SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL June 6, 2012

 

If there is a subject you would like to see addressed on Wednesday, June 13, please email Mike Barry at Michaelb@iii.org.

 

The CFA’s report was issued on Monday, June 4, and generated stories in The Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg, and the online edition of The Wall Street Journal. The I.I.I. circulated talking points and a summary of the CFA’s teleconference on the same day the report was issued.

The I.I.I.’s Bob Hartwig spoke this week with Jeff Blyskal, a California-based senior editor at CR, about how insurers have reduced their coastal exposure, and the origins of hurricane deductibles. Blyskal’s story will appear in an upcoming edition of Consumer Report  (August or September 2012).  Accompanying the article will be a customer satisfaction survey regarding home insurance companies. The survey is based on the opinion of Consumer Reports readers. Consumer Reports traditionally undertakes this project once every three years.  Consumer Reports’ 2009 homeowner insurer article and ratings are attached.

The report includes a compilation of tables that provide direct market share statistics of companies’ property insurance premiums by state, offering a quick, simplified method for estimating insurers’ potential for catastrophe losses for a given event, this Friday, June 1, Fitch Ratings news release states.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)  is incorporating into its suite of storm forecast products a model that helps predict the start of a hurricane’s “eye wall replacement cycle,” according to this Wednesday, May 30, news release. 

 

The I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore has been working with Steve Livingston, a producer at New York City’s ABC affiliate, on a story that the network wants to broadcast. It will focus on destination weddings that have been canceled because either a resort or a hotel has gone into bankruptcy, and the role wedding and travel insurance policies play in helping couples and their guests recoup their investment. Salvatore also did interviews with Alyssa Wells of Brides magazine about purchasing coverage for an engagement ring, and Troy Anderson of Bankrate.com about renter’s insurance. She cautioned the group that Anderson often asks general insurance questions without volunteering he has a specific incident in mind.

Three men, a father and his two adult sons, were killed on Monday, June 4, when an EF-2 tornado struck their mobile home in Diehlstadt, Missouri, a community about 100 miles south of St. Louis. Fifty-two (52) other homes and several businesses in Diehlstadt incurred property damage, mostly to roofs, because of the same twister, according to this Associated Press article.

 

Thirteen (13) tornadoes touched down in these two states on Friday, June 1, according to the National Weather Service, a Monday, June 5, Washington Post article reports. The I.I.I.’s Salvatore spoke on Saturday, June 2, with the Baltimore Sun’s Yvonne Wenger about claims-filing tips, and the insurance industry’s response to natural disasters.

 

The largest wildfire in the state’s history was only 18 percent contained as of Monday, June 4, according to this Associated Press article about the blaze, and other wildfires burning in, or near, Gila National Forest.

 

Two pilots died while fighting a wildfire on Sunday, June 3, in southern Utah. Federal investigators were at the scene on Tuesday, June 5, trying to determine cause of the plane crash.

Catastrophe-risk modelers have overestimated the likelihood of a major hurricane making landfall in South Carolina, according to a Post and Courier article, which was posted on Monday, June 4. It was followed a few days later by another piece on the rising cost of homeowners insurance in the state’s coastal counties. The South Carolina Insurance News Service said it has submitted a letter to the publication’s editor, challenging some of the information incorporated into both articles.

 

Coastal residents who have property insurance policies with the state-operated property insurer of last resort would get a 10 percent break on their coverage for the next three years under legislation (Senate Bill 204) lawmakers have sent to Governor Bobby Jindal, according to this Wednesday, June 6, Baton Rouge Advocate article.

 

Commissioner James Donelon said the state’s insurance department has hired Karen Clark, founder of AIR Worldwide, as an outside adviser to help the state “poke holes” in arguments from insurers that are using the latest generation of hurricane computer models to set their rates, this Thursday, May 31, Times-Picayune story reports.

 

The I.I.I.’s Steve Weisbart gave a PowerPoint presentation to the state Legislature’s Shoreline Preservation Task Force in Hartford on Wednesday, June 6. Weisbart gave lawmakers an assessment of Connecticut’s property insurance market in the wake of August 2011’s Tropical Storm Irene, which generated $230 million in insured claims payouts in the state.

 

More than eight inches of rain fell in parts of Maine over the weekend of Saturday, June 2, and Sunday, June 3, causing minor flooding events, the Associated Press reports.

 

The I.I.I. organized and participated in a special Univision Miami TV program on Tuesday evening, June 5, that generated 72 viewer calls to a consumer hotline. Univision viewers were invited to pose insurance questions, and bilingual experts were made available to answer them.  More details on the initiative can be found in this Monday, June 4, I.I.I. media advisory.

 

Hurricane shutters are a cost-effective way to protect residential and commercial properties while also providing insurance premium discounts, according to a Tuesday, June 5, Miami Herald article.

 

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation and Florida’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund are in a stronger financial position in 2012 than in previous years because of six consecutive years without a major Florida storm and because of high demand for catastrophe bonds among investors, according to this Monday, June 4, Wall Street Journal (subscription required) print edition article.

Hurricane Hunters, a new Weather Channel program, premieres on Monday evening, June 11, at 9 p.m., ET.

Fox Business Network launched on Monday, June 4, at 5 p.m., ET, a new show starring former CNBC anchor Melissa Francis, pushing The Willis Report back to a 6 p.m., ET, start.

The official start of hurricane season is making headlines in social media this week with insurance bloggers and tweeters reminding people to be prepared by updating their homeowners insurance policy, and checking and repairing the physical structures of homes and businesses. There are also some consumer groups reminding people to have evacuation plans and to be sure to include family pets in those plans.

 

Paralleling these messages of disaster preparedness is a trend on Facebook with individuals and insurance agents sharing I.I.I.’s home inventory software as a way to be ready in case a major storm strikes this hurricane season. 

 

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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