Several major businesses floundered in the wake of the global economic recession. Unable to recover in the early days of the economic downturn, many of these companies were allowed to fail. In the U.S., some of these companies received federal aid in the form of massive cash injections. The American International Group, an American insurance corporation, was one such company. AIG, however, mishandled the funds in one way or another, leading the government to seize the company. Now, The U.S. Treasury Department is selling shares of the company in the…
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Tensions mount between brokers and underwriters
The chief executive of Catlin Group spoke at a London conference earlier this week. The conference was sponsored by Insurance Day. In London, the brokers and the underwriters they work with have been in a dispute over payments and what some consider, ‘contingent commissions’. Contingent commission is a term to describe payment to an insurance intermediary by the insurer or underwriter based on the profitability (or lower than average loss) of the business the intermediary placed with them. This practice was addressed in the U.S. several years ago; After a…
Read MoreInsurance companies hit hard by recent storm losses
The recent outbreak of severe storms last month has added up to a massive bill for insurers. The severe storms and tornado’s in April has been called the second deadliest outbreak in U.S. history; falling barely short of the record Tri-State tornado outbreak in 1925. Insurance companies across the board are reporting high losses, such as Allstate, with a whopping 1.4 billion dollar loss; just for the month of April. Several insurance companies are reporting big losses for April, due to the historic weather events all through the southern states.…
Read MoreChecking the insurance market temperature
A recent survey shows that first quarter property and casualty (commercial) rates have fallen another three percent, on average, for most renewals and small to medium business renewals. Most experts believe that it’s still too early to tell if this is due to the disasters in Japan and other countries earlier this year, or if there is another market influence taking place. The slowdown in decreasing rates may be an indicator that prices will start to level off. There have been some slight increases, more noticeable in larger businesses, commercial…
Read MoreAllianz reports catastrophe losses on the rise but not the root of industry woes
Risk assessment experts at Allianz, one of the largest insurers in the world, have spoken out about the rising costs insurers are experiencing from natural catastrophe, outlining their findings in risk briefing – Allianz Risk Pulse: Focus Natural Catastrophes. With occurrences of severe weather, earthquakes and flooding, many insurance companies are seeing losses due to natural disasters and, according to Allianz, the number of companies experiencing these losses is on the rise. However, the increase may not be due to natural disasters at all. Allianz finds that the growing trend…
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