While much of the news around social media and insurance has focused on direct writers and major-branded agency forces, new research from Novarica shows more than 70 percent of insurers that distribute through independent agents also use Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn as a part of their communications strategies.

A violent criminal underworld of drug dealers and mobsters is pooling resources to defraud insurers. The Coalition reports on better-mobilized fraud gangs and masterminds' stunning heists, including a $400M crash-injury scheme and a $163M Medicare heist.

Catastrophe bond sales doubled in the first six months of 2012, falling just short of the record first-half issuance of 2007 thanks to growing demand from capital market investors, reinsurer Swiss Re said on Tuesday.

After several years of soft-market conditions, Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) is experiencing double-digit rate increases, driven in part by claims caused by the recession.