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.…
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Checking 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…
Read MoreSo how did the insurance market do in 2010?
The property and casualty sector fared well for 2010; according to a report that was recently released. The financial report for the P/C industry gives the details for the sectors’ rate of return, underwriting, investment results, operating income, policyholder’ surplus and wrapping up with fourth quarter results. The policyholder’s surplus was up to 6.5 percent giving them a 0.6 percent increase from the previous year. This resulted from negative return rates for insurers in mortgage and financial securities, as well as low returns for other insurers. Although insurers net income…
Read MoreToday’s Insurance Industry News
The American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) held a conference this month with insurers in the property and casualty sector. The VP of federal affairs for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) spoke to the group about topics current and pending, in Congress, that may affect the industry. Lobbyists see no immediate issues that will have a direct effect on PCI members or the industry. However, there are a few things to keep a watch on concerning health care, the antitrust act and the National Flood Insurance Program.…
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