PropertyCasualty360: Property & Casualty Insurance News & Tips

House Passes NFIP Bill With Potentially Historic Shift Toward Privatization

Arthur D. Postal

Whether the insurance industry will have certainty about the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is now in the hands of the U.S. Senate.
Studies Point To Effectiveness, Inconsistencies In Texting Bans

Chad Hemenway

Two reports on distracted driving show some successes with laws passed banning cell-phone use and texting while driving, but also demonstrate that more research needs to be done to truly gauge the laws’ effectiveness.
Cat Count: Active 2011 First Half Closes Out With Busy June

Christina Bramlet, Mark E. Ruquet

Global catastrophes in the first half of the year have already made 2011 the costliest year on record with respect to economic losses.
Moody’s Discusses IAIS Framework For Monitoring Group-Wide Activities

Phil Gusman

Moody’s says a recent outline put forth by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) regarding a regulatory framework to monitor international insurers’ group-wide activities is credit positive.
Facility Owners, Civic Groups And Additional-Insured Status

Diana B. Reitz, CPCU

One of the most common policy-endorsement requests is to add an additional insured to a commercial general liability (CGL) policy. Parties who add others as additional insureds are sharing their liability insurance with that other entity and may have to pay an additional premium in order to do so. These...
Allstate, Lib Mut File Lawsuits Against Investment Banks

Chad Hemenway

Insurers continue to file lawsuits against large investment banks over losses taken during the housing market collapse, as Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. filed suit against Goldman Sachs; and Allstate announced a lawsuit against Morgan Stanley.
Getting An Education Can Lead Producers To Profitable New Relationships

Chad Hemenway

Producers who know the ins and outs of securing coverage for an art collection, expensive wine cellar or million-dollar foreign sports car may find that this expertise gets their foot in the door with some highly desirable clients.
Tax Issues Complicate Wind-Downs Of Insolvent Insurance Cos.

Michael Callan, Susan Leonard, Mark Lynch, Patricia Gergen

Procedures to unwind troubled insurance companies can be complicated by unforeseen tax issues, blindsiding stakeholders—regulators, creditors, owners of troubled companies, and even healthy ones included in consolidated returns—at a time when none of these parties is focusing on the Internal Revenue Service.
Commercial Prices Still Above Prior Soft Market, Advisen Index Reveals

Susanne Sclafane

Commercial prices continued to fall in the first-quarter of 2011, according to a pricing index based on reports from risk managers, but overall pricing remains 15 percent higher than levels recorded at year-end 2000.
Industry Adds Jobs In May, Led By Agents/Brokers

Phil Gusman

A spike in the number of agent and broker jobs added in May drove an overall net gain of 900 jobs industry-wide for the month compared to April, according to an Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) analysis of U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics figures.
People, Processes And Technology Come Together In Wake Of Ala. Tornado

Robert Regis Hyle

A tornado roared through the northern part of Alabama on April 27, claiming 243 lives and causing more than $2 billion in insured damage.
Industry Facing Profitability Headwinds, But Market Turn Starting

Mark E. Ruquet, Phil Gusman

The property and casualty insurance industry’s earnings are expected to be modest for the first half of this year after insurers were hit by a series of weather-related losses, according to a financial analyst’s report.
Growing Art Market Offers Untapped Opportunities, Access To Wealthy Clients

Chad Hemenway

While convincing collectors that they need to insure their art can be a challenge, those who crack the coverage code can find they’ve gained access to extremely desirable clients.
Models Must Account For The Real And Significant Risks Of Inland Hurricanes

Ioana Dima, Tim Doggett

Because damaging winds are rarer far inland, the hurricane risk to the interior of the U.S. can be easy to overlook. But storms can travel hundreds of miles after landfall, and there is plenty of historical evidence for storms causing billions of dollars of damages in interior states.
Trendsetter: Chubb Rolls Out ‘Social Business’ Platform

Mark E. Ruquet

Technology companies now are starting to develop “social business” platforms specifically designed for the office and loaded with applications aimed at aiding the bottom line. One of the first insurance companies to embrace a social-business platform is Warren, N.J.-based Chubb.
Risk Questions Boards Should Ask: Canadian Institute Of Chartered Accountants

Caroline McDonald

Because there is no single process appropriate for every board and every company, it is the joint responsibility of the independent board leader and the chief executive officer to involve the board in the ongoing processes of strategic planning and risk management, according to the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants’...

National Underwriter Property & Casualty-July 18, 2011

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