E&S/Specialty

The American Bankers Association is calling for "wholesale" overhaul of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), including providing incentives for the private market to assume a greater role.

Magazine editors are notorious for filling January opinion pages with predictions, and NU's editors are up to the task as well.

When reality TV programs first appeared on our television screens, many thought it was just another fad that would not last. Indeed, many more hoped it would disappear to ensure quality broadcast programming.

In all my years of underwriting contingency and event cancellation business I have never experienced such a diverse range of potential loss circumstances as we faced during 2010.

When Louis Levinson of Argo Group described a recent restructuring of the company's U.S. E&S units to NU late last year, he began with a simple comparison of two organizational charts.

While market conditions, the weak economy and catastrophic events were among the most frequent topics NU reporters wrote about last year, the article that clearly stood out for our readers in 2010 dealt with insurance agency service issues.

Regulatory initiatives dealing with implementation of the financial services reform law, and such old business as providing certainty to the NFIP will keep p&c insurance industry lobbyists extremely busy this year.

Passage of landmark health care reform legislation last March is forcing participants in the insurance industry, especially agents, to mobilize in efforts to secure changes to the legislation that ensure they have a role in the industry going forward.