Trending News & Highlights |
| AM Best Senior Director Sridhar Manyem discussed a presentation he gave at RIMS RISKWORLD in Philadelphia that looked at how combined social and economic inflation are creating challenges for the insurance industry and how insurers are responding.
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| Dan Hofmeister, associate director, AM Best, discusses softening property rates, alternative capital and shifting risks in the reinsurance market. Hofmeister spoke with AM Best TV at RIMS RISKWORLD in Philadelphia.
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| AM Best Associate Directors Connor Brach and Vicky Riggs discuss new research that finds medical professional liability insurers have generated an underwriting loss in each of the past five years, reflecting slippage in rate adequacy and increased loss severity.
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| Allianz SE's direct exposure to the Middle East conflict is minor but it has indirect economic exposure through rising interest rates and inflation, said its chief financial officer.
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| Claire-Marie Coste-Lepoutre |
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| MetLife Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Michel Khalaf called claims against it by Sun Life Financial Inc. "baseless" and said his company doesn't plan to cover any of the C$213.5 million ($157.3 million) settlement the Canadian insurer recently announced.
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| Nationwide’s Tom Iorio, Munich Re F&C’s Michael Hudzik and Broadspire’s Chris Mazzola discuss how social inflation, nuclear verdicts and litigation funding are reshaping casualty risk and driving changes in underwriting and claims strategies. They spoke from RISKWORLD.
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| Brown & Brown Inc. received a temporary restraining order barring some former employees from soliciting and serving certain clients over allegations they breached employment agreements when defecting to Howden US Services LLC.
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| Munich Re sees manageable losses related to the Middle East conflict as the reinsurer posted strong first-quarter results, compared with big year-ago losses from the California wildfires, its chief financial officer said.
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| Commercial residential insurance competition has ratcheted up in Florida, a place where some carriers may struggle to effectively manage market cycle complexities, according to Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ernie Garateix.
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| Brighthouse Financial Inc. reported a net loss available to shareholders of $792 million, more than doubling the net loss it registered in the same period a year earlier.
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| Reinsurance Group of America Inc. saw higher first-quarter net income led by growth in Asia, its chief executive officer said.
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| The Middle East conflict created uncertain economic issues worldwide while Hannover Re itself isn't seeing a big impact so far, said its chief executive officer.
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| NI Holdings Inc. nearly doubled its first quarter net income to $12.5 million from $6.5 million a year earlier, as net premiums decreased.
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| Zurich Insurance Group Ltd. sees growth across lines and geographies with particularly good growth in commercial middle market, specialty and life protection, its chief financial officer said.
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| Aviva plc posted strong first-quarter premium growth on double-digit increases in both its general insurance and wealth segments.
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| Manulife Financial Corp. posted a rise in first-quarter net income attributed to shareholders of C$1.15 billion ($837.9 million) in the first quarter, from $485 million from the prior years as it saw sales rise in Asia and the United States.
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| Pelagos Insurance Capital Ltd. improved to a first-quarter $108 million net income, compared with a $42.5 million net loss a year earlier, when it was known as Fidelis Insurance Holdings.
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| Lloyd's confirmed an investigation is ongoing concerning policy breaches following the departure of John Neal as chief executive officer.
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| Lloyd’s doesn't expect the Middle East conflict to be a capital event for the market based on exposures in the region and damages observed to date, a Lloyd's executive said.
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| Perils AG increased its insured loss estimate for "very intense" extratropical Windstorm Nils/Ulrike to €767 million ($900.8 million) from €586 million, making it the largest loss of the European 2025-2026 windstorm season.
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| SiriusPoint Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Scott Egan described the company’s recent announcement it had restructured to create a new London Market and combined global property/casualty programs divisions as “strategic.”
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| Months after completing a $2.4 billion deal with Travelers, Definity Financial Corp.'s president and chief executive officer foresees anticipates additional deals.
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| Economic and market forces are combining for mixed impacts on Canadian insurers, according to Co-operators Group Ltd. Chief Financial Officer Karen Higgins.
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| ALPS Insurance said it has definitively agreed to acquire Ohio Bar Liability Insurance Co., which writes professional liability coverage for attorneys in Ohio.
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| The United States insurance industry lost 9,100 jobs in April, compared with the month prior, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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| Talanx AG saw its large losses come in well below budget for the first quarter as the multiple-line insurance group posted higher net income despite flat revenue.
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| Talanx AG has entered a 20-year bancassurance partnership with Mexico's Afirme Grupo Financiero to sell nonlife and life insurance products in the Latin American country.
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| Total U.S. annuity sales of $104.6 billion in the first three months of 2026 were down 2% from a year earlier yet topped $100 billion for a 10th straight quarter, according to preliminary results from industry group LIMRA.
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| Corebridge Financial and Equitable Holdings Inc. said Marc Costantini, president and chief executive officer of Corebridge, will serve as CEO of the combined company.
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| Kathleen A. Birrane, former Maryland insurance commissioner, died on May 6 in Baltimore at age 66 from a rare gastrointestinal infection.
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| Eric Anthony Cioppa, former superintendent at the Maine Bureau of Insurance, passed away May 1 at his home in China, Maine, at age 67 from multiple system atrophy, a rare, progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the rapid deterioration of brain cells controlling involuntary functions and movement.
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| New York lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul struck a budget agreement that includes provisions that would cap accident settlements, institute rules for automobile insurance rate increases and ban certain underwriting criteria, such as ZIP codes.
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| Farmers Insurance is increasing California homeowners rates by 1.5%, on average, after the approval of a new filing that incorporates portions of the state’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy, the company said.
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| Recent property insurance rate requests in California indicate the market is stabilizing, with six of the state’s 10 largest insurers committing to growing their California businesses, and the California Fair Plan’s policy growth is beginning to slow, the California Department of Insurance said.
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| Oklahoma’s Legislature passed a bill that will move the state to a file-and-use rate system, which will give regulators additional time to review filings and challenge excessive increases, the bill’s sponsor says.
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| A group of seven insurance, annuity and related trade groups said they are uncertain what concerns are driving the National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s development of a resource document addressing an annuity suitability model regulation.
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| The National Association of Insurance Commissioners launched a new working group to explore challenges and potential solutions for what some trade groups describe as a national liability insurance crisis facing childcare service organizations such as foster homes and child-placement organizations.
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| Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. has completed its acquisition of an 18% equity interest in global asset manager Barings LLC.
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| Insurance Australia Group Ltd. announced a refreshed strategy and long-term financial targets as part of an "Ambition 2030" plan launched at its Investor Day conference.
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Research |
Registered indexed-linked annuities (RILAs) continued to be one of the fastest growing product segments within the U.S. life insurance industry in 2025, according to a new AM Best report.
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AM Best has revised its outlook on Italy’s life insurance segment to stable from negative, primarily reflecting the improvement in lapses and its expectation that companies can continue to adjust to keep positive net inflows.
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The return-on-equity for U.S. property/casualty (P/C) insurers reached a decade high level of 14.97% in 2025, while the cost of equity held relatively steady at 8.18%, according to a new AM Best report.
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AM Best has maintained its stable outlook on Italy's non-life insurance segment and expects gross written premium (GWP) in the segment to continue on a steady growth trend during 2026 across all lines of business, although at a slower pace than in recent years.
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The U.S. medical professional liability insurance market saw increased underwriting losses in 2025 as investments keep the sector profitable while premium growth lagged in a competitive market.
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Pressured in part by rising claims severity and social inflation, the U.S. medical professional liability (MPL) segment reported another year of increased underwriting losses as direct premium growth slowed, according to a new AM Best report.
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AM Best will host a complimentary market briefing on the state of Florida’s property/casualty market ahead of the start of hurricane season, on Thursday, May 21, 2026.
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Strong U.S. annuity sales have shifted the reserve profile for many U.S. life/annuity companies, with asset risk forming a greater share of required capital composition in AM Best’s capital model, Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), and leading to weaker scores for some life/annuity companies. At the same time, according to a new report, BCAR scores have shown to not always correlate with the end-result balance sheet assessment, highlighting the impact of other factors on the overall analysis.
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AM Best has maintained its stable outlook on Spain’s life insurance segment, noting that the positive interest rate environment over the last two years has been one of the primary drivers of the segment’s recovery.
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