Eqecat weighs in on the recent storm in Midwest and Southern U.S

Last week’s outbreak of devastating tornadoes in the South and Midwest of the U.S. are likely to cost the insurance industry quite a lot of money. Thus far, no insurer has been keen to release estimates regarding the total cost of the disasters, but risk modeling agency Eqecat is willing to hazard a guess. The acclaimed modeling firm says that this year’s storm season is already looking to be 30% more disastrous and costly than the average of previous years. The firm also notes that tornadoes may be one of…

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Insurance Law Podcast examines the use of social media as a tool for the insurance industry

A.M. Best, a worldwide ratings and financial data services company serving the global insurance industry, has released its latest installment of the Insurance Law Podcast. The series focuses on insurance issues from a legal perspective and seeks to supply viewers with an understanding of how insurance laws are affecting the industry as a whole. This week’s podcast focused on the issue of insurers using social media to price policies and investigate claims. The latest podcast features attorneys Daniel Santaniello and Heather Calhoon from Luks, Santaniello, Petrillo & Jones law firm.…

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Global insurance programs have significant challenges to overcome if they want to be viable

The global insurance industry is an ardently regulated entity. Most nations have strict laws and rules concerning insurance and have a great deal of interest in applying these regulations as a way to govern the actions of insurance companies. The problem, however, is that these regulations differing wildly from country to country, meaning that no two countries have the same regulations. As such, creation of global insurance programs has been a gargantuan challenge, and one that cannot be easily overcome through tenacity. As with other industries of business, insurance is…

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Catastrophic tornados trample the South and Midwest, claiming 33 lives

An outbreak of deadly and devastating tornadoes wrought havoc in many Southern and Midwest states over the weekend. The disasters began on Friday last week. The tornadoes struck a major blow to four states: Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Alabama. The people in these states had little warning of the storms, which manifested at an alarmingly fast pace. The tornadoes quickly grew in intensity and caused a significant amount of damage to everything in their path. When the winds finally calmed after hours of fury, approximately 33 people were found dead.…

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State Farm maintains stability regardless of record breaking 2011 storms

State Farm has announced that although they faced a significant number of payments for catastrophe claims from some of the largest events in the quarter century history of the company, it has been able to maintain its financial strength. In 2011, State Farm’s combined net worth fell by $0.4 billion by the end of the year, bringing it to $60.8 billion. This includes the drop by $0.2 billion in the insurance company’s net worth in connection with the unaffiliated stock portfolios of the property and casualty companies. Moreover, those figures…

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