Trending News & Highlights |
| Jacqalene Lentz, senior director, and David Blades, associate director, industry research and analytics, both of AM Best, discuss new research that finds improved property/casualty underwriting and pricing, combined with moderate catastrophe losses, anchor strong 2025 results, with investment income a key earnings driver in 2026 despite headwinds.
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| Commercial automobile insurers in the thick of a litigious environment are strengthening reserves and hiking rates even when they limit, or avoid, classes, according to company executives who spoke during fourth-quarter earnings conference calls.
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| Annuities remained on a roll in the fourth quarter of 2025, as the growth seen in recent years continued amid volatility in the macroeconomic climate.
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| Earnings results for United States health insurers were mixed for the fourth quarter, with companies reporting deep net losses and others showing billion-dollar net income gains, but all reported feeling pressures from changes to government programs.
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| The revision for the directors and officers liability insurance segment is owed to rate stabilization, low loss ratios, tighter underwriting, and reduced regulatory scrutiny, according to new research discussed by AM Best Senior Financial Analyst Elizabeth Blamble.
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| The killing of a major drug cartel leader by Mexican armed forces on Feb. 22, sparked a wave of violence on the country's west coast that may have implications for the country's economy and insurance industry.
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| State Farm annual net income more than doubled to $12.9 billion in 2025 from $5.3 billion after automobile insurance swung to an underwriting gain, the underwriting loss narrowed for other property/casualty business and life insurance net income rose.
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| Universal Insurance Holdings Inc.'s fourth-quarter available net income multiplied 10-fold to $66.6 million as the combined ratio improved 20.4 points to 87.5.
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| Howden US Services LLC was ordered to stop soliciting Marsh USA LLC employees and clients as part of one of several employee poaching lawsuits Howden is facing.
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| The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association set its 1-in-50 probable maximum loss needs at $4.3 billion and is looking to secure $2.28 billion in reinsurance for the 2026 hurricane season.
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| Maria Long, chief underwriting officer, Resilience, discusses how emerging cyberthreats are transforming cyber insurance and driving the need for stronger underwriting and enhanced client resilience.
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| Munich Reinsurance Co.'s property/casualty reinsurance segment remains its largest and most profitable, but the group is seeing increasing profitability from its global specialty insurance, primary insurance and life reinsurance businesses, its chief executive officer said.
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| Axa SA looks to expand its retail and technology capabilities, and the group expands across lines and regions, its chief executive officer said.
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| Skyward Specialty Insurance Group Inc. subsidiary Apollo has partnered with Uber Technologies Inc. to distribute an embedded autonomous vehicle product that will cover the vehicle's responses to instructions from Uber's platform, separate from commercial automobile insurance, according to group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Robinson.
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| Pet insurance in-force premiums in the fourth quarter increased to $439 million from $283 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 at insurtech Lemonade Inc., which continued to narrow net losses in the fourth quarter with a $21.7 million net loss.
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| Florida-based Slide Insurance Holdings Inc. is on track to expand to several new states this year as it expects to-date rapid growth from Citizens Property Insurance Corp. takeouts to slow, Co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bruce Lucas said during a fourth-quarter earnings call.
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| Allianz SE looks to grow its customer base and cross-selling initiatives in Europe as it sees potential in protection and health insurance while improving its property/casualty segment, its chief executive officer said.
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| QBE Insurance Group Ltd. has substantially less property catastrophe exposure after broadly completing its exit of a "non-core portfolio" in North America, QBE Group Chief Executive Officer Andrew Horton said after annual net profit after income tax rose to $2.16 billion from $1.78 billion a year earlier.
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| Hamilton Insurance Group Ltd. sees growth in targeted casualty and specialty markets, including data centers, credit, bond and political risks as overall softening conditions persist, its chief executive officer said.
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| Hiscox Ltd. sees rising competition and softening rates in some areas but looks to further growth coming from its retail, specialty lines and U.S. businesses as the group reported lower net income for 2025.
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| International General Insurance Holdings Ltd. is seeing the effects of rising competition in reinsurance and short-tail lines as the group reported currency effects from a volatile U.S. dollar, its chief executive officer said.
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| Brighthouse Financial Inc. reported net income available to shareholders was down sharply in the fourth quarter, in an earnings report that was released weeks after shareholders approved the $4.1 billion sale of the insurer.
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| Genworth Financial inc. posted a net income available to shareholders of $2 million in the fourth quarter, up from a $1 million loss in the same period a year earlier, as its closed-block long-term care business weighed on results.
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| Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. posted more than $40 billion in revenue for 2025, and its surplus position grew by more than $2 billion to surpass $42 billion, the company said.
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| Sompo Holdings Inc. said it received the antitrust and insurance regulatory approvals needed to complete its $3.5 billion acquisition of Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd.
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| Swiss Re Corporate Solutions said it will acquire the global trade credit and surety business of QBE Insurance Group in a move Swiss Re said will strengthen its primary credit and surety insurance business and expand its capabilities in that market.
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| Kaiser Foundation Health Plans Inc. filed a lawsuit against a group of insurers alleging breach of contract over a $95 million denied directors and officers claim stemming from a False Claims Act settlement.
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| Erie Insurance President and Chief Executive Officer Tim NeCastro will retire on Dec. 31, after 30 years with the company, including 10 years as CEO.
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| Seeking a source of growth in continental Europe, insurance industry firms in the United States are increasingly acquiring United Kingdom-based managing general agents and other insurance industry properties, according to Bhaven Pathak, partner and head of United Kingdom and Europe at Insurance Advisory Partners.
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| The number of reinsurers domiciled in the Cayman Islands nearly doubled to 113 at the close of 2025, compared with the 58 seen in 2020, as total reinsurance assets grew 341% in the same period, according to Cayman Finance.
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| While the field remains crowded, the race for California’s next insurance commissioner is starting to become clearer as two front-runners emerged from the Democrat convention.
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| Following years of growth across most lines, Louisiana policyholders saw personal automobile insurance rates drop and homeowners rates moderate in 2025, but costs for certain commercial lines remain elevated, the state insurance regulator said.
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| Oklahoma’s captive insurance program grew 64% between October 2022 and December 2025, the insurance regulator said, noting the program is seeing the fastest three-year growth in its history.
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| The rehabilitator overseeing the liquidation of PHL Variable Insurance Co. said there is no emergency that would support a group of policyholders’ request to intervene in the process.
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| Reauthorization for the federal terrorism and flood insurance programs, litigation-funding reforms and maintain nonprofit tax rules are the chief legislative priorities for RIMS, the risk management society.
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| Zurich Financial Services Australia agreed to acquire wealth manager ClearView Wealth Ltd. for about A$415 million ($292.4 million) through a scheme of arrangement.
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| January bushfires in Australia caused an estimated A$786 million ($558.2 million) in losses, according to Perils.
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Research |
AM Best has maintained its stable outlook on Japan’s life insurance segment, noting among other factors annualised premiums in force that are expected to remain broadly steady along with greater demand for savings-type products.
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Total insured losses from two significant U.S. winter storms in 2026 are expected to carve into first-quarter earnings of property/casualty insurers; however, AM Best expects the industry segment to be able to manage the impacts.
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AM Best is revising its outlook for Germany’s life insurance segment to stable from negative.
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AM Best is revising its outlook for Germany’s non-life insurance segment to stable from negative.
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The U.S. property/casualty (P/C) industry produced its strongest performance of the past decade in 2025, reflecting the combined benefits of improved pricing and investment income, offsetting persistent pressure on claim costs and liability-driven volatility, according to a new AM Best report.
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Ratings of (re)insurers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) showed improvement in 2025, according to a new report from AM Best.
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The U.S. economy entered 2026 from a position of relative strength, continuing to outperform most advanced economies in 2025, a theme that is expected to persist in the coming year, according to a new AM Best report.
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