Poll: Terrorism, Mold Top Insurance Worries

Poll: Terrorism, Mold Top Insurance Worries

NU Online News Service, April 22, 11:58 a.m. EDT? A survey of 220 U.S. and Canadian insurance executives has found that terrorism and mold top their list of concerns this year.

The 2003 Insurance Industry Outlook Survey was conducted by Laguna Hills, Calif.-based National Marketing Services.

On the issue of terrorism, the survey found that attitudes toward the new terrorism law (the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act) are generally positive, but few saw any real impact on their companies.

Executives who were polled remain tentative about whether the new terrorism law will encourage companies to offer terrorism coverage. A little over half said they believe prices will increase slightly as a result of the law.

The survey found that executives are divided on whether the terrorism law has done enough to deal with the threats posed to the industry by terrorism.

About 55 percent of respondents said the law has had a positive impact, while 45 percent said the impact was negative or non-existent.

The survey found that while mold damage claims were a high-ranking industry concern after terrorism, executives said they believed the potential health risks from mold were minor, and 55 percent said that the media has given unfair coverage to the mold issue.

The executives reported that they expect insurance premiums across all lines to increase between five and 20 percent, but compared to 2002 they are down in all sectors.

NMI said their survey found that the executives' investor confidence level remained virtually unchanged from last year. About 60 percent of those polled said they expect investments to remain stable throughout 2003.

National Marketing Services said its survey was based on 15- to 20 minute telephone interviews with participants selected at random from National Marketing's database of insurers and reinsurers, which the company identifies as industry leaders.