While total economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disaster events remain far below-average in the first half of 2015, the global insurance and reinsurance industry is covering a higher than average percentage of those losses. That’s the key takeaway from preliminary sigma estimates of global catastrophe losses for the first half of 2015, just...
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Infographic on Hurricane Katrina
The Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) is looking back at the costliest hurricane in U.S. history that took 1,800 lives and cost $125 billion in total economic losses, via a comprehensive infographic. Insurance claims by coverage and state, total National Flood Insurance Program losses from Katrina, and other sources of Katrina recovery funds are all detailed....
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CIAB: Commercial Insurance Prices Continue Decline
The percentage of businesses purchasing commercial insurance increased in the second quarter of 2015, according to the latest Commercial P/C Market Index survey from the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB). An overwhelming 90 percent of brokers responding to the survey said that take-up rates had increased, in part as premium savings drove interest...
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Cybersecurity Budgets Rise, But Not Realizing Full Value
Technology is not enough in the fight against cybercrime, effective cyber security measures require policy and process changes as well. That’s the takeaway from an analysis of cyber-risk spending included in the 2015 U.S. State of Cybercrime Survey recently released by PwC. While cybersecurity budgets are on the rise, companies are mostly reliant on technology...
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Where is the Insurance Float?
Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) chief actuary James Lynch explains how insurance float works and the impact it has on insurance rates. Asked for the secret to his success, famed Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett often points to insurance float, “money that doesn’t belong to us but that we can invest for Berkshire’s benefit.” He is talking...
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Cyber Stakes Rise Amid OPM Breach Fallout
The unfolding story on what is being described as the largest cyberattack into the systems of the United States government reads like an episode out of CSI Cyber. Today the head of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Katherine Archuleta resigned as fallout continued in the wake of Thursday’s revelation that the second of two massive data...
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U.S. Winter Storm Losses Mount
As my kids head off for their snowy-themed day at camp, the statistic that jumps off the page in the 2015 Half-Year Natural Catastrophe Review jointly presented by Munich Re and the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) is the record $2.9 billion (and counting) in aggregate insured losses caused by the second winter of brutal cold...
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Insurance Responds To Rising Costs of Food Recalls
You may have read that the Justice Department is warning food manufacturers that they could face criminal and civil penalties if they poison their customers with contaminated food. Recent high profile food recalls, such as the one at Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries and another at Ohio-based Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, have drawn attention to this...
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Litigation Trends and the Class Action Factor
Survey more than 800 corporate counsel representing companies across 26 countries on litigation trends and issues and you get some insightful findings. Such is the case with the recently released Norton Rose Fulbright 2015 Litigation Trends Annual Survey. For example, class action lawsuits were listed as the top issue by respondents in the United States,...
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Actuarial Tool Adjusts for Climate Change
Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) chief actuary James Lynch on an innovative actuarial approach. It was a record-breaking rainy day in Colorado Springs when I attended a panel last month describing a new climate index the actuarial community is introducing. The 1.58 inches of rain that fell May 19 almost doubled the previous record for that day....
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