Commercial Lines

Insurance rating agency A.M. Best Co. says it has placed Firemans Fund Insurance Cos. under review with negative implications following the downgrade of the issuer credit ratings of parent company Allianz SE.

The National Flood Insurance Program is operating on a temporary reauthorization that expires Friday as Washington continues to play winner-take-all politics.

The airline-insurance industry should be profitable this year if there are no major losses. Additionally, soft-market pricing and ample capacity should continue into 2012, according to Aon Risk Solutions.

In such an eventful year, with dozens of compelling stories as strong contenders, determining the Top 10 of 2011 was no easy task. But, after a lot of laborand internal debatewe feel the final list weve put together successfully captures the essential news of the past 12 months.

So many insurance-airline programs are now pushed to the fourth quarter that it is becoming increasingly difficult for brokers to manage the renewals effectively, according to a report from insurance broker Willis.

A hard market now would be purely for the purpose of price gouging buyers of insurance, particularly commercial-lines insureds, according to an Americans for Insurance Reform report that says the industrys little understood economic cycle has been used to victimize policyholders for 35 years.