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Acaria Insurance, Camp Springs, MD (2026)

08/28/2024

Global insurance spending is projected to sustain its growth trajectory, reaching nearly $10 trillion by 2028, according to data presented by Stocklytics.com.

It was noted that the global insurance market, spanning the life and non-life sectors, has experienced a 25% surge over the past four years, with the total insurance premiums value increasing to over $9 trillion this year. While the growth rate has decelerated since the peak in 2021, the market is still expected to achieve record-high spending in the coming years.

Several factors are driving the market’s growth, including economic expansion, the rise of the middle class, technological innovations like insurtech, and an evolving risk environment. According to Statista, the gross written premium in the global insurance market stood at $7.24 trillion in 2017, rising to nearly $8 trillion by the end of 2020.

Notably, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly accelerated market growth, underscoring the importance of health and life insurance while also pushing businesses to seek coverage against interruption and other related risks. Consequently, total insurance spending surged by 8.6% in 2021, reaching $8.64 trillion – marking the highest annual increase to date.

Despite slower growth over the past three years, with annual increases ranging between 2.5% and 3.5%, total insurance spending climbed to $9.09 trillion in 2024. This upward trend is poised to persist, with global insurance spending forecast to rise by an average of $200 billion annually, hitting $9.91 trillion by 2028.

Read full article at: https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/breaking-news/global-insurance-spending-set-to-approach-10-trillion-by-2028-502650.aspx

08/26/2024

If there was one phrase that’s dominated the past year, both professionally and societally, it has to be “generative AI”. According to KMPG’s Generative AI Survey, results reveal that 77% of insurance executives believe AI will have a more significant societal impact within the next three to five years than any other technology. What’s more, 84% of firms, including insurers, say that investing in this new AI will give them a competitive edge.

On the claims management side of things, AI has had an almost unprecedented impact – speeding up claims processes to an electrifying speed. Speaking to IB, Michael Combs (pictured), president and CEO of CorVel, said that this increased efficiency had enabled adjusters to gather more crucial information on claims and helped injured workers return to their jobs swiftly.

“With the application of technology, decision-making processes have evolved,” said Combs. “Generative AI has helped reduce what was a lag time of days, weeks or months, collapsing the feedback loop and allowing our partners to look at historical data to understand what happened and, more importantly, what do we do about it.”

Read full article at: https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/claims/ai-is-coming-for-claims-management--heres-how-to-prepare-your-teams-502757.aspx

08/25/2024

New research indicates that what used to be the 100-year hurricane will now happen every 25 years, according to Deep Sky Research, a Montreal-based carbon removal project developer.

The new report analyzes data within the U.S. via its Hurricane Rainfall Model to examine how hurricane risk is changing due to climate change.

The analysis resulted in six key findings:

1. Frequency of deadly hurricane weather has jumped 300 percent.
Deep Sky Research’s model finds that severe hurricane rainfall (which causes damages and deaths) that used to occur only once every 100 years will now happen every 25. In addition, the probability of smaller storms has doubled.

2. Severity of extreme hurricane rainfall has grown 33 percent.
Not only has the frequency of extreme hurricane rainfall increased, but the maximum severity is growing as well, the report found.

3. Hurricanes could cost more than $450B in the next 5 years (a 50 percent increase).Deep Sky Research built a proprietary machine learning model that projects losses of more than $450B USD in the next 5 years across Gulf and South Atlantic coast states due to hurricanes. Florida is expected to have the greatest losses, with Texas a close second.

4. Gulf Coast states face greatest rainfall increases.
States along the Gulf Coast including Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi should expect the greatest increases while those on the Atlantic coast such as North Carolina and South Carolina will see smaller increases, the analysis found.

5. Flash flooding will now hit South Atlantic counties every year.
Storm surge is worsening because hurricanes are getting stronger but also because sea levels are rising. This means that when a storm surge occurs, flooding is more severe. Miami is extremely vulnerable to flash flooding caused by hurricanes, for example.

Read full article at: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2024/08/23/789570.htm

08/24/2024

Yacht insurance provider OMAC is the carrier on the hull for the Bayesian, a 56-meter-long (184-ft) sailboat, that was hit by a ferocious storm on Monday, sinking off the northern coast of Sicily, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The syndicates providing insurance include Travelers Companies Inc., Navium Marine and Convex, while British Marine is the protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance provider, the sources said.

Reuters could not ascertain the value of the yacht or what the value of potential claims could be.

Ships typically have P&I insurance, which covers third-party liability claims including environmental damage and injury. Separate hull and machinery policies cover vessels against physical damage.

Convex declined to comment, while OMAC, Travelers, Navium and British Marine did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

The British-flagged superyacht was carrying 22 people and anchored off the port of Porticello when it was hit by a fierce, pre-dawn storm on Monday. Fifteen people managed to escape the yacht before it capsized.

Four bodies were found on Wednesday aboard the sunken wreck of the yacht belonging to the wife of British tech magnate Mike Lynch, sources close to the rescue operation told Reuters. (Update: Divers Retrieve 5th Body From Mike Lynch Yacht Sunk Off Sicily)

Read full article at: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2024/08/22/789485.htm

08/16/2024

The insurance industry is at a pivotal moment in embracing generative AI. According to the ISG Pulse Check State of the European Insurance Industry 2024, insurance firms are actively engaged in generative AI transformations and currently comprise nearly a quarter of all generative AI use across various industries.

This transformative technology is helping insurers unlock value and innovation, gain deeper insights into their clientele, enhance the precision of risk assessments, and elevate the quality of offerings. Insurance firms in the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) see their top priority for generative AI as customer service delivery and claims management, followed by customer personalization, employee productivity, insurance operations delivery, policy administration and upselling/cross-selling.

While the potential of generative AI has positioned it as a key investment priority for insurance firms, ISG research finds the prevalent trend in the insurance industry right now is experimentation and enthusiasm, despite still-elusive outcomes. Five percent of EMEA insurance firms currently have no investment in GenAI, while 32 percent are pursuing exploratory initiatives, 36 percent are running isolated projects, 25 percent have transformation work in progress, and only 2 percent are moving to steady state.

For insurance firms that are yet to explore this technological frontier, a window of opportunity exists to bridge the gap and stay abreast of competitors before the landscape evolves further.

Generative AI has the potential to transform every facet of the insurance value chain, from initial customer interaction to claims resolution and beyond. For example, unlike conventional claims processing methods, which rely heavily on manual intervention and predefined rules, GenAI leverages advanced algorithms to generate insights autonomously. This enables organizations to expedite the claims processing cycle, optimize resource allocation and mitigate operational risks.

Read full article at: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2024/08/07/787372.htm

08/15/2024

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued a one-year moratorium on insurance companies to preserve residential insurance coverage for more than 185,000 policyholders affected by the Park, Borel and Gold Complex fires.

The moratorium shields those living within the perimeters or adjoining ZIP Codes of these fires from insurance non-renewal or cancellation for one year from the date of the Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency declarations regardless of whether they suffered a loss.

The order protects more than 185,000 policyholders for one year for the fires.

Consumers can go to the California Department of Insurance website to see if their ZIP Code is included in the moratorium.

The Park Fire is now the state’s fourth largest on record. It is now 427,067 acres and is 34% contained, and it covers four counties— Butte, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama. The fire has destroyed 636 structures and damaged 49 structures.

The Park Fire started on July 24. A Chico man accused of setting the fire by pushing a flaming vehicle into a grassy area was arrested, and he has said it was an accident.

July and now August have been active for wildfires. According to CalFire, 4,946 wildfires have burned 805,096 acres so far this year, and 1,165 structures have been reported damaged or destroyed.

The Park Fire is fourth on the list of largest fires in California, passing the Creek Fire in 2020 in Fresno County at 379,895 acres and the SCU Lightning Complex Fire in 2020 at 396,625 acres. The Mendocino Complex Fire in 2018 at 459,123 acres is third on the list, the Dixie Fire in 2021 at 963,309 acres was second on the list and the August Complex Fire in 2020 at more than 1 million acres was the state’s largest wildfire.

Read full article at: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2024/08/08/787713.htm

08/14/2024

Fourteen percent of insurance companies plan to reduce employee headcounts in the next year, according to numbers from Aon and The Jacobson Group’s latest insurance labor market study.

Jeff Rieder, partner at Aon and head of STG Performance Benchmarking, said this carrier reduction number has increased “significantly” since the initial pandemic recovery. The percentage of companies planning reductions peaked in July 2020, “but we’re almost back to that type of level,” he said.

Greg Jacobson, CEO of The Jacobson Group, explained that the majority of companies that decreased their staff sizes by more than 5% in the past 12 months had exposure to personal lines. Taking a step back, half of companies that reduced staff at all had exposure to personal lines.

“I think that personal lines is driving a lot of … or maybe most of any of the reductions in staff,” he said. “We’re still seeing pretty steady hiring in commercial lines, and, in fact, maybe more hiring than anticipated in the life and health side of the business.”

Aon and The Jacobson Group have conducted the biannual labor market study for 15 years.

The study analyzes current and future labor trends for the insurance industry. The latest survey covered about 293,000 employees that work for insurance companies — a little more than 18% of the total industry. Eighty-three percent of participants work in the property and casualty insurance sphere.

The latest release of the study found that while 79% of insurance companies expect to grow their revenues, just 52% of companies plan to increase staff, and 34% plan to maintain current staffing levels.

Automation is the most common reason that companies plan to reduce headcounts during the next 12 months, the study reported, followed by areas being overstaffed. Many companies are rebalancing portfolios, Rieder explained, and many multi-line P&C companies have pulled back on personal lines operations.

Read the full article at: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2024/08/12/787862.htm

08/14/2024

Global insured losses from natural catastrophes totaled US$60 billion during the first half of 2024, or 62% above the 10-year average, according to preliminary estimates from Swiss Re.

Severe thunderstorms (mainly in the US) accounted for 70% of insured losses globally, or US$42 billion, which is 87% higher than the 10-year average, said Swiss Re, adding that the first half of 2024 marked the second costliest on record for insured losses from these so-called severe convective storms. (SCS are characterized by strong winds including tornadoes, hail and heavy rain.)

In the US, 12 storms each caused losses of US$1 billion or more, demonstrating the loss potential of this peril, said Swiss Re, noting that insured losses from SCS in the US have increased annually by around 8% in nominal terms since 2008.

In its recent nat cat report, Munich Re estimated H1 global insured losses were US$62 billion, significantly higher than the 10-year average of US$37 billion. For SCS in the US, Munich Re said, H1 2024 is currently the fourth-costliest year in terms of severe thunderstorm losses in the US, with an insurance price tag of more than US$34 billion.

Swiss Re estimated H1 economic losses from natural catastrophes of US$120 billion, compared with $152 billion in H1 2023. (Economic losses include both insured and uninsured losses).

Insured losses from man-made catastrophes during the first six months were estimated by Swiss Re to total $6 billion, up from $5 billion in H1 2023. During the first half, economic losses from man-made disasters totaled $7 billion, compared with $6 billion during the same period last year.

Read full article at: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2024/08/08/787406.htm

08/12/2024

Insurers face millions of dollars in claims after a foiled attack forced three Taylor Swift concerts in Austria to be canceled, though several providers will share out the hit, two people involved in insurance for her tour told Reuters.

The concerts in Vienna were canceled this week after a planned attack at the Ernst Happel Stadium. Some 195,000 “Swifties” had been expected to attend, with many traveling from abroad for a chance to see the pop superstar.

Barracuda Music, the concert organizer, said all tickets would be refunded within 10 days. It could not immediately be reached for comment about insurance arrangements.

Taylor Swift Shows in Vienna Canceled After Terrorism Threat

Swift is popular among insurers as she rarely cancels concerts, a third insurance source said. Her celebrity and success mean that most specialist event cancellation insurers in London would be involved in covering her tour, one of the sources said. The sources declined to be named, citing client confidentiality.

Organizers of large sporting and entertainment events typically buy event cancellation insurance, much of which tends to be insured through the Lloyd’s of London SOLYD.UL market by a consortium of insurers.

A Lloyd’s of London spokesperson confirmed that event cancellation insurance is offered at Lloyd’s, but said it could not comment on specific policies.

Militant attacks are often excluded from event cancellation policies, but policyholders typically buy extra cover against them, or the threat of them.”The standalone terrorism cancellation insurance policy would have been triggered by the terrorism act or threat clause within the policy, as there has been a known potential terrorism event,” said Tim Thornhill, managing director at broker Tysers.

Read full article at: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2024/08/09/787794.htm

08/10/2024

U.S. central bank policymakers pushed back on Monday against the notion that weaker-than-expected July jobs data means the economy is in recessionary freefall, but also warned that the Federal Reserve will need to cut rates to avoid such an outcome.

Many of the latest job report’s details leave “a little more room for confidence that we’re slowing but not falling off a cliff,” San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said at an event in Hawaii.

“Our minds are quite open to adjusting the policy rate in coming meetings,” she said. When and by how much will depend on incoming economic data, of which there is a lot before the Fed’s next meeting in mid-September, she said, adding, “it’s extremely important that we not let (the job market) slow so much that it tips itself into a downturn.”

U.S. stocks fell steeply on Monday amid fears the U.S. central bank has waited too long to begin cutting interest rates. Interest-rate futures contracts at the day’s end reflected overwhelming bets that the Fed will start cutting borrowing costs next month with a bigger-than-usual 50-basis-point reduction to its policy rate.

Speaking earlier on Monday, Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee cautioned against taking too much of a signal from the global market sell-off, noting it stemmed in part from the Bank of Japan’s decision last week to raise rates, as well as increasing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

“The law doesn’t say anything about the stock market; it’s about the employment and it’s about price stability,” Goolsbee said in an interview with CNBC, referring to the Fed’s dual goals set by Congress, as he noted how prone financial markets were to volatility.

Nonetheless, Fed policymakers need to be aware of the possibility that markets are signaling a change in the economy’s direction, he said.

Read full article at: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2024/08/06/787161.htm

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