The Federal Insurance Office is nearing the end of a lengthy study of current and pending insurance regulations. The study, which was spawned from last year’s Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, will come to an end in January of 2012, at which time federal regulators will release the findings to the public. The results of the study has the insurance industry on the edge of its seat as the study may determine the fate of future regulations that could requires insurers to make vast changes to their business strategies and practices.…
Read MoreTag: business insurance companies
CalCEF introduces new insurance initiative aimed at growing the alternative energy industry
When it comes to alternative energy, insurance is usually the furthest thing from people’s minds. Insurance, however, may hold the key to the future of renewable fuel, according to the California Clean Energy Foundation (CalCEF). CalCEF has long been a proponent of alternative energy, but both consumers and investors have been slow to warm to the concept of sustainability. While the reasons behind sluggish adoption are numerous, the foundation believes that risk may be a major deterrent to investors. This has led the foundation to propose a suite of private…
Read MoreAllstate acquires Esurance and Answer Financial for $1 billion
In another of Allstate Corp’s efforts to become a larger part of the online insurance marketplace for consumers who prefer to use the internet for their insurance transactions, the company has acquired Answer Financial and Esurance from White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. for $1 billion. Allstate, a leading national home and auto insurance company based in Northbrook, has stated that it will be maintaining the Esurance headquarters in San Francisco, and that Answer Financial will remain in Los Angeles. As a result of this deal for the online auto insurance…
Read MoreThe Hartford continues downsizing as financial pressures mount
The Hartford Financial Services Group is planning to downsize in the coming months in an effort to make operations more efficient. The company is one of the largest investment and insurance organizations in the country and has been met with lingering financial woes since the 2008 recession. Downsizing will come in the form of staff reduction and the selling off of one of its fringe units: Trumbull Services, which served the property and casualty insurance industry. The company has been consistently downsizing – or streamlining – since late 2008 in…
Read MoreChartis insurance group seeks quality over quantity when it comes to growth
Europe’s debt crisis has not daunted Chartis, a division of AIG that operates in the property and casualty insurance market. The company continues to seek opportunities for growth despite the economic turmoil currently faced by a number of nations in the region. While lucrative opportunities seem to be in abundance, the insurer is taking a “quality over quantity” approach. CEO Peter Hancock notes that this strategy will help the insurer protect itself from industry hype in markets that may be more volatile in the future than they are today. In…
Read MoreToo big to fail insurance corporations should be governered by different rules than the banking industry
The term “too big to fail” rose to prominence in the wake of 2008’s economic recession. Much like the effects of the recession, the phrase has lingered and has come to define certain aspects of the business world. Too big to fail is a categorization often attributed to massive corporations that have complex and expansive global business operations and deep ties with financial institutions. If these businesses were to fail, there may be disastrous implications for the global economy that go well beyond the problems born during the 2008 recession.…
Read MoreA.M. Best to sponsor Annual Self-Insurance Institute of America’s National Education Conference and Expo
A.M. Best Company, a credit rating and financial data and services company operating in the insurance industry, will be sponsoring the 31st Annual Self-Insurance Institute of America’s National Education Conference and Expo. The conference will be held between October 9 and 11 of this year in Phoenix, Arizona. The annual event attempts to broaden the knowledge of self-insurance within the insurance industry as a whole. This year, the event will be focused around the future of self-insurance and how the marketplace is being shaped by new trends. Self-insurance is a…
Read More