Maryland’s highest court has sided with Allstate this week in a case regarding the insurer’s move to stop writing new homeowners policies in coastal regions. The case emerged in 2007 when the insurer chose to step away from the coastal market due to the potential for natural disasters. The insurer’s move was spurred by a catastrophe model that suggested that losses in these regions as a result to hurricanes or other storms could be gargantuan. The Maryland Court of Appeals chose to uphold the rulings of lower courts, agreeing that…
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Disaster declaration renewed in Texas as devastating drought persists
Texas Governor Rick Perry has renewed a declaration of disaster regarding the state’s ongoing and costly drought. Last year, the declaration was renewed several times, as the drought showed no signs of relenting. According to the National Weather Service, 2011 was the driest year Texas has ever known and the second hottest. The conditions ignited several wildfires throughout the state that caused damage to hundreds of homes and ruining thousands of acres of land. Insurers have been battling the disaster as fervently as state officials, but there seems to be…
Read MoreMelbourne storms declared an official catastrophe, bringing insured losses in Australia to $4.5 billion
Melbourne, the second largest city in Australia, had turbulent Christmas Day as a series of severe storms impacted the city. The storms have caused a large amount of damage to businesses and the city’s energy infrastructure, according to insurer QBE. On the day of the storm, insurers fielded more than 15,000 claims and more have been trickling in over the past week. The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared the storms an official catastrophe, making the event the eighth disaster declaration in the country in just under a year.…
Read MoreReport shows the rocky road of the property casualty insurance industry during 2011
ISO, a risk assessment firm specializing in the property/casualty insurance industry, and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) have released a new report showing the impact natural disasters had upon the P/C insurance industry in 2011. This year has become infamous for the number of severe storms and other natural disasters that have rocked the U.S. and other nations. The report notes that while the property/casualty industry grew in some aspects, it saw steep losses in others, with the most severe losses coming in a short 9-month period.…
Read More2011 disaster losses break records from previous years
This year was one that brought disasters to areas all around the globe, and these catastrophes came with record breaking bills that have left the figures from previous years behind. According to the data from Swiss Re AG, a reinsurance company, the quakes and tsunami in Japan, the earthquakes in New Zealand, the Thailand floods, and the large number of American tornadoes brought a global disaster loss total up to a staggering $350 billion. The tremendous amount of devastation brought production at factories to a grinding halt and cut off…
Read MoreNAPCO study shows that the U.S. property insurance market is under stress
A new study from NAPCO LLC, a wholesale broker of commercial property insurance coverage, suggests that the national catastrophe property market is quickly moving away from the soft market conditions that have governed insurance prices for several years. While this is typically good news for some insurers, the study shows that a low demand for insurance coverage may restrict the pricing power of insurers. David Pagoumian, CEO of NAPCO, says that property insurers are under heavy pressure to make profits in the current climate and may face even greater pressures…
Read MoreFederal Government’s response to Natural Disaster Insurance Review called inadequate by opposition
The response of the Federal Government to the Natural Disaster Insurance Review has just released, and the opposition is not pleased with what they have seen. The Government has decided that it will be introducing a new standard definition for the concept of a “flood”, and has announced that it is also considering making flood coverage a required inclusion in all standard homeowners’ and contents policies. However, for the majority of the 47 total recommendations that were made by the review, the Government deferred a decision, stating that it is…
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