SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL April 18, 2012

 

If there is a subject you would like to see addressed on Wednesday, April 25, please email Mike Barry at Michaelb@iii.org.

 

Private U.S. property/casualty (P/C) insurers’ net income after taxes fell to $19.1 billion in 2011 from $35.2 billion in 2010, with insurers’ overall profitability as measured by their rate of return on average policyholders’ surplus dropping to 3.5 percent from 6.6 percent, according to a jointly issued Monday, April 16, news release. The I.I.I.’s Bob Hartwig offered this commentary on the year-end 2011 results.

The I.I.I.’s presentation and full commentary on insurance industry employment trends was the subject of this Monday, April 16, Hartford Courant blog item, which focused on how job growth can be found among reinsurers, agents and brokers. Meanwhile, the I.I.I. reported that the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U)—the popular measure of inflation, sometimes called headline inflation—was 2.7 percent higher in March 2012 than in March 2011.

Kate Haw, vice president for development at the National Building Museum, reports that the Museum is readying an exhibition for fall 2013 that will “discuss disaster mitigation as an evolving science and highlight the tools and strategies that today’s engineers, designers, planners, and various business and community leaders are investigating and adopting to build safer, more disaster resilient communities both here and abroad.”  More details are in the attached prospectus, as well as information about sponsorship opportunities. Ms. Haw’s office number is 202-272-2448, ext. 3907; her email is: khaw@nbm.org. 

The statement can be found in the most recent edition of Conning’s Property-Casualty Industry Forecast & Analysis. The report is based on Conning’s proprietary property/casualty industry model and analysis of key industry drivers, data and reporting.

 

The I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore gave a detailed on-the-record interview to columnist Ron Lieber on this topic after canvassing a number of I.I.I. member companies, but the I.I.I. was not quoted in the final New York Times piece, which was posted on Friday afternoon, April 20.  One of the key takeaways from the article is that homeowners and renters who want to rent their residences through websites such as airbnb.com and vrbo.com should assess whether they have the proper insurance coverage before doing so. The I.I.I. has since posted an article on the subject on its website.

Yale and George Mason University researchers released on Wednesday, April 18, the results of a survey showing a majority of Americans believe the unusually warm winter this year, the extremely warm summer last year and assorted weather disasters, probably reflect the effects of global warming. The New York Times offered a preview the day the survey was released.

The Wall Street Journal’s (subscription required) Eyes on the Road columnist, Joseph White, offered details in the paper’s Wednesday, April 18, print edition.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report last month, which was publicly released this week, on how Congress can reduce federal subsidies in the crop insurance market.

 

The Columbus Dispatch published a story on Tuesday, April 17, about the Ohio Insurance Information Institute’s survey on earthquake coverage in the state amid concerns that increasing seismic activity in Ohio may be tied to fracking. 

 

A flea-sized bug is damaging citrus trees in the San Gabriel Valley, the state’s orange capital before the industry migrated to central California, according to this Saturday, April 14, Los Angeles Times article. 

 

Kurtis Ming, a consumer investigative reporter for Sacramento’s CBS affiliate, is taping an interview with Tully Lehman of the Insurance Information Network of California (IINC) on Thursday, April 26. The story is pegged to a motorist who had a proposed auto insurance premium rate hike rescinded after successfully challenging the CLUE Auto Report. Ming’s stories often get picked up by CBS affiliates nationwide.

Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell filed a story about rising property insurance rates in Central Florida, and his personal experience in shopping for lower rates, on Saturday, April 14. Maxwell wrote that property insurance rate increases are due to “a confluence of things: shoddy decisions and poor planning by the politicians; big profits and financial games played by the insurance companies; and the new way the industry has decided to assign risk.”

 

On Sunday, April 15, Maxwell posted a related blog on how to get better insurance rates, pointing to the Office of Insurance Regulation’s comparison shopping website.

 

Louisiana’s House Committee on Transportation, Highway and Public Works has given unanimous approval to House Bill 1130, which will allow insurance companies to send proof of vehicle insurance to drivers electronically and have law enforcement officers accept that as valid proof of coverage, according to this Tuesday, April 17, Times-Picayune article.

The Alabama Senate has delayed indefinitely consideration of a slate of property insurance bills because of a filibuster that began on Tuesday, April 17, after two insurance measures—Senate Bill 231 and House Bill 189—failed on procedural votes, the Mobile Press-Register reported. Three other insurance bills on the agenda were never brought up for a vote.

 

Effective  Friday, April 13, Michigan became the 31^st state in the U.S. to make wearing a helmet optional when riding a motorcycle, according to this Saturday, April 14 Detroit Free Press article. There are nearly 236,000 registered motorcycles in Michigan, the story reports.

 

The I.I.I.’s Hartwig was interviewed last week by Steve Pardo of The Detroit News about a little-noticed provision in a recently signed pact between the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit. The accord focuses primarily on helping Detroit’s government regain its financial footing but also calls for reducing auto insurance costs “for [Detroit] residents through the Michigan Automobile Insurance Placement Facility, creating a base rate that reflects a more neutral score, resulting in noticeable rate reductions.”  Hartwig told Pardo that reforming Michigan’s no-fault system was the best way to bring about auto insurance premium rate reductions in Detroit and elsewhere. No story about this matter has appeared to date.

A Long Island judge has approved a liquidation plan for Executive Life Insurance Company of New York (ELNY), a company that was run by New York’s Liquidation Bureau for more than 20 years. About 15 percent of ELNY’s policyholders will be receiving benefit reductions, according to this Tuesday, April 17, Wall Street Journal article (subscription required).

State attorney general Linda Kelly and state Police Commissioner Frank Noonan announced in this news release on Tuesday, April 17, charges against 26 people who are alleged to have been involved a luxury car-theft ring that spanned three states: Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York. The story was widely covered in Philadelphia because a rental car company near Philadelphia International Airport was apparently targeted by the suspects on numerous occasions.

Dr. Hartwig’s commentary on the 2011 Year-End Results, and the ISO/PCI/I.I.I. news release on results themselves, have been widely shared on Twitter this week.

 

Financial Literacy Month (April) is trending with an emphasis on educating young people about financial responsibility and educating adults about annuities and saving for retirement. I.I.I. content on annuities is among the resources being posted to Twitter.  

 

Ron Lieber’s Saturday, April 14, piece in the print edition of The New York Times on a February 2012 RelayRides accident that resulted in a fatality, and the subsequent insurance implications of that crash, has been getting some shares on Twitter among journalists and insurance agents. Despite all of the warnings and questions about RelayRides, much of the commentary on Twitter about car is positive; it is seen as convenient for young adults in urban areas who only occasionally need a vehicle, as well as being environmentally friendly. 

 

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

 

For an I.I.I. Blog search, click here.