Archive
P/C Insurers’ Profits Rose in 2012, But Profitability Lagged Long-term Norm as Sandy Losses and Drop in Invest ment Gains Hit Results
Source: Insurance Information Institute
Despite the impact of Superstorm Sandy and smaller investment gains, private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income after taxes grew to $33.5 billion in 2012 from $19.5 billion in 2011, with insurers’ overall profitability as measured by their rate of return on average policyholders’ surplus climbing to 5.9 percent from 3.5 percent. At 5.9 percent, insurers’ overall rate of return lagged their 8.9 percent average rate of return for the 54 years since the start of ISO’s annual data in 1959.
Insurers’ pretax operating income — the sum of net gains or losses on underwriting, net investment income, and miscellaneous other income — rose to $33.3 billion in 2012 from $15.4 billion in 2011.
Improvement in underwriting results drove the increases in insurers’ pretax operating income, net income after taxes, and overall rate of return, with net losses on underwriting dropping to $16.7 billion in 2012 from $36.2 billion in 2011. The combined ratio — a key measure of losses and other underwriting expenses per dollar of premium — improved to 103.2 percent for 2012 from 108.1 percent for 2011, according to ISO, a Verisk Analytics company (Nasdaq:VRSK), and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).
The decline in net losses on underwriting is attributable to premium growth and a drop in net losses and loss adjustment expenses (LLAE). Net written premiums climbed 4.3 percent in 2012 to $457 billion, and net earned premiums grew 3.4 percent to $449.4 billion. Conversely, net LLAE fell 2.8 percent in 2012 to $335 billion. The decline in net losses on underwriting would have been bigger if not for increases in underwriting expenses and dividends to policyholders, which both rose last year.
The improvement in underwriting results was partially offset by a drop in net investment gains, a decline in miscellaneous other income, and higher taxes. Net investment gains — the sum of net investment income and realized capital gains (or losses) on investments — fell $2.3 billion to $53.9 billion in 2012 from $56.2 billion in 2011 as miscellaneous other income dropped $0.2 billion to $2.3 billion from $2.5 billion and insurers’ federal and foreign income taxes rose $3 billion to $6 billion from $3 billion.
International Insurance Fact Book 2013
International Insurance Fact Book 2013
Source: Insurance Information Institute
Welcome to the International Insurance Fact Book
Country Profiles
Create your own book: Download insurance and economic data on some 90 insurance countries in PDF format online.
Or click the + sign next to Country Profiles on the left to access individual country information
World Overview – world data and tables comparing premiums, GDP and population in some by country
World Rankings – rankings of the world’s largest insurance companies
Download the full book
New From the GAO
New GAO Reports
Source: Government Accountability Office
1. Energy Efficiency: Better Coordination among Federal Programs Needed to Allocate Testing Resources. GAO-13-135, March 28.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-135
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/653429.pdf
2. Wind Energy: Additional Actions Could Help Ensure Effective Use of Federal Financial Support. GAO-13-136, March 11.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-136
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/652958.pdf
3. National Airspace System: Airport-Centric Development. GAO-13-261, March 28.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-261
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/653426.pdf
4. National Science Foundation: Steps Taken to Improve Contracting Practices, but Opportunities Exist to Do More. GAO-13-292, March 28.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-292
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/653420.pdf
5. Defense Acquisitions: Assessments of Selected Weapon Programs. GAO-13-294SP, March 28.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-294SP
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/653380.pdf
Podcast – http://www.gao.gov/multimedia/podcasts/653314
6. Export-Import Bank: Recent Growth Underscores Need for Continued Improvements in Risk Management. GAO-13-303, March 28.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-303
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/653372.pdf
7. Major Automated Information Systems: Selected Defense Programs Need to Implement Key Acquisition Practices. GAO-13-311, March 28.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-311
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/653418.pdf
8. Defense Contracting: Actions Needed to Increase Competition. GAO-13-325, March 28.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-325
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/653405.pdf
9. Manufactured Homes: State-Based Replacement Programs May Provide Benefits, but Energy Savings Do Not Fully Offset Costs. GAO-13-373, March 28.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-373
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/653410.pdf
JPMorgan Chase Whale Trades: A Case History Of Derivatives Risks And Abuses
JPMorgan Chase Whale Trades: A Case History Of Derivatives Risks And Abuses (PDF)
Source: United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
JPMorgan Chase & Company is the largest financial holding company in the United States, with $2.4 trillion in assets. It is also the largest derivatives dealer in the world and the largest single participant in world credit derivatives markets. Its principal bank subsidiary, JPMorgan Chase Bank, is the largest U.S. bank. JPMorgan Chase has consistently portrayed itself as an expert in risk management with a “fortress balance sheet” that ensures taxpayers have nothing to fear from its banking activities, including its extensive dealing in derivatives. But in early 2012, the bank’s Chief Investment Office (CIO), which is charged with managing $350 billion in excess deposits, placed a massive bet on a complex set of synthetic credit derivatives that, in 2012, lost at least $6.2 billion.
The CIO’s losses were the result of the so-called “London Whale” trades executed by traders in its London office – trades so large in size that they roiled world credit markets. Initially dismissed by the bank’s chief executive as a “tempest in a teapot,” the trading losses quickly doubled and then tripled despite a relatively benign credit environment. The magnitude of the losses shocked the investing public and drew attention to the CIO which was found, in addition to its conservative investments, to be bankrolling high stakes, high risk credit derivative trades that were unknown to its regulators.
The JPMorgan Chase whale trades provide a startling and instructive case history of how synthetic credit derivatives have become a multi-billion dollar source of risk within the U.S. banking system. They also demonstrate how inadequate derivative valuation practices enabled traders to hide substantial losses for months at a time; lax hedging practices obscured whether derivatives were being used to offset risk or take risk; risk limit breaches were routinely disregarded; risk evaluation models were manipulated to downplay risk; inadequate regulatory oversight was too easily dodged or stonewalled; and derivative trading and financial results were misrepresented to investors, regulators, policymakers, and the taxpaying public who, when banks lose big, may be required to finance multi-billion-dollar bailouts.
The JPMorgan Chase whale trades provide another warning signal about the ongoing need to tighten oversight of banks’ derivative trading activities, including through better valuation techniques, more effective hedging documentation, stronger enforcement of risk limits, more accurate risk models, and improved regulatory oversight. The derivatives overhaul required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is intended to provide the regulatory tools needed to tackle those problems and reduce derivatives-related risk, including through the Merkley-Levin provisions that seek to implement the Volcker Rule’s prohibition on high risk proprietary trading by federally insured banks, even if portrayed by banks as hedging activity designed to lower risk.
See also: Exhibits (PDF)
CRS — The National Flood Insurance Program: Status and Remaining Issues for Congress
The National Flood Insurance Program: Status and Remaining Issues for Congress (PDF)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)
In late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused widespread flood-related property damage in coastal areas of states throughout the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic region. The storm exposed vulnerabilities in the region’s public transportation and infrastructure and underscored the nation’s growing exposure to extreme weather events, sea-level rise, and coastal flooding. Although the full economic cost of Sandy will not be known for years, the storm has resulted in substantial federal disaster recovery assistance, including tens of billions for flood and hurricane protection and coastal restoration, and the rebuilding of mass transit systems and housing.
Government payouts under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) are estimated to be between $12 billion and $15 billion in flood insurance claims. In the immediate aftermath of Sandy, this amount quickly exceeded the $4 billion in cash and remaining borrowing authority from the Treasury Department. By January 2013, the NFIP had processed more than 140,000 claims for Sandy-related damages totaling about $1.7 billion. To protect the financial integrity of the NFIP and ensure that the NFIP has the financial resources to cover its existing commitments following the devastation caused by Sandy, the Obama Administration requested that Congress pass legislation to increase the NFIP’s borrowing authority. On January 4, 2013, Congress passed, and the President two days later signed into law, H.R. 41 to provide a $9.7 billion increase in the NFIP’s borrowing authority, from $20.725 billion to $30.425 billion, to pay flood claims related to Hurricane Sandy.
Policymakers have expressed views on several flood management challenges facing the NFIP. These challenges include finding ways to (1) improve the accuracy of flood risk assessment and mapping of hurricane and coastal storm hazard areas; (2) strengthen the financial sustainability of the NFIP in the face of expected future extreme weather events (climate change), sea-level rise, and coastal flooding; (3) address potential affordability challenges associated with mandatory purchase requirements and implementation of full actuarial premium rates, beginning in 2014; (4) reduce the likelihood of future emergency supplemental spending to finance recurring recovery expenditures by making communities stronger and more resilient; (5) address uncertainty surrounding human settlement patterns and the NFIP’s ability to contain the nation’s growing exposure to floods; and (6) explore the creation of effective hazard-reduction strategies—linked to land use planning techniques (and construction standards)—to direct development and people out of, and away from, flood-prone areas.
Early in 2012, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, P.L. 112-141. The law reauthorized the NFIP through September 30, 2017, and made a number of reforms to strengthen the future financial solvency and administrative efficiency of the NFIP. In the wake of Sandy, Congress might choose to consider policy options to achieve greater sustainability and cost savings by addressing long-term flood management challenges. Options include the use of flood policies (10-20 years, rather than 1 year), privatization of flood risk, issuance of community based flood insurance contracts, and regulatory and tax changes to encourage financial innovation in financing recovery from large- scale natural disasters. This report provides an analysis of flood risk management, summarizes major challenges facing the NFIP, and outlines key reforms enacted in the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. The report identifies and presents some key remaining flood management issues for congressional consideration, and concludes with a discussion of policy options for the future financial management of flood hazards in the United States.
Hurricane Sandy’s Storm Surge and the NFIP; Flood Insurance Coverage in New York and New Jersey
Hurricane Sandy’s Storm Surge and the NFIP; Flood Insurance Coverage in New York and New Jersey (PDF)
Source: Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
+ Following the devastating storm surge and flooding from Hurricane Sandy, concerns have been raised about the status of flood insurance in the United States.
+ Our analysis shows that many homeowners who sustained flood damage from Sandy did not have a flood insurance policy.
+ Sandy will cost the NFIP billions of dollars in claims, further increasing its debt.
Insurance Buyers Facing Mixed Market for 2013
Insurance Buyers Facing Mixed Market for 2013
Source: Willis
Willis Group Holdings (NYSE: WSH), the global insurance broker, expects insurance buyers will see a mix of rising and falling commercial Property/Casualty rates in 2013 as they face a complex marketplace that continues to defy the standard hard/soft market cycle. Modest rate increases in Casualty, Executive Risks and several specialty lines will be balanced by declining rates for non-catastrophe-exposed Property programs and other risk areas, according to Willis’ 2013 Marketplace Realities report. The annual report, published today, serves as a guide for North American insurance buyers preparing for upcoming November, December and January insurance program renewals.
For the Property insurance market, 2012 has been a year of recovery from record-setting losses in 2011, but predictions of a hard market have not been borne out. Abundant capacity, low underwriting losses and the lingering weak economy are creating a flat marketplace. Insurance buyers with catastrophe (CAT)-exposed Property risks can expect flat renewals, while buyers with non-CAT exposed risks will experience decreases in the 5-10% range. Casualty lines are experiencing some upward movement and General Liability buyers are facing rate increases in the 3-7.5% range, with Excess rate increases running a higher on some programs. Price firming is expected to continue into 2013 for some specialty risks, including primary Directors & Officers Liability, Employment Practices Liability and some segments of Construction, according to Willis experts.
In the employee benefits space, employers are focused on elements of the health care reform law that will go into effect in the next few years. The cost of health insurance continues to rise as insurers pass down the cost of compliance, while organizations take aggressive steps to stem rising costs. Rate increase estimates for 2013 can be expected to approach 10%, according to Willis experts.
Terrorism Risk: A Continuing Threat – 2012
Terrorism Risk: A Continuing Threat – 2012
Source: Insurance Information Institute
This report, by Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, and Claire Wilkinson, analyzes the evolving nature of international terrorism. For property/casualty insurers and reinsurers, the impact of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, was substantial, producing insured losses of about $32.5 billion, or $40.0 billion in 2011 dollars. Following the attack, insurers moved to exclude coverage. Only when the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) was enacted by Congress in November 2002 did coverage for terrorist attacks resume. Since its initial enactment in 2002 the terrorism risk insurance program has been revised and extended twice. The report, replete with charts, includes sections on: how insurers treat terrorism risk today; estimating potential terrorism losses; the cyber terrorism threat; the structure and coverage of the terrorism risk insurance program; aviation insurance for terrorism risks; and liability factors. The report concludes that over a decade later, 9/11 remains the worst terrorist act in terms of fatalities and insured property losses. A number of converging factors point to the fact that, while the risk is changing, terrorism is an evolving and ongoing threat for the foreseeable future. Failure to focus on and prepare for this threat will come at an enormous cost to the millions of individuals and businesses who rely on insurance contracts to offset the overall economic impact of a terrorist attack. For property/casualty insurers, the increasing share of losses that they would have to fund in the event of a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil suggests that now is the time to take stock of their terrorism exposures.
Longevity Risk and Insurance Solutions for U.S. Corporate Pension Plans
Longevity Risk and Insurance Solutions for U.S. Corporate Pension Plans (PDF)
Source: Prudential
This report examines the impact of longevity risk on corporate pension plans, a risk often overlooked by plan sponsors. It highlights the role insurance solutions can assume in addressing longevity and investment risks for sponsors and participants.
NICB Reports 20 Percent Rise in Mid-Year 2012 Questionable Claims
NICB Reports 20 Percent Rise in Mid-Year 2012 Questionable Claims
The National Insurance Crime Bureau today released its first half 2012 questionable claims (QC) referral reason analysis. The report examines six referral reason categories of claims—property, casualty, commercial, workers’ compensation, vehicle and miscellaneous—for the first half of 2010, 2011 and 2012.Questionable claims are claims that NICB member insurance companies refer to NICB for closer review and investigation based on one or more indicators of possible fraud. A single claim may contain up to seven referral reasons.During the first half of 2010, a total of 46,766 QCs were referred. That number increased to 48,887 in the first half of 2011 and to 58,523 in the first half of 2012. There was a 20 percent increase in QCs during the first half of 2012 compared with 2011, and a 25 percent increase when compared with the first half of 2010.Suspicious theft/loss (non-vehicle) generated the largest increase in volume for a single referral reason in property QCs (5,255) and contributed to the property category’s 40 percent rise in QCs compared to the first half of 2011. The miscellaneous QC category posted the smallest increase—10 percent—compared with the first half of 2011.
Residual Market Property Plans: From Markets of Last Resort to Markets of First Choice – 2012
Residual Market Property Plans: From Markets of Last Resort to Markets of First Choice – 2012
Source: Insurance Information Institute
This report by Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, and Claire Wilkinson analyzes the changes taking place within the residual property market, which consists of a myriad of different programs in place across the United States to provide insurance to high-risk policyholders who may have difficulty obtaining coverage from the standard market. So called residual, shared or involuntary market programs make basic insurance coverage more readily available. The report notes the still-burgeoning growth of the market, which now has a massive total exposure to loss that is approaching $900 billion. Despite attempts by certain states to reduce the size of their plans the fact of the matter is that this market of last resort remains the market of first choice for many vulnerable, high-risk coastal properties. The report focuses on the plans in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, North and South Carolina, and Texas.
KCC Issues Report on Historical Hurricanes That Would Cause $10 Billion or More in Insured Losses Today
KCC Issues Report on Historical Hurricanes That Would Cause $10 Billion or More in Insured Losses Today
Source: Karen Clark & Company
Karen Clark & Company (KCC), independent experts in catastrophe risk, catastrophe models and catastrophe risk management, today issued a report identifying historical US hurricanes that would likely cause $10 billion or more in insured losses were they to strike today.
Employing a robust methodology developed by the firm, KCC examined the nearly 180 hurricanes that have hit the United States since 1900 and determined that 28 of those storms would result in $10 billion or more in insured losses in 2012 given the greater number, size and cost of structures in their paths.
The 1926 Great Miami Hurricane tops the list with an estimated $125 billion loss. The two deadliest hurricanes in US history, the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane and the famous Galveston storm of 1900, are the next costliest at $65 billion and $50 billion, respectively. Two other Florida storms, the 1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane and 1992′s Hurricane Andrew are also estimated at $50 billion. Rounding out the top loss producers are 1915′s Galveston ($40 billion), 2005′s Katrina ($40 billion), the 1938 Great New England ($35 billion), and 1954’s Hazel and 1965’s Betsy. both estimated at $20 billion. Hurricane Donna in 1960 affected the entire East Coast from Florida to Maine and would likely cause a $25 billion loss today. The remaining 17 storms on the list range from $10 to $15 billion each.
2012 CoreLogic Storm Surge Report Reveals More Than Four Million U.S. Homes at Risk for Hurricane Storm Surge Flooding
2012 CoreLogic Storm Surge Report Reveals More Than Four Million U.S. Homes at Risk for Hurricane Storm Surge Flooding
Source: CoreLogic
CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today released its annual Storm Surge Report detailing exposure of single-family homes to storm-surge damage within several predefined geographic areas in the United States. The 2012 CoreLogic Storm Surge Report provides the first-ever property-level analysis of residential property risk along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts broken down by region and by individual state, in addition to a snapshot of risk within previously reported major metro areas.
This year’s report indicates that just over four million homes in the U.S. along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts are at risk of hurricane-driven storm-surge damage, with more than $700 billion in total property exposure. In the Atlantic Coast region alone, there are approximately 2.2 million homes at risk, valued at more than $500 billion. Total exposure along the Gulf Coast is nearly $200 billion, with just under 1.8 million homes at risk for potential storm-surge damage.
Hurricane Andrew and Insurance: The Enduring Impact of an Historic Storm
Hurricane Andrew and Insurance: The Enduring Impact of an Historic Storm
Source: Insurance Information Institute
Hurricane Andrew struck Florida on August 24, 1992, and the tumult it created for the property insurance market in the state has not ceased in the 20 years since, according to an analysis by the Insurance Information Institute (.I.I.). The I.I.I. white paper outlines six key insurance market changes attributed to the costliest Florida disaster. Insurance claims payouts for Andrew totaled $15.5 billion at the time ($25 billion in 2011 dollars), and it remains the second costliest U.S. natural disaster, after Hurricane Katrina, which hit in 2005. Hurricane Andrew forced individuals, insurers, legislators, insurance regulators and state governments to come to grips with the necessity of preparing both financially and physically for unprecedented natural disaster.
Managing Biofuels Portfolio Risk – The Role of Financial and Risk Analysis
Managing Biofuels Portfolio Risk – The Role of Financial and Risk Analysis
Source: Deloitte
The Department of Navy (DON), Department of Energy, and United States Department of Agriculture are together pursuing an ambitious program to support military requirements for viable and cost effective biofuels and to accelerate the growth of a national biofuels industry to address strategic energy security concerns. These three departments are stakeholders in a major program utilizing Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III authority to invest up to $510M in the nascent US biofuels industry. The investment, further leveraged by a one-for-one funding match by the private sector, could create a total portfolio in excess of $1B. The magnitude of this industry-shifting investment has attracted significant attention from the biofuels industry, investment community, law and policy makers and the US public.
Residual Market Property Plans: From Markets of Last Resort to Markets of First Choice – 2012
Residual Market Property Plans: From Markets of Last Resort to Markets of First Choice – 2012
Source: Insurance Information Institute
This report by Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, and Claire Wilkinson analyzes the changes taking place within the residual property market, which consists of a myriad of different programs in place across the United States to provide insurance to high-risk policyholders who may have difficulty obtaining coverage from the standard market. So called residual, shared or involuntary market programs make basic insurance coverage more readily available. The report notes the still-burgeoning growth of the market, which now has a massive total exposure to loss that is approaching $900 billion. Despite attempts by certain states to reduce the size of their plans the fact of the matter is that this market of last resort remains the market of first choice for many vulnerable, high-risk coastal properties. The report focuses on the plans in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, North and South Carolina, and Texas.
J.D. Power and Associations 2012 Auto Insurance Study
JD Power and Associates 2012 Auto Insurance Study
Source: J.D. Power and Associates
Led primarily by increases in satisfaction with policy offerings and billing and payment, overall customer satisfaction with auto insurance companies has reached an all-time high, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Auto Insurance StudySM released today.
The study measures customer satisfaction with auto insurance companies across five factors: interaction; price; policy offerings; billing and payment; and claims. Overall satisfaction with auto insurance companies is 804 (on a 1,000-point scale), up 14 points from 2011. Satisfaction levels in 2012 are the highest since the study was launched in 2000.
Satisfaction increases in all factors in 2012, with significant improvements in policy offerings (+30 points) and interaction (+19 points). Satisfaction with price is essentially unchanged from 2011.
2012 Insurance Website Evaluation Study
2012 Insurance Website Evaluation Study (PDF)
Source: J.D. Power & Associates
Websites have become a primary source for comparison shopping, and reading product reviews a common first step in the shopping process for many purchase decisions. As online activities become more embedded in the shopping process, refinements introduced in one industry often immediately reshape consumers’ expectations in other industries. Insurance company websites that may have been considered innovative or state of the art even a year ago may be perceived as quaint and outdated by today’s savvy insurance shoppers.
Numerous insurers have made significant investments in building websites to serve the needs of a growing segment of shoppers who want to interact and purchase personal auto insurance online. It is therefore critical for insurance companies to meet those expectations in order to continue to grow. The stakes are extremely high: in a marketplace that generated $169 billion in premiums in 2011, the 10% of customers who switched insurers during that time period represented an addressable market worth nearly $17 billion. This may explain in part why t
The J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Insurance Shopping Study SM (ISS), which was released in March, finds that insurance company websites are playing an increasingly greater role in the auto policy shopping process, whether customers are requesting a quote or simply using the website to gather contact or policy-related information. The management discussion for the ISS, titled “The Role of the Web in Shopping for Insurance,” highlights three key trends that address how the Web has influenced the auto insurance shopping process for recent shoppers (those requesting a quote in the last 12 months):
- Nearly three-fourths (73%) of insurance shoppers visit at least one insurer’s website during their shopping process
- During the past 3 years, the proportion of shoppers able to complete all their shopping activity online has increased by more than 50%, from 15% to 23% of shoppers
- More than one-third (34%) of shoppers say they would most prefer to purchase their policy online instead of through a local agent or call center
With a significant and increasing share of shoppers using insurer websites to obtain insurance quotes, as well as to find contact or policy information, the ability of websites to easily deliver this information in a clear and appealing manner may make the difference between a shopper considering a brand or bouncing to a competitor’s website that more readily meets their needs and expectations. This management discussion will provide an overview of what website design characteristics are most critical for insurers in order to provide prospect shoppers with an outstanding website experience, and draws from the detailed findings and recommendations of the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Insurance Website Evaluation Study SM (IWES).
Celebrate safely – ABI publishes guide on organising street parties and other events
Celebrate safely – ABI publishes guide on organising street parties and other events
Source: Association of British Insurers
With over 3,500 applications made so far to local authorities alone for street parties to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, this year looks set to be a bumper year for celebrations. To help party organisers ensure that events run smoothly, whether on public or private land or in your own home, the ABI has produced a guide.
‘Celebrate – An ABI guide to planning an event’ sets out what party organisers need to know, including:
- Things to consider about your venue, such as is it safe for the number of people you expect, are outdoor activities involved, such as bouncy castles, and what fire aid will be available.
- If planning a street party, steps you need to take, including contacting your local council.
- Any requirements for public liability insurance and how this cover can help party organisers protect against things that could go wrong.
2012 Insurance Regulation Report Card
2012 Insurance Regulation Report Card
Source: R Street
A state-by-state study of the U.S. insurance regulatory system, examining which states are doing the best job of regulating insurance through limited, effective and efficient government. Authored by R Street Public Affairs Director R.J. Lehmann, the report card measures states on 14 objective variables, including the concentration of home and auto insurance markets and relative size of residual markets; the effectiveness of state solvency and fraud regulation; the transparency and politicization of insurance regulation; the tax and fee burden placed on insurance markets and the proportion of fees used to support insurance regulation; and the relative freedom granted to insurers to set risk-based rates, including through the use of credit and territorial information.
