Know What's Happening in Insurance
Know What's Happening in Insurance
U.S. doubles Hormuz maritime reinsurance guarantee to $40 billion
On April 3, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. announced it is doubling its maritime reinsurance guarantee to $40 billion, adding AIG and Berkshire Hathaway to a consortium that already includes Chubb, Travelers, Liberty Mutual, Starr and CNA. The expanded program aims to restore confidence in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global trade.
Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg told shareholders that the commercial property‑and‑casualty pricing environment is softening, but the shift is "textured and nuanced" rather than binary. He emphasized that underwriting discipline remains the cornerstone of Chubb’s ability to navigate both hard and soft market cycles, allowing the insurer to grow selectively. The company posted a record $6.53 billion P&C underwriting income and a combined ratio of 85.7%, underscoring strong profitability. Additionally, Chubb was named lead partner for the U.S. Development Finance Corporation’s $20 billion maritime reinsurance plan to revive Gulf shipping.
When people talk about generative AI risks, they usually focus on the technology. But there are really two layers. Embedded risks that come from the models themselves, and enacted risks that emerge from how organizations deploy them. In practice, the biggest problems often...
Verisk announced the formation of Verisk General Insurance UK & Ireland, a consolidated business unit that brings together its International Underwriting, Property and Risk, Claims UK, and Ignite platforms. Chris Sawford, a veteran of Verisk’s claims division and co‑founder of...
Swiss Re's sigma insights report warns that ultra‑processed food (UPF) makers face growing legal exposure after the first government‑initiated lawsuit was filed in December 2025. Plaintiffs are expanding tactics from individual injury claims to public‑cost recovery actions that sidestep strict...
Thirteen state attorneys general have filed a lawsuit against OneMain Financial, alleging the lender misled subprime borrowers into purchasing costly add‑on products such as credit insurance. The complaint says employees pressured borrowers, financed premiums into loans, and sometimes charged add‑ons...
Guy Carpenter has appointed Dr. Ian Bartholomew, co‑founder of parametric flood insurer FloodFlash, as Global Head of Parametric Advisory effective June 1, 2026. Based in London and reporting to Managing Director David Lightfoot, Bartholomew will lead the firm’s push into...
W.R. Berkley reported a record $494 million of premiums ceded to its Lifson Re collateralized reinsurance sidecar in 2025, marking an 18.5% increase over 2024. The quota‑share cession rate was raised to 32.5% at the start of the year and has remained steady....
Transcarent has added a new “Payment Integrity” category to its Experience Store through a partnership with AI‑driven health‑tech firm Bluespine. The service targets the $300 billion annual loss from fraud, waste and abuse in U.S. healthcare by analyzing every medical and...
S&P Global Ratings warns that the ongoing Middle East war is amplifying cyber‑threat activity, with threat actors launching more DDoS attacks, phishing campaigns and network intrusions. While no large insured cyber losses have been reported yet, the situation remains fluid...
On August 11, 2025, an explosion ripped through U.S. Steel’s Clairion coke plant in Pennsylvania, killing two workers and injuring eleven. The blast occurred just weeks after Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel, thrusting the new owner into liability...
The Chief Risk Officer (CRO) Forum warns that SRCC risks are becoming more frequent, widespread, and complex across industries. It cites a surge in climate‑related events, geopolitical instability, and evolving regulatory expectations as primary drivers. The forum urges firms to...
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that India aims for universal health‑insurance coverage by 2033, building on a market that insured 58 crore lives in FY 2024‑25. The sector’s premium volume hit Rs 1,17,505 crore, with public, private and standalone insurers contributing roughly equally. Recent regulatory...
Pool Re, the UK government‑backed terrorism reinsurance mutual, is re‑entering the catastrophe‑bond market with its fourth Baltic PCC Limited issuance, Series 2026‑1. The bond will be sold privately and the proceeds will collateralise a retrocessional reinsurance agreement, extending Pool Re’s terrorism...
The Institutes launched the Associate in Insurance AI (AIAI) designation to equip risk and insurance professionals with AI literacy and ethical decision‑making skills. The program comprises three self‑paced online courses—AI Fundamentals, AI in the insurance value chain, and leading an...
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has recommended a 7% reduction in the Medicare fee‑for‑service home health payment rate for 2027, projecting $750 million in savings in the first year and up to five‑year cumulative cuts. The National Alliance for Care...
War risk rates soar as Iranians ramp up ship attacks US reinsurance scheme light on details as convoy plans out of reach for now https://t.co/BoE7xMfsVr
Gulf shipping insurance soars. Bloomberg: "The cost of coverage has leaped to about 5% of the value of a ship" At the beginning of the war, it was 0.25% (see FT piece to right) 5% is... insane. You're simply not paying that if you...
Employer advocacy groups praised the Healthy Competition for Better Care Act, a bipartisan bill targeting anticompetitive contracts in the U.S. health‑care market. The legislation would ban all‑or‑nothing network clauses, anti‑steering, anti‑tiering, most‑favored‑nation, and gag provisions that limit price transparency. Introduced...
New York City’s MetroPlus Health Plan, a publicly owned insurer created in 1985, now serves 690,000 members and holds $657 million in surplus. A 2002 Department of Health memo limits its commercial enrollment to 10% of members, effectively capping its growth...
Texas sees some of the nation’s highest commercial‑truck traffic, making it a hotspot for fatal crashes. Unique to Texas, about 25% of employers opt out of workers' compensation, allowing injured drivers to pursue direct negligence suits that bypass traditional caps....
The 2026 Benevolent Insurtech Trust Index reveals a deep trust gap between brokers and insurtech vendors, with 67% of surveyed brokers claiming ROI promises are overstated. Only 22% feel vendors are honest about features, pricing, and implementation, while just 23%...
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals revived securities class‑action claims against Funko and its CEO and CFO, focusing on allegedly misleading risk‑factor disclosures about inventory and ERP failures. Investors sued after Funko disclosed tens of millions of dollars in inventory...
A preview of a paper to be released on March 18 that makes the case for creating a federal reinsurance entity to cope with the challenges that climate change poses to the homeowners insurance market https://t.co/N0nM5u9Owq via @BrookingsInst
"Shipping Insurance Costs for Hormuz Passage Surge After Vessel Attacks" https://t.co/Aq3e4lGXyX "Details of a plan for the US International Development Finance Corporation to help insure tankers are still unclear." https://t.co/mC9xKl2B7o
GT Advisory outlines five key considerations for insuring tax risks in UK and European M&A transactions, focusing on warranty‑and‑indemnity (W&I) and specific tax risk policies. It explains the insurer’s perspective, emphasizing the asymmetry between seller and insurer risk/reward calculations. The...
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation launched a $20 billion government‑backed maritime reinsurance facility with Chubb to restore shipping coverage in the Persian Gulf after private insurers withdrew. In Louisiana, the insurance commissioner approved Allstate auto rate cuts ranging from 2.9 %...
Norman Marks argues that not every risk needs a precise numerical value, but quantification becomes essential when risk acceptability is unclear. He emphasizes that risk is a distribution of outcomes and that both upside and downside should be measured to...
California’s wildfire‑driven insurance crisis is spilling into low‑risk neighborhoods as private carriers withdraw, pushing tens of thousands onto the state‑run FAIR Plan. Enrollment in the FAIR Plan surged 43% between September 2024 and December 2025, and 14% of its policies now cover...
Alvarez & Marsal’s MA Pulse Survey of 30 health‑system executives reveals a sharp inflection in Medicare Advantage participation, with declining reimbursements and rising denials eroding profitability. Six in ten respondents expect lower payments, while 74 % anticipate tougher collections and 52 % foresee...
Build America Mutual Assurance Company (BAM) saw Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) upgrade the outlook on its Fidus Re Series 2022-1 financial guarantee ILS to Positive, while reaffirming AA+ on the 2021-1 series and AA on the 2022-1 and 2025-1...
Oman Air Cargo will add a Fuel Surcharge and a War Risk Surcharge to all shipments starting March 18, 2026. The fuel charge will track the US Gulf Coast Jet A1 price per gallon and be reviewed weekly, while the...
After two years of steep premium hikes, 2026 saw modest price relief in some commercial lines, but insurers simultaneously raised deductibles, tightened definitions, and expanded exclusions. The result is a disconnect: premiums appear stable while the amount of loss companies...
State Farm has registered a new Bermuda special‑purpose insurer, Merna Re Enterprise II Ltd., likely to support upcoming catastrophe‑bond issuances. The move follows a decade‑long strategy of using Merna Re entities, which have funded $3 billion of cat‑bond protection and a...
The European Union has adopted Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/269, amending the Solvency II directive and redefining the structure of the Solvency and Financial Condition Report (SFCR) for insurers. Effective 30 January 2027, the SFCR will be presented in two distinct parts—one aimed at...
Willis, through its GB Affinity unit, has partnered with European insurtech Qover to create an embedded insurance ecosystem for UK businesses. The joint offering combines Willis’ broking expertise and Radar analytics with Qover’s API‑driven platform, enabling rapid, product‑agnostic insurance programs...
Nolana AI, an agentic AI operating system for insurance operations, has been chosen for Cohort 16 of Lloyd’s Lab, the leading global accelerator for the specialist insurance market. The company was selected from more than 220 applicants, joining only 12...
When "AI in insurance" meets InsurTech revamping insurance distribution. → https://t.co/kcythS7tvu The Boston Consulting Group recently published an article exploring how the rise of personal AI assistants might revamp how people buy insurance. https://t.co/P7X5Q1mtQx
Visa warns that check fraud now accounts for roughly 30% of U.S. fraud losses in 2024, with checks being 31 times more likely to be fraudulent than real‑time transactions. Criminals are leveraging both traditional methods such as check washing and...
Assurant announced a partnership with Dutch online mobile operator hollandsnieuwe to launch mobile device protection in the Netherlands. The offering includes a Standard plan covering accidental damage and a Premium plan adding theft and loss coverage. A fully digital enrollment...
CollectForU Expert and Debt Hunter released a joint report revealing that over 70% of Hong Kong SMEs lack basic credit defense mechanisms, exposing them to severe liquidity risk as supply‑chain payment cycles lengthen. The study highlights a growing gap between...
AutoFlight has introduced AF Care+, an all‑in‑one protection programme for operators of its CarryAll eVTOL aircraft. The offering, built on an initial arrangement with People’s Insurance Company of China (PICC), insures ten aircraft and expands to cover aircraft damage, third‑party liability,...
Viriyah Insurance is considering higher premiums for electric‑vehicle (EV) policies after its EV segment posted a combined‑ratio loss slightly above 10 %, meaning claims and expenses exceed premiums. The insurer will adopt a model‑by‑model pricing approach, tailoring rates to each vehicle’s...
As businesses increasingly rely on autonomous AI agents, some insurers are offering specialized coverage for AI errors, while others introduce exclusions, signaling a shift toward explicit policies addressing AI-related risks. aibusiness
Question for all the maritime insurance experts out there - what will it take for the large P&I clubs to reactivate coverage through the Strait of Hormuz? One of my takeaways from this conflict is how few missiles and drones it...
Medicare Advantage (MA) spending is projected to be 14% higher than fee‑for‑service Medicare in 2026, adding roughly $76 billion in excess costs. The gap stems from intensified diagnostic coding, a quality‑bonus program that adds $16 billion, and favorable selection that boosts payments...
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘂𝘇 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗲𝘁. Here's something most supply chain professionals don't fully appreciate — and probably should. Iran doesn't need to physically block the world's most critical oil chokepoint. They just need to...
CMS announced that the third round of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program will proceed with full manufacturer participation, covering 15 high‑cost, single‑source drugs and one drug slated for renegotiation. The agency will issue initial price offers by June 1, 2026,...
The American Hospital Association (AHA) submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the agency’s proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2027. While the AHA praised CMS’s push for innovative coverage options, it warned...
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released its March 2026 report to Congress, outlining recommended payment rates for hospital inpatient and outpatient services for 2027. The commission also proposed allocating an additional $1 billion to safety‑net hospitals through a new Medicare safety‑net...
A recent Ames & Gough survey shows eight of fifteen designer‑liability insurers raised premiums in 2025, though most hikes were five percent or less. Five insurers kept rates flat and two even lowered them, leaving the overall professional‑liability market for architects...
