A dearth of catastrophic storms over the past three years--with one or two exceptions--has left the insurance industry with unused underwriting capacity, excess capital and falling premium rates. The

Burns & Wilcox has promoted Laura Colbert to director of sales and marketing and Chandra Kwaske to underwriting manager at its Farmington Hills, Mich., office. Colbert, with 15 years of insurance industry experience, is responsible for developing

MarketScout, in its monthly Market Barometer, reported the average rate reduction for the 14 lines it tracks was 9 percent. Workers' compensation, directors and officers liability, and surety were at

Aon's move follows the Nov. 20 announcement of the Benfield Corporate Risk brokerage, after the capture of a Saudi Arabian oil tanker by Somali pirates, that it had produced a dedicated and exclusive