Severe weather leads to over $1.2 billion in insurance losses in March

Insurance industry gets hit with huge losses for 2012. Global reinsurance intermediary, Aon Benfield, which is also responsible for the Aon plc capital advising, has released its most recent Global Catastrophe report edition, which provided an overview of the global natural disaster events of March 2012. The report was published by the catastrophe model development center of excellence for the company, Impact Forecasting. It showed that a number of serious weather events struck the Tennessee Valley, the American Midwest, and the Southeast of the country during the first week of…

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J.D. Power and Associates study shows insurance consumer satisfaction is high after storms of 2011

A new report from J.D. Power and Associates, a global marketing information firm, shows that many consumers have been left happy in the wake of the veritable onslaught of natural disasters in 2011. The firm surveyed 4,200 homeowners insurance customers who had filed claims after these disasters. More than 80% of these consumers responded that they were satisfied with the service they were given and would likely renew their policies with their insurance provider. This comes as something of a surprise for the insurance industry as 2011 was the most…

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Insurance employment forecast sees 14,000 jobs currently available and 27,000 more this year

GreatInsuranceJobs.com has released a report on the availability of jobs among managing general agents, third party administrators, brokers, and agents, and has determined that there are currently about 14,000 positions open, and that there will be an additional 27,000 jobs available before the end of 2012. The report was based on a survey of those parts of the industry, among which 126 different insurance entities participated across the country. The survey was performed over the phone, and involved five questions about the current and forecasted job availability, in addition to…

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American housing market shows first signs of rebounding benefiting insurers

To the benefit of many insurance companies, the housing market in the United States is beginning to show some signs of recovery as mortgage companies begin their reappearance. New home loan guarantor, NMI Holdings, has just announced its hiring of the FBR & Co. investment bank in order to help in the raising of $550 million following the collapse of three of its competitors that were taken down by record homeowner defaults. Only one out of those three competitors remains anywhere above credits at a junk grade. Equally, Essent Guaranty…

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Report shows that more insurers are looking to automate their underwriting process

Strategy Meets Action (SMA), a research and consultancy firm serving the insurance industry, has released a new report concerning underwriting practices in the industry. The report, “Underwriting Automation: Insurer Plans and Trends,” notes that insurance companies are making a move to completely automate their underwriting process. The report draws upon data collected by SMA from 144 insurance professionals throughout the industry. This trend may be a result of insurers being unable to meet underwriting goals due to flaws in their systems. Of those participating in the survey, 21% claimed that…

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