Viewpoints
Global Re, Excess WC Discipline Lagging: ACE’s Greenberg, WRB’s Rob Berkley
There are now clear signs that the low interest rate environment is forcing underwriting discipline in the casualty market, carrier executives said during earnings calls last week, but one glaring ...
Validus’ Noonan Slams Berkshire Sidecar, Says Cat Model Won’t Jolt US Re Prices
London market participants are competitive but disciplined, Validus Holdings' CEO said on Friday. But one pocket of "excessive competition" is coming from Berkshire Hathaway's Lloyd's sidecar—a ...
The Trademark Problem: Casualty Insurance’s Dirty Little Secret
It has always been surprising to me that trademark issues receive so little attention in the insurance community. It's almost as if trademark claims are the dirty little secret of casualty insurance, ...
Using Big Data To Improve Homeowners Insurance Products
There is no doubt that so-called Big Data is changing the way many companies do business. The volume of information being generated by web activity is growing exponentially and the technology has ...
Upcoming Cat Model Change, Capital Markets Pressuring Prop-Cat Rates, Execs Say
As first-quarter earnings reports started trickling in from property/casualty insurers and reinsurers carriers last week, two executives confirmed that property-catastrophe pricing is coming under ...
Will HUD’s Disparate Impact Rule Have Say in Ratemaking?
Despite the McCarran-Ferguson Act, which reserved the regulation of the "business of insurance" to the states, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has given itself the ability to ...
Japan’s Big Leak: Where Will the Money Go?
The Bank of Japan's massive new bid for inflation will create growth but to its chagrin much of it may well be concentrated in financial markets and outside of Japan. So long as Japanese consumers ...
Kemp Column: Bracing For the Big One; Solar Storm Risk For Power Grids, GPS
Power networks, pipelines, radio communications and the global positioning system (GPS) are all entering a period of increased risk of outages from geomagnetic storms as the solar activity cycle ...