ALIRT Insurance Research provides charts that break down in detail the underwriting results, investment results, reserve development, written-premium changes and surplus changes for the ALIRT P&C Composite.

Improved building standards spared Mexico more damage and deaths from this weeks magnitude 7.4 earthquakeand U.S. builders can take a lesson from this event, one insurance association says.

The benefits of the surplus-lines-modernization law enacted in 2010 are already being felt through greater efficiency in the marketplace and likely lower premiums for customers, according to an official of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices.

Insurance-rate increases could extend beyond 2012 as insurers reduce their reserve releases and deal with deteriorating calendar-year underwriting profitability, says a financial analyst.