautious willingness to underwrite fire safety risks on new projects to remove defective cladding from high rise buildings. Around two-thirds of respondents to a survey by the International...

Traffic Deaths Up 10.5% in First Three Months of 2021

Sep 20 2021 // New data shows a sustained increase in U.S. traffic deaths that regulators ascribe to impaired driving, speeding, a failure to wear seats beats and other unsafe behavior since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.The...

Donelon Doubles Down as State Farm Refuses to Cover Ida Evacuation Costs

Sep 17 2021 // For the second time in a week, Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has said he is considering levying fines against insurance companies that continue to refuse to comply with his emergency directive to cover the...

U.S. Surplus Lines Industry Grew Premium 17.5% in 2020

Sep 16 2021 // The U.S. surplus lines market experienced direct premium growth of 17.5% in 2020, the largest year-over-year premium increase since 2003, according to an AM Best report.The 2020 increase in direct premium written comes on...

9/11 Fallout Includes Decades of Worry About Toxic WTC Dust

Sep 16 2021 // Two decades after the collapse of the World Trade Center, people are still coming forward to report illnesses that might be related to dust that billowed over the city after the terror attack.To date, the U.S. has spent...

States Curtail Public Health Powers for This Pandemic and Future Diseases

Sep 16 2021 // Republican legislators in more than half of U.S. states, spurred on by voters angry about lockdowns and mask mandates, are taking away the powers that state and local officials use to protect the public against infectious...

People Moves: Claims Leaders Hired at Generali GC&C; D&O Specialist Rising Edge, and Hamilton Re

Sep 16 2021 // This edition of International People Moves focuses on claims appointments at three insurance underwriters: Generali Global Corporate & Commercial, D&O MGA Rising Edge and Hamilton Insurance Group.A summary of these...

P/C Mutual Insurers Continued to Grow Premiums in 2020 Despite Givebacks

Sep 15 2021 // U.S. P/C mutual insurance companies held their own in 2020 despite returning significant levels of premiums during the pandemic. In fact, net premiums written grew by 1.4 percent even with all the givebacks, according to a...

Climate Change Could Force 200 Million People to Leave Their Homes by 2050

Sep 15 2021 // Climate change could push more than 200 million people to leave their homes in the next three decades and create migration hotspots unless urgent action is taken to reduce global emissions and bridge the development gap, a...

Most Commercial Lines Continuing to Win Healthy Price Increases

Sep 14 2021 // While aggregate U.S. commercial insurance price hikes continue to moderate, most lines are still producing robust price increases, according to Willis Towers Watson.Excess/umbrella produces significant price increases...

Foreign Investors Favor India Utilities, Financial Services, Healthcare: Deloitte survey

Sep 14 2021 // International investors remain confident of India’s short- and long-term growth prospects and are readying plans to make additional and new investments in the country, according to a survey of 1200 business leaders...

Florida’s Event Planners Navigate New Insurance Market Reality

Sep 14 2021 // COVID-19 has inflicted significant damage on Florida’s events industry, costing revenue, forcing changes in how the state’s venues operate and limiting options for how conventions, trade shows and concerts are...

Outlooks Revised to Negative for Armed Forces Insurance Exchange

Sep 13 2021 // AM Best revised the outlooks to negative from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B+ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bbb-” (Good) of Armed Forces Insurance Exchange (AFIE) in...

Global P/C Premiums Likely to Double by 2040, but Motor Growth Will Slow: Swiss Re

Sep 8 2021 // Global property/casualty premiums are expected to more than double to US$4.3 trillion in 2040 from US$1.8 trillion in 2020 – growth driven by economic development, urbanization and climate change, according to Swiss...

RMS: Up to $35B in Gulf Region Onshore, Offshore Insured Losses From Ida

Sep 8 2021 // Catastrophe risk specialist, RMS, estimates onshore and offshore U.S. insured losses from Hurricane Ida in the Gulf of Mexico region to be between $25 billion and $35 billion.RMS’ estimate includes losses to the...