Trending News & Highlights |
| AM Best’s Dan Hofmeister discussed how lower-than-anticipated hurricane losses and strong investment income in 2024 allowed reinsurers to improve their capital positions and increase property capacity while impacting pricing for 2025 renewals.
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| Allstate Corp.’s estimated $1.1 billion in net pretax losses from January’s destructive Los Angeles wildfires includes a likely assessment on carriers by the state’s insurer of last resort, executives said during a fourth-quarter earnings conference call.
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| Lawsuits targeting pension risk transfer deals — such as one filed by Verizon pension beneficiaries over a $5.9 billion PRT deal involving Prudential Financial Group Inc. and Reinsurance Group of America Inc. — could prove harmful to the industry, an executive said.
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| Chariot Reinsurance, the Bermuda-based reinsurer announced late last year by MetLife Inc. and General Atlantic, could expand in the future to take on third-party risks, MetLife's chief executive officer said.
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| Lincoln Financial Group reported fourth-quarter net income available to common stockholders of $1.68 billion after posting a net loss of $1.25 billion in the same period a year earlier.
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| Facing the costliest loss in its history from last month's Los Angeles wildfires, already-stressed State Farm General Insurance Co. wants the California Department of Insurance to help protect a “fragile insurance market” by immediately approving interim 15% to 38% property rate hikes.
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| Tariffs being imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration could raise claims costs across all property/casualty lines by $10 billion to $36 billion, according to the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
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| AM Best is proposing revisions to its "Alternative Risk Transfer" criteria, which forms part of its methodology used for rating captives, risk retention groups, self-insurance funds and cell companies. AM Best is soliciting industry feedback on the draft updates to criteria until Feb. 20.
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| Stefan Holzberger, executive vice president, AM Best Rating Services, said big data and predictive analytics are improving loss ratios in many lines of insurance. Holzberger spoke with AM Best TV at the 10th Annual Emerging Leaders Conference, held in Tampa, Florida.
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| The California wildfires will remind the reinsurance market of the need for underwriting discipline and adequate rates as Everest Group Ltd. sees good prospects for property business if the price is right, the group's chief executive officer said.
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| Centene Corp.’s fourth-quarter attributable net earnings increased to $283 million from $45 million in the same period year prior, as Medicaid rate increases and stronger than expected results from its Affordable Care Act marketplace business offset turbulence caused by redeterminations, Chief Executive Officer Sarah London said during a conference call.
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| American Financial Group Inc. reported a fourth-quarter net income of $255 million, down from $263 million a year earlier due to net after-tax noncore realized losses of $7 million.
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| WTW looks to expand its risk and broking activities in 2025 with a new reinsurance joint venture and capital freed from the closing of its Tranzact divestiture, said its chief executive officer.
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| Howden Group posted double-digit revenue growth in its insurance and reinsurance segments as 2024 pretax income rose after a year of acquisitions.
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| Hanover Insurance Group Inc. has made a “major improvement” in personal lines by raising deductibles high enough to reduce claims and payouts in Midwestern areas prone to wind and hail losses, according to President and Chief Executive Officer John “Jack” Roche.
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| Hannover Re expects Los Angeles wildfire losses to exceed its first-quarter catastrophe budget as the reinsurer anticipates losses of up to $725.4 million from the event, its chief executive officer said.
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| Unum Group’s fourth-quarter net income rose to $348.7 million from $330.6 million a year earlier.
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| Molina Healthcare Inc. saw fourth-quarter net income increase to $251 million, up from $216 million in the same period year prior, on the back of its acquisition of ConnectiCare Inc. and Medicaid contract “wins” in several states, Joe Zubretsky, president and chief executive officer, said during a conference call.
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| Great-West Lifeco Inc.'s diverse portfolio means it is well-positioned amid concerns about a possible trade war between Canada and the United States, President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Mahon said in a conference call. It also means the company should see negligible impact from the California Wildfires.
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| After reporting a 29.3% drop in fourth-quarter net income to shareholders, Markel Group said it will conduct a business review that will focus on the performance of its specialty insurance segment.
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| Globe Life Inc. said it has expanded the number of people potentially impacted by a cyber-extortion attempt against the company last year and will notify 850,000 additional people and offer them credit monitoring services.
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| The movement toward longer terms in capacity deals provides stability for managing general agents and helps the businesses grow, according to Jack Harding, chair of the Managing General Agents Association's Next Gen Committee.
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| Scor SE expects the Los Angeles wildfires to take up a quarter's worth of its natural catastrophe budget, as it reported a 9.6% rise in estimated gross premium income at Jan. 1 renewals.
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| Lloyd's underwriter Probitas is accelerating its growth after its acquisition by Aviva plc by launching two new lines: political violence and terrorism and accident/health.
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| Rates for Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. are decreasing 5.6% statewide this year, said Gov. Ron DeSantis, who claimed the state saw the lowest-average homeowners rate increase nationwide this past year.
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| Jerry Bump has been named acting insurance commissioner at the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs following the retirement of Commissioner Gordon Ito.
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| Mississippi lawmakers are weighing whether to make the insurance commissioner position one that is appointed by the governor and approved by the Senate, rather than an elected role.
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| The North Carolina Rate Bureau is asking for a statewide average 22.6% rate increase for personal automobile coverage for policies starting on Oct. 1, according to a statement from the state’s insurance regulator.
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| In addition to fulfilling the Office of Insurance Regulation funding request, Florida 2025-2026 budget includes more than $600 million to support and strengthen the state’s home and condo risk-mitigation programs.
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| Former Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon overstepped his regulatory authority when issuing cease-and-desist orders and fines totaling $2 million against a Houston law firm accused of defrauding at least 856 Louisiana homeowners.
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| Suncorp Group Ltd. said it completed the sale of Asteron Life Ltd., its New Zealand life insurance business, to Resolution Life NOHC for NZ$410 million ($228.1 million).
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| Severe storms and flooding that plagued northern Queensland and the wider region in Australia since Jan. 29 were declared a "significant event" by the insurance Council of Australia.
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| Principal Financial Group reported a fourth-quarter net attributable income of $905.4 million, reversing course from the same period a year earlier in which it reported a net loss of $871.7 million, the company said.
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Research |
In a new commentary, AM Best notes that policyholders in California had increasingly turned to the state’s insurer of last resort and nonadmitted market for homeowners’ coverage prior to the wildfires due to reduced availability from primary insurers.
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AM Best is maintaining its negative outlook on Argentina’s insurance industry, citing marginal industry growth, volatility in bottom-line results and economic challenges.
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Nearly three out of four respondents to a recent industry survey on the Delegated Underwriting Authority Enterprise (DUAE) segment believe this market sector is on a path of sustained growth, according to a new AM Best report.
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Thirteen U.S. property/casualty companies became impaired in 2023, 10 of which were placed into insolvent liquidation, according to an AM Best report.
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Ten insurance company impairments were identified in the U.S. life/health industry for 2023, following none in 2022, according to a new AM Best report.
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Bolstered by less severe than expected hurricane losses and strong investment income, reinsurers improved their capital positions in 2024 and were able to supply the market with additional property capacity to the point that it affected pricing heading into 2025, according to a new AM Best report.
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