Erie, Pa.-based auto insurer Erie Indemnity Company said Marcia A. Dall is its new chief financial officer, replacing Philip A. Garcia, who is leaving the company after 28 years of service.

A reinsurance brokerage said net income for the European reinsurers it follows dropped $22.4 billion year-over-year to a loss of $7.5 billion for full-year 2008.

Moody's Investors Service lowered the financial strength rating and credit ratings of The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. citing continued weakness in earnings and investment losses.

Insurer associations disagreed today on the extent of insurer assessment increases contained in the New York State budget agreed upon over the weekend.

Willis Re, the reinsurance brokerage member of London-headquartered insurance broker Willis Group, said reinsurers appear profitable in its first review of that marketplace for 2009.

A group of 19 U.S. property-casualty reinsurers saw net premiums written rise 5.3 percent, growing $1.2 billion to $23.9 billion for 2008, according to a Reinsurance Association of America survey.

Property-casualty insurers in the United Kingdom are more optimistic about rates increasing and the future of their operations than three months ago and plan to hire additional workers, according to a consulting firm study.

Advertised vacancies in March for jobs in the business and financial operations sector declined by 83,600 on a not seasonally adjusted basis from the March 2008 level, according to a report released today.