Industry
U.S. property and casualty insurers brought home a 9.4% ROE for the 2003 financial year on the back of a net profit of US$29.9 billion – reflecting nearly a 10 times increase on the US$3 billion in net income reported for 2002. Much of the profit gain made over last year arose from an 85% […]
April 30, 2004
2 min read
Risk
The insurance industry in Canada and regulators have never faced an auto market with so much confusion as we have in Canada at present. Unfortunately, there is no end in sight since regulators in many provinces have no idea of a solution and are not interested in the advice of the industry. All they want is lower rates but have no interest in properly controlling the claims costs or designing a product that will work efficiently.
By Bill Star | April 30, 2004
6 min read
Ontario's new provincial government has made it clear that pressure will be maintained to reduce auto insurance rates. The government's immediate goal is a 10% across-the-board rate reduction, while insurers remain adamant that the auto line's combined ratio is still exceedingly high as claims costs continue to grow in the double-digit range. So, how will insurers find room to reduce premiums by 10%? An obvious starting point would be to eliminate interest charges on monthly premium payments - a practice that will likely be acted on by the government in its ongoing reforms should insurers not take action first.
By Paul Salvas | April 30, 2004
4 min read
There is clearly great misunderstanding in the general public with regards to insurance overall, but specifically auto insurance. A recent furniture store advertisement depicting a couple gleefully defrauding an insurance company illustrates the opinion floating among some consumers. There is an anti-insurance industry sentiment right now, and it is not likely to dissipate any time […]
By Rowan Saunders | April 30, 2004
How bad can a 5% rate reduction really be? The first issue is leverage. Imagine a mythical commercial lines insurer operating with a 10% margin. For every $100 in premium, the combination of underwriting and investment income, net of operating expenses, is enough to generate $10 in earnings before tax. We are not trying to […]
By Brian Gray | April 30, 2004
3 min read
While the so-called stock market rebound this year has “totally lacked conviction”, investors should still look forward to a rosier 2004, economist Dr. Lloyd Atkinson told a recent meeting of the Canadian Insurance Accountants Association (CIAA). Atkinson says that, despite a jobless, or in his words “job-loss” recovery in the U.S., that country’s economy is […]
1 min read
Commercial insurance buyers report falling rates in property and general liability lines, signaling signs of a softening market, according to the first-quarter 2004 edition of the “Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS)/Advisen Benchmark Survey”. Property rates fell by 1.5%, RIMS members say, while general liability dropped 1.4% in the first quarter. While the decreases in […]
Bob Fitzgerald, chairman of the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO), says that the realization of a single-entry, real-time technology solution in information exchange between brokers and insurers is critical to the future success of the property and casualty insurance industry. Speaking at the centre’s 2004 annual general meeting (AGM), Fitzgerald points out that […]
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U.S. insurers will likely face an insured cost of US$963 million for the first quarter of this year with regard to catastrophe related property claims, according to preliminary data released by the New York-based Insurance Services Office Inc. (ISO). The latest quarter’s tally is significantly less than the US$1.5 billion cat loss made over the […]
The latest quarterly market index produced by the U.S.-based Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB) suggests that pricing of commercial business either declined or remained flat across the various size segments of the marketplace during the first quarter of this year. The survey results are based on member responses from brokers representing about 80% […]
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