Data security

The industry considers salivating over the huge China market, but it does so at the expense of our security.

Looking to recoup taxpayer money used to bailout financial institutions, the Obama administration is proposing a “responsibility fee” on large financial institutions, possibly including insurers. Levied on the debts of financial firms with over $50 billion in consolidated assets, the fee is intended to deter financial companies from overleveraging themselves.

Though relatively unfazed by the financial crisis, a continuing soft market will present problems for property/casualty insurers, a new report finds.

A.M. Best, Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor's announced ratings updates. The following are some of the most recent:

Fond du Lac, Wis.-based Society Insurance, a provider of commercial insurance to Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Indiana, implemented Denver-based Valen Technologies Inc.’s UnderRight predictive analytics underwriting solution to improve its pricing strategies and profitability. Society is now using UnderRight for its workers’ compensation line of business to positively impact the company’s combined ratio by enabling improved underwriting decision consistency and efficiency.

The good news is there are signs of economic improvement. The bad news is A.M. Best is maintaining its negative rating outlook on the life/health industry.

Trust representing homeowners asks for compensation for damages due to mold exposure.

S&P withdraws its A+ FSR of Nationwide Life Insurance Co. of America and Nationwide Life & Annuity Co. of America, and Moody's assigns ratings to the multi-issuer, multi-seniority shelf registration of The Travelers Cos. Inc.

As usual, the federal government chooses a sledge hammer to swat a fly, which means we all get squashed.

With the change from Bermuda to Ireland, the global insurance broker expects to see economic benefits that will help ensure continued global competitiveness.

The MGA’s new business, Goss Reinsurance Brokers Inc., will operate as a specialty reinsurance broker for medium to small insurance carriers, captives, self-insurance funds, risk retention groups and other similar specialty insurance operations.

A mixture of new technologies and business imperatives are causing insurers to redefine the boundaries of data security.

Howard Schmidt will be responsible for orchestrating cybersecurity activities across the government and coordinating efforts to better protect private information networks.

Out-of-state residents are charged with insurance fraud after providing false information.

A.M. Best, and Moody’s Investors Service released ratings updates. The following are some of the most recent:

Auto insurers hoping to keep rates under control can look forward to a happy new year. As Jan. 1, 2010 quickly approaches, Illinois, Kansas, New Hampshire and Oregon are all preparing to enforce stronger laws regarding cell phone use and texting, says Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).

Aon Corp. launched Aon Broking, a broking strategy for clients of the firm's retail brokerage operation. The new strategy is designed to ensure that Aon Risk Services’ clients benefit from the broking resources Aon provides, and gain access to solutions and markets for their specific needs.

Many of us are trying hard to see positive trends for the coming year, but employment remains the only meaningful bellwether of change.

Private U.S. property and casualty insurers’ net income after taxes rose to $16.2 billion through nine-months 2009, partially recovering from the 91.2 decline to $4.4 billion through nine-months 2008 from $49.6 billion through nine-months 2007. Insurers’ overall profitability as measured by their annualized rate of return on average policyholders’ surplus (or statutory net worth) increased to 4.5 in the first nine months of 2009, having previously fallen to 1.2 in the first nine months of 2008 from 13.1 in the first nine months of 2007.

With the program set to expire at year’s end, President Obama has signed the latest in a series of temporary extensions to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) into law.