News

As more evidence accumulates that insurers are using less reserves to augment earnings, pressure will mount on underwriting and force carriers to begin raising rates by near double-digit figures in 2012, according to a financial analyst.

Property and casualty carrier employment is at its lowest level in more than 20 years, according to data published by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and compiled by the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.).

Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos opened the 2011 State Legislative Session late last week, beginning a new round in the reform fight for the insurance industry.

The soft market continues unabated, but at least it is showing some indication of stabilizing itself as a monthly composite barometer of rates held steady for a fourth month at minus-5 percent.

The district attorney in Travis County, Texas, is now involved in an investigation of the state’s last-resort insurer, the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA).

Shortly after industry lawyers called conflicts over the scope of the Financial Stability Oversight Council the “cutting-edge issue” for insurance regulation, an industry report labeled the Federal Insurance Office the “biggest wildcard” in regulatory reform.