Insurance Journal

AM Best Revises Outlook for Georgia Farm Bureau Companies

The AM Best financial rating firm has slightly downgraded the credit rating outlook for two Farm Bureau companies after weather losses and a rise in reinsurance costs and inflation. The financial strength rating remained at “B++ (Good)” f...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

Chinese Police Detain Staff of Evergrande Unit as Property Crisis Enters New Phase

Authorities detained some staff of the money management business of China Evergrande Group, a sign that the saga around the defaulted developer at the heart of the nation’s property crisis has entered a new phase involving the criminal justice...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

AM Best Revises US Homeowners Insurance Segment to Negative as Losses Persist

The U.S. homeowners insurance segment has been hit with three consecutive years of net underwriting losses as a result of above-average numbers of natural catastrophes, inflationary pressures and elevated reinsurance costs. These market headwinds hav...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

Child Dead, Others Sickened from Opioid Exposure at NY Day Care Center

NEW YORK (AP) — A 2-year-old boy at a home-based day care center in New York City who showed symptoms of opioid exposure died and three other young children were hospitalized, authorities said. Police responded to a 911 call on …

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

California Suit Says Oil Giants Deceived Public on Climate, Seeks Funds for Storm Damage

The state of California filed a lawsuit against some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, claiming they deceived the public about the risks of fossil fuels now faulted for climate change-related storms and wildfires that caused billion...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

NC City Denies Christmas Parade Permit After Girl’s Death Last Year

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Officials in North Carolina have denied a permit for a Christmas parade after a truck towing a float struck and killed a girl during last year’s event. The city of Raleigh announced Thursday that it denied …

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

Storm Lee Brings High Winds, Waves and Rain to New England

BAR HARBOR, Maine (AP) — Atlantic storm Lee made landfall at near-hurricane strength Saturday, bringing destructive winds, rough surf and torrential rains to New England and Maritime Canada. But officials withdrew some warnings for the region a...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

Zurich and KPMG Collaborate to Provide Climate Change Advisory Services

Zurich Resilience Solutions, the commercial risk advisory and services unit of Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich), and the professional services firm KPMG have formed a strategic collaboration to offer advisory services to address physical and transitio...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

Clorox’s First-Quarter Results Could See ‘Material Impact’ From Cyber Attack

Pine-Sol maker Clorox said on Monday its first-quarter results could see a “material impact” from a cybersecurity attack last month that damaged portions of its IT infrastructure and caused widescale disruption to its operations. The hous...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

Blockchain Analysts Suspect N. Korea-Linked Hackers Behind $70M Crypto Theft

Blockchain researchers say North Korea-linked hackers are likely behind a $70 million theft from crypto exchange CoinEx. CoinEx, which says it is based in Hong Kong, said on Tuesday on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that wallets...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

Regulators Move to Stop Greenwashing Before It Gets Worse

In 2021, a series of HSBC advertisements started appearing on bus stops around the UK. Part of a campaign centered on the slogan “Climate change doesn’t do borders,” the posters paired images of trees and ocean waves with statements...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

Private Equity Firm CVC Invests in Dale Underwriting to Boost Growth at Lloyd’s

Dale Underwriting Partners, the trading name for Dale Managing Agency’s Lloyd’s Syndicate 1729, has agreed a strategic partnership with CVC, a leading global private markets manager with €161 billion of assets under management. CVC funds...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

PE Firm Advent Eyes Sale of Car Insurance Software Vendor CCC: Sources

Private equity firm Advent International is exploring a sale of CCC Intelligent Solutions Holdings Inc., a provider of software to the car insurance industry that has a market value of $7.1 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. &#8...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

Hippo Investors Call for Strategic Review by Board, Other Actions

Members of the board of directors of insurtech Hippo were on the receiving end of an open letter from a “concerned shareholder group,” yesterday, urging board actions to preserve the value of a company that has faced financial difficultie...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

The Hartford Launches Digital Submission Capabilities for Midsize And Large Accounts

The Hartford said it expanded its digital capabilities with new submission and quote Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and portal options for agents and brokers who write midsize and large businesses. The new capabilities save time, provide...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

South Carolina Bars, Eateries Closing Down for Lack of Affordable Liability Coverage

Wanted in South Carolina: $1 million in liquor liability coverage at an affordable premium to prevent closure of establishment. That’s the type of advertisement one can imagine bars and bistros across the Palmetto State running this fall, as th...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

People Moves: Nordholm joins Mercury as Head of Technical Product

Mercury Insurance, headquartered in Brea, Calif., named Cameron Nordholm as its head of technical product. Before joining Mercury Insurance, Nordholm was head of product and head of strategy at AgentSync and served as a product consultant at Diegetic...

Posted: Sep 18, 2023

With the Rise of AI in Insurance, the Human Element is More Important Than Ever

This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. ChatGPT may be able to whip out a love poem on demand, but consumers know the value of an expert human on their team for things that really matter. There’s …

Posted: Sep 17, 2023

New York Could Require Flood Disclosures in Home Sales

Alan Oligario`s home is prone to flooding — and he wishes someone had told him before he bought it. His initial flood came in the first year after he bought the house in Highland Falls, New York. The second came …

Posted: Sep 17, 2023

Delaware: Professional Services Exclusion Didn’t Bar False Claims Act Settlement

A mortgage lender accused of violating the False Claims Act by approving government-backed loans that did not meet federal guidelines can seek to recover the $15 million it paid to resolve the allegations from its management liability insurer, the De...

Posted: Sep 17, 2023

5 Top Mistakes Every Independent Agent Should Avoid

One of my favorite sayings is “failure is tuition for something else.” I adopted this phrase during a conversation with another senior leader one day on the consequences of some mistakes we’d made organizationally. I think that fail...

Posted: Sep 17, 2023

U. of Minnesota Faces Lawsuit Over Alleged Negligence Ain Data Breach Incident

A lawsuit filed on behalf of a former student and former employee at the University of Minnesota accuses the university of not doing enough to protect personal information from a recent data breach. Attorneys for the two plaintiffs said in …

Posted: Sep 17, 2023

People

National QBE Insurance Group appointed Julie Wood as Interim CEO North America upon the exit of former QBE NA CEO Todd Jones. Wood joined QBE in January 2023 as group head of Distribution. She was previously at Marsh as Southeast …

Posted: Sep 17, 2023

Bread and Butter

Small business accounts are the bread and butter for most agencies. The good news: small businesses are increasingly satisfied with the insurance products and services they receive from their providers. Thats according to the 11th annual JD Power 202...

Posted: Sep 17, 2023