Published: June 2023
AM Best Webinars: Panelists Explore Use of Data, AI and Technology to Achieve Profitable Property Underwriting: Professionals also discuss Florida’s P/C market and examine shifting dynamics in the D&O marketplace.
AM Best TV & Audio: New Risks, Exposures Drive Changes for Insuring Electric Vehicles, Verisk Executive Says: Also, professionals discuss the challenges of writing homeowners coverage in wildfire areas and examine the startup climate in the wake of bank collapse.
Alternative Investments: Reimagining Alternative Investments: As the financial landscape continues to change, insurers are learning more about options to traditional asset classes.
App Store: Chubb Studio Enables Partners to Embed Insurance Products, Services Into Apps: Companies also can embed options from multiple carriers and third-party service providers through widgets and microsites.
Asset Class Update: Insurance Asset Class Update: Investment and insurance professionals in an AM Best TV-Best’s Review cross-media presentation reviewed investment categories and how insurers’ strategies are changing.
Book Store: Expressing Vulnerability Helps Agents Connect With Customers: Forging an emotional bond by becoming involved in the community and having fun all contribute to a successful agency.
Catastrophe Bonds: ‘It’s All Flammable’: Nonproperty Cat Bonds Provide ILS Investors With Options: Cyberrisk is heating up as the insurance-linked securities market looks for events beyond natural catastrophes.
Critical Issues in Insurance Asset Management: Critical Issues in Insurance Asset Management: Insurance and investment experts examine and discuss where insurers are directing their investments, how changing interest rates and volatility are affecting decisions and what role alternative investments play in this evolving environment.
Disability Benefits: Disability Benefits Show Signs of Moderating as Short-Term COVID-19 Claims Volume Eases: Earnings for the disability insurance market improved in 2022, according to an AM Best report, as premium revenue increased, COVID-related cases abated, and the rise of interest rates had favorable impacts on investment income and reserve assumptions.
Disability Benefits: Top 50 US Disability Writers – 2023 Edition: Ranked by 2021 direct premiums earned.
Editor’s Desk: Inflation, Interest Rates Raise Concerns for Insurance Asset Management: The June issue features a three-part special presentation “Critical Issues in Insurance Asset Management.” The issue also includes coverage of catastrophe bonds, disability benefits paid, AM Best’s Student Challenge, wild horses and a ranking of the largest European insurers.
Emerging Leaders: Proposed Telemedicine App Would Locate Cheapest Meds Based on Insurance Coverage : The platform was designed by Hannah Youngblood, a risk management major at Florida State University and this year’s winner of AM Best’s Student Challenge.
Emerging Leaders: Student Challenge Finalists Were Selected Based on the Following Criteria: :
European Insurers: Clyde & Co. Partner: Social Inflation Is Spreading to Europe: Litigation, corporate scandal and regulation have changed the insurance landscape overseas, according to Henning Schaloske.
European Insurers: Largest European Insurers – 2023 Edition: Ranked by 2021 gross premiums written.
Executive Changes: R&Q Insurance Holdings Names Nonexecutive Chairman, Successor to Retiring Group CEO: Munich Re Specialty names permanent president and CEO, Axis Capital Holdings appoints chief claims officer and MetLife fills EVP and chief actuary post.
Industry Events: Industry Meetings and Conferences Fill Calendar for Summer, Fall 2023: Les Rendez-Vous de Septembre and InsureTech Connect are among the notable gatherings coming up.
Industry Updates: Florida Homeowners Insurers Continue To Seek Rate Hikes Driven by Reinsurance Costs: The state’s Office of Insurance Regulation heard file-and-use requests as high as 102%.
Industry Updates: Hard Property Cat Reinsurance Market Tempts Berkshire Hathaway To Take on Billions in Florida Exposure: If Florida dodges a major event, the company could make a $7 billion profit, insurance operations Vice Chairman Ajit Jain said during the company’s annual shareholder meeting.
Insurance Professional Resources: Best’s Insurance Professional Resources:
Insurance Professional Resources: Marshall Dennehey Litigator Elected a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers: Additional coverage includes Phelps Dunbar associate admitted to Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel.
Insurance Staffing: 4 Steps to Develop an Effective Staffing and Talent Strategy:
Insurance Staffing: Why Every Company Needs an Enterprise Staffing Strategy: The shortage of insurance talent highlights the need for companies to be prepared for current and future staffing needs.
Issues & Answers: Bank Failures Spark Concerns: Leah Savageau, a senior fixed income credit analyst who covers the banking sector for AAM, said one of the bigger issues she’s noticed is more intense migration of deposits out of smaller banks versus larger banks.
Issues & Answers: Issues & Answers: Asset Management: Industry experts discuss the drop in the market value of their insurance investment portfolios, how higher interest rates have affected the industry and how they’ve noticed more intense migration of deposits out of smaller banks versus larger banks.
Issues & Answers: Under Pressure: Ken Griffin, Managing Director, Head of Insurance Solutions for Barings, said that while asset market values have declined, so has the market value of their liabilities.
Preferred Publisher Program: In Other News …: A roundup of news from publishers around the globe. Access to some sites may require registration or subscription.
Rate Volatility: Insurance Asset Management in the Age of Rate Volatility: Industry experts discuss the effects of rising interest rates, their impact on annuities and investment products, and how investment strategies are changing.
Risk Adviser: The Heads and Tails of Climate Change: Businesses cannot afford to leave climate risk to chance; they need to address both sides of the issue.
SemRush: Web Traffic: Visits to Largest European Insurers: Prudential plc leads web analytics provider Semrush’s rankings of the top European insurers based on 2021 gross premiums written.
State Rate Filings: Personal General Liability Approved Rate Filings by Overall Effect With Decreases Greater Than 2%: Based on a disposition date beginning April 28, 2022, through April 28, 2023.
State Rate Filings: Personal General Liability Approved Rate Filings by Overall Effect With Increases Greater Than 50%: Based on a disposition date beginning April 28, 2022, through April 28, 2023.
The Last Word: Digital Technology Offers Alternative to Wildfire Risk Maps: Old-school modeling is being replaced by aerial and satellite imaging and artificial intelligence that identify risks to specific homes.
Trending: Best’s News: Top Stories Include a Column on Insurance-to-Value and a Feature on Death Benefits Paid in 2021: Other trending content includes features about global reinsurance brokers and commercial real estate investments.
Trending: Best’s Research: Trending Research Includes a Special Report on Innovation and a Market Segment Report on ILS : Other trending research includes a report on U.S. property/casualty impairments.
Underwriting & Loss Control: Sweet World of Chocolate-Making Fraught With Risks and Hazards: Best’s Underwriting Reports and Best’s Loss Control Reports provide insight into the lines of coverage, exposures and loss control for chocolate and cocoa manufacturers.
What AM Best Says: AM Best Briefing: ILS Investors Seek Outlets Amid Hard Market: The briefing, ILS Market Trends: Where Is 2023 Headed?, also included discussions on the expanding nonproperty catastrophe insurance-linked securities markets.
Wildfire Mitigation: Wild Horses Help Rein In Catastrophic Fires: The Natural Wildfire Abatement and Forest Protection Plan works to rewild captive horses so they can eat grass, knock down tree limbs and create natural firebreaks to help slow the spread of deadly conflagrations.