Insurance Journal

Hard Market Prices Continue

While not news to independent agents, commercial lines renewal rates rose again in the fourth quarter of 2023 — another sign that the hard market is here to stay — at least through 2024. According to the Ivans Index, the …

Posted: Feb 04, 2024

The Growing Influence of LinkedIn on the Insurance Industry

The insurance industry thrives on making meaningful connections with potential clients and partners. Among social media platforms, LinkedIn stands out as a powerful tool for B2B insurance marketing and networking — allowing you to display your...

Posted: Feb 04, 2024

The Time to Modernize Building Codes Is Now

As we’ve seen for the past several years, severe weather is no longer a seasonal or geographic issue — climate risk has now made these events possible all year long and in every state. The statistics back up this frightening …

Posted: Feb 04, 2024

South Carolina Liquor Liability Market ‘Extremely Unprofitable,’ DOI Report Says

A report from the South Carolina Department of Insurance confirms what insurers and bars and restaurants have said for the past few years: Liquor liability coverage in the state is “extremely unprofitable” for carriers – and costs a...

Posted: Feb 04, 2024

What’s to Come in 2024: Hard Market, AI Expansion, More Catastrophes, Network Consolidation

No one can predict the future, but insurance professionals are likely the best qualified when it comes to predicting risk. For this special report, Insurance Journal asked industry thought leaders their predictions for the property/casualty world in...

Posted: Feb 04, 2024

No Sugarcoating: Availability Before Affordability, California Regulator Says

By Susanne Sclafane If the old adage “As California goes, so goes the nation” is true, then 2024 will be another year of industry retooling as insurers and regulators set a path for the future of the U.S. P/C property …

Posted: Feb 04, 2024

3 Areas for Agents to Focus Growth Efforts in 2024 As the Hard Market Continues

We are obviously in one of the most intense hard markets of the last several decades. While much has been said and written about how to navigate the challenges the market is creating for agents, I’d like to take a …

Posted: Feb 04, 2024

Performing Your Agency Report Card

The beginning of a new year with all the related planning is a perfect time to take a look back and find areas of improvement. Planning ahead requires an understanding of where you are now, how you got there, what …

Posted: Feb 04, 2024

Insurance Agency Client Service Hiring Trends For 2024

Every year, I think of this annual first column as a crystal ball that shows trends in the insurance job market for the foreseeable future. In previous years my projections have been about “hot jobs,” like in “4 Progressive Jobs &#8...

Posted: Feb 04, 2024

California’s Homeowners Insurance Shift: Population, Inflation and Admitted Insurer Exits

The excess and surplus lines homeowners insurance market in California has undergone significant changes in recent years. The number of policies has changed substantially in over the last decade — first increasing, then declining rapidly. Howev...

Posted: Feb 04, 2024

Liberty Mutual to Eliminate 250 Positions

Liberty Mutual has confirmed it is eliminating about 250 positions, or 0.5% of its global workforce, as it continues implementing new organizational structures within US Retail Markets and Global Risk Solutions units. In an email a spokesperson said...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

Europe’s Toughest ESG Rule Hits Wall of German Objections

The European Union’s most stringent ESG rule to date may be scuppered due to eleventh-hour German opposition to the plan. The EU was on track to move forward with the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive after December, when lawmake...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

Tobacco Giants’ Patent Settlement Clears Path for Smokeless Products

Tobacco giants Philip Morris International Inc. and British American Tobacco Plc settled a series of patent suits that clears a path for both firms to bring their cigarette alternative products to US and European markets. The accord ends legal challe...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

Norway’s Most Powerful Storm in Over 30 Years Rips Roofs Off Houses, Cuts Power

Norway’s most powerful storm in more than three decades ripped off roofs, heightened avalanche risks, canceled flights and cut power as it raged in parts of the Scandinavian country Thursday. Hurricane-force winds brought gusts of up to 180 kil...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

Crash Tests Indicate Nation’s Guardrail System Can’t Handle Heavy Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles that typically weigh more than gasoline-powered cars can easily crash through steel highway guardrails that are not designed to withstand the extra force, raising concerns about the nation’s roadside safety system, according t...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

Small Plane Crashes into Mobile Home Park Near Tampa, Killing 3

A small plane crashed into a Clearwater, Florida, mobile home park Thursday night, killing the pilot and two people on the ground, the Federal Aviation Administration and local news outlets reported. The pilot of the single-engine Beechcraft reported...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame Opens Nominations for Class of 2024

The Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame (AIHF) has opened nominations for its Class of 2024 inductees. Nominations opened February 1 and will remain open through April 15, 2024. Nominations may be submitted online at www.arinsurancehof.org. The chosen in...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

French Farmers Head Home but Anger Spreads Elsewhere in Europe

Protesting farmers demanding just prices and less red tape blocked the border between Belgium and the Netherlands on Friday, whilst their peers in France started lifting blockades countrywide after the government made further concessions. Farmers&#82...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

Texas Man Convicted of Arson in Historic Courthouse Fire

A Texas man was found guilty this week of starting fires at the historic Mason County Courthouse and an occupied residential structure on February 4, 2021. A McCulloch County jury this week found Nicholas Miller guilty of arson. Miller was …

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

NHTSA Upgrades Probe Into Tesla Power Steering Loss

U.S. safety regulators have upgraded their probe into Tesla vehicles over power steering loss to an engineering analysis – a required step before the agency could demand a potential recall. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NH...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

Weekly Q4 2023 Earnings Wrap: The Hartford, The Hanover, Markel, and Selective

The Hartford said fourth quarter net income available to common stockholders increased 30% to $766 million. The insurer ended the year with net income up 38% to about $2.5 billion. Commercial lines record fourth quarter 2023 net income of $687 &#8230...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

Online News Site in Florida Shuts Down After Less Than a Year

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Messenger, an ambitious online news site that billed itself as a nonpartisan digital outlet and spent some $50 million ratcheting up its business effort, abruptly shut down Wednesday after only eight months in …

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

West Virginia Construction Firm to Buy Bankrupt College Campus

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) — A federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved the sale of a defunct private university’s campus to the owner of a West Virginia construction firm for $5 million. Craig G. Phillips, owner of CGP Construction of Elkins...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

Maine Approved for Federal Disaster Aid for December Storm Damage

President Joe Biden has issued a federal disaster declaration for extensive damage caused by a massive wind and rainstorm in Maine in December, the first of three storms to pummel the state, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills announced Wednesday. The presid...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024

2 Pennsylvania Homeowners Urged to Evacuate Due to Landslide

Authorities have urged two western Pennsylvania homeowners to evacuate their residences due to a nearby landslide. The slide in the Sonoma Ridge development in Allegheny County’s Moon Township closed part of a road two weeks ago, and since then...

Posted: Feb 02, 2024