Better Answers or Fewer Questions? Two Roads to Commercial Underwriting Improvements

Commercial property/casualty insurance underwriting today is a complicated, often messy process. Many times the agent sends new business applications, loss runs and other documents (together known as submissions) to the insurer through email in a variety of structured and unstructured formats. There is often a great deal of Q&A between the prospect, agent and underwriters... read more

Hedge Fund Baupost Reported to Hold $1B in PG&E Insurance Claims

Seth Klarman's Baupost Group has been the poster child of the hedge fund industry's ill-timed stock-market bets on the troubled utility PG&E Corp., which announced plans for bankruptcy. It turns out, though, that Baupost's stock purchases, valued at $873 million at the end of September, are just part of a bigger and more complex wager... read more

Singapore's Grab Makes Foray Into Insurance With Chubb as Provider: Opinion

After sending rival Uber Technologies Inc. packing from Singapore and other Southeast Asian markets, homegrown ride-hailing firm Grab Pte. has set itself a stiffer target. It wants to be a regional super-app. Think of it as a digital conglomerate that hooks customers for one thing, only to promise them value for several others, sort of... read more

Multiple Smaller Natural Disasters in 2018 Created 'Unusual' Insured Loss Picture: Willis

Insured loss estimates from major natural catastrophes in 2018 totaled roughly $71.5 billion, the highest since 2011's annual market losses of $120 billion, according to Willis Re. However, the insured losses in 2018 are slightly less than half of those from 2017 and are marginally above the average annual losses over the last eight years,... read more

Failure to Reduce Climate Change Is Among Top Global Risks: World Economic Forum

The risk that global efforts to tackle climate change will fail has risen despite concerns about powerful storms, floods, and droughts, a survey released by the World Economic Forum said on Wednesday, days before its annual gathering in Davos. read more

Policygenius Enters P/C World With Auto and Home Options

New York-based online insurance marketplace Policygenius announced Tuesday that it is expanding from life and disability insurance to offer home and auto as well. Licensed nationwide, Policygenius combines digital tools with personal support from licensed advisers to make shopping for home and auto insurance as easy as possible. It runs quotes from multiple companies so... read more

Fortellix Raises $14M to Automate Generation of Safety Data for Driverless Vehicles

An Israeli-based startup focused on automating the generation of safety verification data for autonomous vehicles has raised a $14 million Series A financing round. read more

Executives On The Move at AXIS Capital Holdings and BHSI

AXIS Capital Holdings is hiring a former Chubb executive as its new chief information officer. Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance named the head of its new Property Construction division in the U.K. and Ireland. *** A former Chubb executive is joining AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. as its new chief information officer. Keith Schlosser will lead the... read more