Secondary Perils Become a Primary Headache

AM Best TV & Audio: Civil Unrest Growing Dramatically in Frequency and Severity, Swiss Re Executive Says: Also, professionals discuss public entities’ rising need for cyber coverage and the insurance threat that self-photographers pose to fine art.

AM Best Webinars: Panelists Discuss the Latest Market Dynamics for Delegated Underwriting Authority Enterprises: Professionals also examine recent auto insurance trends, talk about marketing and rebranding strategies and explore the state of the U.S. medical professional liability insurance sector.

At Large: The Impact of Tech: How AI Is Already Transforming : Emerging AI solutions enable a machine to “understand” rather than simply reproduce data.

Book Store: Author: Building a Successful Agency Begins with Perseverance, Leap of Faith: In his latest book, BI&I Group Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Leo Bados Jr. discusses ways for future agency owners to build and manage a successful team, uncover more leads and break free from the daily monotony.

Corporate Changes: Merger, Acquisitions and Name, Ownership and Domiciliary Changes: North American Insurance, Granite Mutual and James River Casualty are among the U.S. life/health and property/casualty insurers that have experienced a corporate change.

Earthquakes: Earthquake Activity Serves as Risk Reminder With Atypical Locales: Seismic activity in 2023 and 2024 underscores the importance of continually evaluating risk, a Verisk expert said.

European Insurers: AM Best: German Non-Life Market Faces Persistent Claims Inflation: AM Best is maintaining its Negative outlook for the German non-life insurance segment. Factors supporting the Negative outlook include subdued growth prospects on an inflation-adjusted basis, persistent claims inflation and competitive environment affecting underwriting profitability, and losses from natural catastrophes leading to volatility in results.

Executive Changes & Web Traffic: Everest Group Promotes Executive To Lead Reinsurance, Insurance Businesses and Names Global Insurance Chair: Hiscox taps U.S. chief operating officer, Geico welcomes new chief legal officer and Axa XL appoints global chief underwriting officer, marine.

From the Editor’s Desk: Who’ll Stop the Hail?: The June issue focuses on the rise of secondary perils as a growing problem for the insurance industry. This issue also includes the three-part special presentation “How Insurance Asset Managers Are Negotiating the New Investment Environment” and an exclusive ranking of the largest European insurers.

Industry Updates: NJ Launches Insurtech Hub With Innovation Firm Plug and Play, Prudential: The New Jersey Economic Development Authority and Plug and Play signed a nonbinding letter of intent to form a limited partnership known as NJ FAST, state officials said.

Insurance Media: From Print to Podcast: The Future of Insurance Builds on Book Series: Insurance veteran Bryan Falchuk gathers industry luminaries—from leading executives at traditional carriers to insurtech founders and other thought leaders—to glean forward-looking insights into the sector.

Insurance Professional Resources: Workers’ Comp Law Facet Often Overlooked: Virginia state law has a four-part test for injury, but the analysis of claims adjusters and defense attorneys often focuses on just two elements, constraining their legal strategy, a law firm says.

Issues & Answers: ISSUES & ANSWERS: Asset Management; Resilience: Insurance and investment leaders discuss managing portfolios, mitigating risk and establishing resiliency in the market.

Life Insurance: MassMutual Expands Use of Genetic Testing by Policy Owners To Abate Risk: The expansion comes after a research study found 70% of policy owners who chose to use the risk assessment service report intended to take preventive steps—such as seeing doctors or seeking further screening—based on their scores.

New Investment Environment: Emerging Insurance Asset Investment Risks and Opportunities: Insurance investment managers sift through an array of asset classes, balancing risk, return and liquidity to ensure the ability to pay claims. Some asset classes are more attractive than others, panelists told AM Best TV.

New Investment Environment: How Insurers Are Addressing Earlier Low-Rate Investments: It’s crucial for the industry to adapt to shifting market dynamics, regulatory changes and emerging technologies in order to effectively manage assets, a panel of industry leaders told AM Best TV.

New Investment Environment: Negotiating the Higher-Yield Insurance Asset Environment: AM Best TV hosted a panel of insurance leaders who said they believe the current economy and interest rate environment will continue to linger as the industry keeps its eye on how the Federal Reserve will respond to inflation data.

Risk Adviser: Lawyers Find No Shortage of Lawsuit Targets in Post-Asbestos Era: Plaintiffs’ attorneys are moving on to sue over issues involving climate and chemicals as the well of asbestos cases is running dry.

Secondary Perils: Secondary Perils Playing Bigger Role in Expanding Catastrophe Losses: Some of the largest secondary perils of 2023 included an outbreak of severe convective storms in the Midwest in March. Hail damage in the United States was exceptional in 2023, especially in Texas and Colorado, according to an Aon report.

State Rate Filings: Large Florida Homeowners Writer Plans To Lower Rates: Florida Peninsula Insurance President Clint Strauch credited state legislators for enacting changes intended to reform the market. Legislative efforts included eliminating the one-way attorney fee structure, limiting the use of the assignment of benefits and other measures favored by the insurance industry to reduce litigation.

Technology: Empathy CEO: Emerging Technology Helps Insurers Redefine Relationships: Ron Gura, co-founder and chief executive officer of Empathy, said life insurers can use technology to let machines do what machines do best and to let humans do what humans do best.

The Last Word: AI: Leading AI Platforms Respond to Question about Secondary Losses: Secondary losses following an insured catastrophe can often be surprisingly large. Three artificial large language models offer their takes on which catastrophes resulted in the most significant secondary losses.

Underwriting & Loss Control: For Electrical Contractors, Risk Extends Beyond the Grid: Best’s Underwriting Reports and Best’s Loss Control Reports provide insights into the risks and lines of coverage for electrical contractors.

What AM Best Says: AM Best: Insurers Navigate Data Privacy, Regulatory Challenges With Wearables: Wearable technology—such as smartwatches and activity trackers that monitor users' health and fitness metrics—will have a "huge impact" on the life/health sector, AM Best Senior Director Sridhar Manyem told AM Best TV at the recent InsurTech Hartford Symposium 2024.