Reading Between the Whines

There are several near-constants in an insurance editor’s life when a new year rolls around. There’s the inevitable mistake of putting last year’s date on this week’s article. There’s the frustration of trying to contact sources over the holidays when no one seems to be working. And, there’s the unavoidable debate over what were the biggest insurance stories in the past year.

Rather than pull a few items out of thin air — a wholly unscientific method — we at Insurance Journal decided to do our own research, using our online archives of insurance stories, which we tout as the largest insurance article archives in the world, at least after Google.

We took a look back at the five most-read stories of 2008 on our Web site to figure out what readers might consider the most important. Sure, it is a popularity contest based on how many people read the articles — but it’s better than six whiny, overworked editors trying to justify their existence by insisting that their favorites were also the readers’ favorites.

Without further adieu, following were the insurance headlines most-clicked on in 2008:

What struck us about the list is how the most-read stories of 2008 are likely to be defining industry issues of 2009.

The most-read piece was a story announcing Liberty Mutual Group’s acquisition of Safeco Corp., making Liberty Mutual the fifth-largest property/casualty insurer and second-largest surety writer in the country. That acquisition created an organization with 15,000 independent agencies — a behemoth whose every move will likely impact the entire independent agency system.

As might be expected, several of the top five stories involved the insurance giant no one can stop talking about: AIG. No. 2 was an exclusive Insurance Journal report detailing how — despite assurances that AIG insurance subsidiaries are sound — producers across the country had begun moving accounts from AIG affiliates. No. 5 was a Reuters report detailing how AIG’s collapse and fire sale is shifting the dynamics of the insurance marketplace, and boosting the prospects of AIG’s competitors. That dynamic — how the collapse of AIG plays out on the street level — will likely be another major force in the independent agency system in the foreseeable future.

Every year in insurance news springs surprises. Nobody would have imagined the AIG crises until it happened. Surprises aside, it’s a sure bet that for this new year, among the most-read stories of 2009 will be ones involving the insurance giants Liberty Mutual and AIG and their ups and downs.

Finally, although it didn’t make the most-read list (because it was a regional item) but still an important story, was California’s passing of a new law clarifying the definition of an agent versus broker. AB 2956 is sure to affect the independent insurance agency system in 2009 and beyond. State insurance agent associations already have scheduled 2009 classes to explain the law’s implications.

Happy reading in 2009!