E&S/Specialty Business

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• Endurance Q1 Net Income Jumps 23.8% on Lower Catastrophe Losses

  By Anya Khalamayzer, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  May 3, 2013

  Endurance reports $92.1 million in net income at the close of the year’s first quarter—a $17.7 million increase in net income compared to the first quarter of 2012.

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  Benmosche: AIG Has a 'Deep Bench'; Buffett: 'Full Bore' Into Commercial Insurance

  By Chad Hemenway, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  May 3, 2013

  AIG CEO Robert H. Benmosche says the company still has plenty of top performers after losing a quartet of executives to Berkshire Hathaway, where CEO Warren Buffett says he'd like to get into commercial insurance "very big time."

• AIG Q1 Profit Down $1B; P&C Underwriting Income Returns to Black

  By Chad Hemenway, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  May 3, 2013

  AIG says first-quarter net income dropped $1 billion compared to last year, as results a year ago included income from investments that have been sold or liquidated.

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  As Federal Crop Insurance Costs Rise, Report Questions Effectiveness

  By Arthur D. Postal, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  May 2, 2013

  A new report takes issue with the current structure of the federal crop insurance program, arguing that in many cases it allows growers to make more money from insurance payouts than they would from a healthy harvest.

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  Markel Closes Alterra Deal and Opens Large-Commercial, Reinsurance Units

  By Chad Hemenway, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  May 1, 2013

  Markel Corp. says it has completed its $3 billion buy of Alterra Capital Holdings and reports a 54.7 percent increase in first quarter profit.

• Through Quota Share and Run-Offs, State Auto Books $19.7M Profit in Q1

  By Chad Hemenway, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  May 1, 2013

  State Auto Financial Corp. reversed a first-quarter loss, booking net income of $19.7 million.

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  Making Hay: Manufacturing Poised for Growth

  By Michael P. Voelker  |  May 1, 2013

  A Travelers survey reveals that some 75 percent of leading manufacturers have expanded their products or services in the past year or expect to do so by year’s end.

• IQ: Jury Rejects Actress’s Age-Related Lawsuit

  By Industry IQ  |  May 1, 2013

  A jury in Seattle has found against Huong Hoang, the actress who sued the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) and its parent company, Amazon, for posting her age without her permission, according to the New York Times.

• IQ: NAPCO Report Identifies 2013 P-C Trends

  By Industry IQ  |  May 1, 2013

  Although the estimated $25 million in losses from Superstorm Sandy is not pushing up the price of property-catastrophe insurance, it has brought concerns about future cat losses and current modeling techniques

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  M&A Opportunities Ahead

  By Tim Cunningham, Dan Menzer  |  May 1, 2013

  Agency and brokerage mergers & acquisitions have been on a steady upward climb since 2000, except for a blip in 2009 and 2010 due to the collapse of the economy. Those 2 down years were followed by a near blockbuster year in 2011, and the most active year since 2000...

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  Champion Program

  By Melissa Hillebrand, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  May 1, 2013

  Picture any town in America on a warm Saturday afternoon. Whether you imagine a rural area or a cityscape, one thing is for certain: Kids are at play.

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  Crop of Controversy

  By Claire Schuster, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  May 1, 2013

  A relentless drought, tenacious wildfires, extreme weather—over the past year, all of these have plagued the U.S. agricultural business, leading to lingering uncertainty for farmers and the agents and brokers that serve them.

• Sam Goldwyn Was Right

  By Barry Zalma  |  May 1, 2013

  Sam Goldwyn, one of the founders of Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer (MGM), was reported to have once said, “Your oral contract ain’t worth the paper it’s printed on.” It’s a lesson that should be hung on the wall of every insurance agent and broker. Although binders evidencing an insurance policy can be oral,...

• Hanover Q1 Profit Increases 33.2%

  By Chad Hemenway, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  April 30, 2013

  Hanover received rate increases of 9 percent in core Commercial and Personal lines during the first quarter and it is seeing greater rate increases in Specialty.

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  AIG's E&S Market Share Under Assault

  By Arthur D. Postal, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  April 30, 2013

  The defection of four top AIG executives to Berkshire Hathaway signals an aggressive attack by Ajit Jain, head of Berkshire Hathaway’s reinsurance business, on Robert Benmosche’s dominant and highly profitable AIG surplus lines business.

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  AIG Names Head of Lexington; Continues Exec Shuffle After Berkshire Departures

  By Arthur D. Postal, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  April 30, 2013

  Jeremy Johnson, a former insurance broker, has been named head of American International Group's surplus lines business.