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Michigan House Democrats’ attack on the insurance industry is misguided and the House Insurance Committee should not support the onerous and unneeded legislation up for consideration tomorrow [March 20], said the American Insurance Association (AIA).      “These bills will do nothing to get at the high systemic costs that drive premium increases, such as Michigan’s… Continue reading AIA Weighs In On Democrats’ Proposed Insurance Bills in Michigan

On Tuesday, House Democrats in Michigan said they’ll move to stop insurance carriers from using consumers’ credit scores to determine auto insurance rates, and to give the state more clout against high rates. But a leading Democrat admitted that approval in the Republican-controlled Senate is doubtful until perhaps this year’s lame-duck session. “You never know… Continue reading Michigan: Democrats Aim to Stop Use of Credit Scores in Auto Rates

According to a Research and Markets in its newly released book “Asian Catastrophe Insurance”, catastrophes have had a more devastating impact on insurers over the past 15 years than in the entire history of insurance. Despite its rapidly developing economies and cutting-edge technological base, catastrophes particularly blight the Asian continent. Natural hazards such as earthquakes,… Continue reading Asia Sees Greater Impact from Catastrophes on Insurers in Past 15 Years

Europe’s biggest insurer, Allianz, said on Thursday that the global financial market turmoil will make it financial targets for this year and in 2009 harder to reach.     Allianz’s aim of increase operating profit by an average 10 percent in 2008 and 2009 had become more difficult and the company faced additional write-downs on… Continue reading Allianz Pessimistic on Reaching Financial Targets, Expects More Write-Downs

Patrick G. Ryan, founder and executive chairman of Aon Corporation, today announced he intends to retire from Aon effective August 1, 2008. Aon is the world’s largest insurance and reinsurance intermediary, and a global leader in human capital consulting. Ryan commented, “The transition to a new management team under the sound leadership of Greg Case… Continue reading Aon Founder/Chairman Announces His Retirement

The largest US bank, Citigroup, plans further job cuts in its securities operations in an effort to put decrease costs after suffering record quarterly losses due to sub-prime mortgage and credit problems.     These job losses would be in addition to the 4,200 cuts company-wide announced in January by Chief Executive Vikram Pandit, and… Continue reading Additional Securities Job Cuts Planned at Citigroup

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) and the Insurance Research Council (IRC) announced today that PCI has joined nine other insurance organizations as the newest member of the IRC. PCI is a national trade association representing more than 1,000 property/casualty insurance companies. IRC is a public policy research organization providing objective analysis on… Continue reading PCI Joins Insurance Research Council

Yesterday the Federal Reserve cut its short-term interest rate target 0.75 percentage point to 2.25%, and hinted at more cuts to come. The cut was less than financial markets wanted, but in a sign the Fed’s prior efforts to boost lending through unconventional means may be getting some traction, stocks soared, buoyed by earnings reports… Continue reading More Help Hinted Amid Yesterday’s Fed Cut Rate

First-quarter earnings for Morgan Stanley fell amid write-downs in mortgages and loans, however resilient trading results helped the second-largest US investment bank exceed lowered expectations by a wide margin. The results offer a big boost to Chief Executive John Mack, trying to help the bank recover from $9.4 billion in mortgage trading losses last year… Continue reading Morgan Stanley Posts Better than Expected Earnings for First Quarter

According to data released today from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), applications for U.S. home mortgages last week fell to their lowest since December despite a sharp drop in borrowing costs.    The MBA said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity declined 2.9 percent to 652.0 in the week ended March 14. It… Continue reading Mortgage Applications at Their Lowest Since December