Latest Underwriting Headlines

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

Starr Promotes Bessinger to Chief Underwriting Officer for Domestic Companies

Jun 28 2017 // Starr Companies has promoted Richard Bessinger to chief underwriting officer of Starr Indemnity & Liability Co., Starr Specialty Insurance Co. and Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Co. Bessinger has 25 years of experience...

Flood Insurance in the Standard Market Part 1

Jun 28 2017 // We’re all insurance people here, right? OK, so let’s play a word association game. I’ll give you a word and you think about the first word that comes to mind. Ready?Flood. It’ll be interesting to...

MGA Pen Underwriting Launches Specialist Cover for UK Construction Market

Jun 27 2017 // Pen Underwriting* has launched a new product to address the UK construction industry’s wide-ranging, complex risk exposures.Backed by “A”-rated capacity from specialist insurer CNA Hardy, the single...

RPG Promotes D’Onofrio to CEO of WKFC Underwriting and CorRisk

Jun 26 2017 // Ryan Specialty Group (RSG) announced that Dawn D’Onofrio has been promoted to chief executive officer and president of WKFC Underwriting Managers and CorRisk Solutions. D’Onofrio previously served as chief...

London Underwriters, Trigon to Offer Alabama Homeowners Program

Jun 26 2017 // London Underwriters LLC, a national MGA and surplus lines broker, has partnered with Birmingham based wholesaler Trigon Inc., to provide a new and exclusive low-value homeowners program for the state of Alabama.The product...

Chubb Opens Office in Reading, UK; Davison, Glover Appointed to Local Team

Jun 20 2017 // Chubb announced it has opened a new office in Reading, Berkshire, in the UK, and has appointed two key members to the local team, as it continues to build its local presence across the UK and Ireland.Mark Davison has been...

How Advertising Spend, Underwriting Results Relate to Auto Insurers’ New Business Yield: J.D. Power

Jun 19 2017 // Insurers with the strongest new business yield rates also have strong combined ratios in personal auto in the J.D. Power 2017 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study.We define new business yield rates as the proportion of...

Orchid Underwriters Expands Commercial Lines into Alabama, Mississippi

Jun 19 2017 // Orchid Underwriters Agency, LLC, a specialty underwriter of catastrophic coastal insurance, announced that it expanded its Commercial Lines business to two new states, Alabama and Mississippi.The two new states join New...

Medical Professional Insurance Market in Good Health for Now: A.M. Best

Jun 19 2017 // The U.S. medical professional liability (MPL) insurance sector is stable, with strong capitalization and profitable, albeit declining, operating performance, plus the prospect of positive earnings in the medium term,...

Easing Regulations, Speed of New Infrastructure Projects Raises Concerns for Underwriters

Jun 19 2017 // We’re going to cut a lot of red tape,” President Trump said at a CEO town hall meeting as he unrolled a long, colorful flow chart showing the process required for a state government to obtain the federal...

Survey of Agents Reveals Underwriting Disconnect in Commercial Lines

Jun 19 2017 // Independent agents want to talk about underwriting, and they’re urging their carriers to listen. Preliminary results from the 2017 Channel Harvest Research survey indicate agents want to see companies put greater...

Insurers Adapt Terrorism Policies with Loss of Attraction, Violent Acts, Other Coverages

Jun 15 2017 // The changing nature of attacks in Western cities has led insurers to offer new policies, from straightforward cover for business lost due to police cordons to more risky compensation for declines in tourism.Terrorism...

In ‘Classic’ Soft Market Battle, Brokers and Carriers Attack Each Other

Jun 14 2017 // Chief executive officers of property/casualty insurance carriers and insurance brokers called each other out last week for engaging in activities they said are “classic signs of a soft market.”During a session...

Burand’s State of P/C Insurance Industry, Part 1: Agencies Facing Paradigm Shift

Jun 13 2017 // Editor’s Note: This is the first of two articles by Burand based on his most recent 50-page whitepaper, State of the P&C Insurance Industry 2017. The whitepaper is available from Insurance Journal’s...

Lloyd’s Coverholder, Arma Underwriting, Launches in Dubai with MENA Focus

Jun 12 2017 // Asta, the Lloyd’s third party managing agent and specialist MGA investor, announced that Dubai-based Arma Underwriting Ltd. has received full approval from all regulators and commenced operations last...

Goldberg Joins Ryan Specialty Group’s Sapphire Blue in Chicago

Jun 9 2017 // Ryan Specialty Group (RSG) announced that Debra Goldberg has joined RSG’s managing general underwriting company, Sapphire Blue, as chief underwriting officer. Goldberg is based at Sapphire Blue’s headquarters...

Settlement Deal Between California Commissioner and Applied Underwriters

Jun 8 2017 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced today that the California Department of Insurance has reached a settlement agreement with Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries to stop what he calls “bait and switch...

MarketScout Sells Workers’ Compensation Business to Specialty Program Group

Jun 7 2017 // Dallas-based insurance exchange MarketScout, which provides agents with access to specialty markets, has sold its workers’ compensation managing general agency business to Specialty Program Group.MarketScout said it...

Main Street America Promotes Gaynor to Chief Underwriting Officer

Jun 7 2017 // The Main Street America Group has promoted Dan Gaynor to senior vice president, chief underwriting officer.Gaynor, who has been the super-regional property/casualty insurance company’s vice president of commercial...

Inland Marine Underwriters Association Elects Leadership

Jun 5 2017 // The Inland Marine Underwriters Association (IMUA) has approved its 2017 slate of officers, with William Rosa, XL Catlin Re, being re-elected the association’s chair.Also re-elected were Richard Pye, QBE North...