Harleysville Group Inc. said it expects recent estimated catastrophe losses to reduce 2010 first quarter operating income by $0.49 per share after taxes and impact the statutory combined ratio by 10 points.

The Commercial Insurance Agency of the Year Award program, run by National Underwriter, has been expanded and is being managed in partnership with its sister publication, American Agent & Broker, with entries due by July 1.

Now in its seventh year, the soft market shows few signs of loosening its grip on commercial insurance pricing, according to the RIMS Benchmark Survey.

President Obama today criticized opponents of financial services reform, saying failure to enact such legislation "would be leaving taxpayers on the hook if a crisis like the one we've just seen ever happens again."

The airline industry paid about 20 percent more on average for lead hull and liability prices in 2009, but those increases are expected to slow, thanks to an improved economic picture for the insurance industry, according to a report from Aon.

What can finance chiefs learn from airline pilots, wildfire fighters and infectious disease controllers? Valuable lessons on how to prevent disaster in the financial services industry have come from unlikely sources.

Congress finally approved legislation last night that reinstated the National Flood Insurance Program. President Obama signed the measure into law within an hour after the House passed it.

Aon announced it will hold its 10th Middle East Energy Insurance Conference April 19-21 in Bahrain.