SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL April 11, 2012

To recap the issues raised during Wednesday’s conference call, here are some of the key media stories, and the messages we’re conveying.

 

If there is a subject you would like to see addressed on Wednesday, April 18, please email Mike Barry at Michaelb@iii.org.

 

The I.I.I. issued a news release on Wednesday, April 11, the same day as the 8-plus magnitude quake to the west of Indonesia. The release discussed U.S. vulnerability to tsunamis and how the insurance industry has paid out tens of billions of dollars worldwide because of four earthquakes in the past two years (Japan, Chile and two in New Zealand).

 

The I.I.I. issued a news release on Monday, April 9, on the core coverages offered in a standard travel insurance policy, days before the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic sinking in the north Atlantic.  Smart Money’s Kelli Grant filed an online story based in part on the I.I.I.’s statement.

USA Today had in its Wednesday, April 11, print edition a story on a CoreLogic report which found that the frequency and severity of tornadoes in the Midwest and Deep South are greater than generally believed. The report noted that Kansas is the only state in the traditional Tornado Alley that ranked among the five states with the most tornadoes during the last three decades.

The incident, involving a Navy plane, occurred on Friday, April 6, and caused significant damage to 40-plus apartment units, according to this Newport News, Virginia Daily Press story from Monday, April 9, which reported that the flight recorder had been found in the wreckage.

 

U.S. application activity for individually underwritten life insurance grew 4.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012 as compared to the first quarter of 2011, the U.S. life insurance industry’s best start since 2007, according to a statement issued on Monday, April 9, by the MIB Life Index.

Paul Sullivan’s piece will focus primarily on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed new rules governing the mortgage servicing industry. It could appear as early as this weekend (April 14-15).

 

The city of Passaic wants to impose municipal accident response fees on its citizens, and this Friday, March 30, article in The Record indicates it is an unpopular proposal with the public and some of the region’s insurers. The I.I.I.’s Mike Barry taped an interview on this issue on Wednesday, April 11, with 101.5 FM, a Trenton-based all-news radio station that is polling its listeners on the matter. The segment will air on Thursday morning, April 12.

Governor Cuomo declared a state of emergency on Long Island on Tuesday, April 10, after 1,000-plus acres burned in a largely unpopulated part of Suffolk County due to wildfires which have since been extinguished. The I.I.I. issued a media advisory on the New York wildfires, as well as those in New Jersey, on Tuesday, April 10.

 

Maryland’s House approved HB 366, a measure that protects the automatic home fire sprinkler requirement in the state’s building code from being weakened by local amendments. “While HB 366 prevents weakening the fire sprinkler provision at the local level, broader fire and safety code provisions were removed from the bill prior to passage, which means they have been left unprotected and can be weakened by local amendments,” said a Monday, April 9, news release from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS).

Arlington has spent about $700,000 on police, fire and other emergency services since Tuesday, April 3, when a tornado damaged 536 homes and injured seven people in that city, according to a story posted on Tuesday, April 10, at The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The article notes the National Weather Service raised the total Texas tornado count from that day to 17 from 16.

Thousands of acres of wildfires were reported on Tuesday, April 10, impacting multiple counties just south of Jacksonville, according to the Florida Times-Union.

 

Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) determined that United Property & Casualty Insurance Co., and Kingsway Amigo Insurance Co., were affiliated entities based on common managerial control, setting into motion a number of managerial and board of director changes last week at United, according to this Friday, April 6, Tampa Bay Business Journal article.

The Mobile Press-Register reported that the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, on Wednesday morning, April 11, rejected a bill that would require insurance companies to list premium costs by coverage type on homeowners insurance policy renewals. The proposal, Senate Bill (SB) 228 from state Senator Ben Brooks (R-Mobile), was voted down, 7-5.  But the same committee voted, 10-1, in favor of Brooks’ SB 231. That bill would mandate that insurers detail the premium discounts available to people who retrofit their properties to better withstand storms. The proposed Homeowners Bill of Rights (HB 166) also generated news coverage. Meanwhile, Governor Bentley’s Affordable Homeowners Insurance Commission has a meeting scheduled for April 11.

 

The Louisiana Supreme Court overturned on Monday, April 9, an appeals court ruling that had delayed payment of a $105 million judgment against the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to thousands of its policyholders for taking too long to start adjusting policyholders’ claims after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon said he would continue the fight against the award, but plaintiffs’ attorneys say it is time for Citizens to pay up, according to this Tuesday, April 10, article in The Baton Rouge Advocate.

Carrie Burns has been appointed editor-in-chief of the online publication Insurance Networking News (INN), which bills itself as the leading information resource for insurance executives overseeing information technology, according to an announcement made this week by INN’s parent company, Source Media. Burns succeeds Patricia Speer, who will continue as a consultant to INN. Burns’ promotion follows a six-year tenure on INN’s editorial team.

 

Lisa Murphy, one of the anchors of Bloomberg TV’s Street Smart program, which airs live between 3 and 5 p.m., ET, on weekdays, left Bloomberg last week.

 

The I.I.I.’s article about tax deductions for unreimbursed losses has been generating some buzz on Twitter with insurance experts sharing the information as the deadline for filing taxes approaches. 

 

The biggest trending topic this week is a Reuters piece entitled “Insurers rethink coverage after weather disaster payouts.” This article has been reposted and shared on dozens of blogs including several that deal with climate change, where readers are discussing their fears and doubts about the sustainability of the homeowners insurance market in a future with increasingly severe weather. There is also a Facebook discussion going on about this topic by a group called ICEarth. They are telling consumers to carefully study their policies to make sure nothing major has been omitted by the insurer.  

 

The overall feel of these discussions is concern from consumers about how much they can expect to pay in the future, and worry over the different coverages which may be removed from policies.

 

The I.I.I. is cited regularly in the media as an authoritative source of insurance information. To access the current I.I.I. press clips, click here

 

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