Risk & Insurance articles from February 2002

Risk & Insurance archives from February 2002

Health care costs to increase more than expected. (Up Front).
February 1, 2002... Another year, another double-digit health care cost increase for employers. This bit of information is beginning to become a tired refrain for employers, who have seen the cost of offering health benefits to employees rise dramatically over the...

Catastrophe losses rise. (Up Front).
February 1, 2002... Both natural and man-made catastrophes claimed more than 33,000 lives worldwide in 2001, according to estimates by Swiss Re. The direct financial loss from major events is expected to be more than $115 billion, of which more than $32 billion...

New OSHA rule should help, not hinder. (Up Front).
February 1, 2002... Risk managers and employers are bracing for the impact of the new OSHA 300 reporting requirements, which took effect the first of this year. The new rule, which replaces the OSHA 200 requirements, was devised by OSHA to produce better...

From the Editor.
February 1, 2002... Just as we'll be dealing for years with the aftereffects of the terrorist attack that collapsed the World Trade Centers, a more recent collapse will preoccupy the business world in a different if no less momentous way. I'm talking about the...

Captive use expected to rise in 2002. (Up Front).
February 1, 2002... Captives and alternative risk financing will increase in 2002, as the hard insurance market causes companies to reevaluate their risk management programs and consider financing property/casualty risks outside the commercial market. In...

Willis Group Holdings Ltd. (News and Notes).
February 1, 2002... Willis Group Holdings Ltd., London, will acquire San Francisco-based Goldman Insurance Services/ Risk Management, an independent insurance brokerage and risk management firm specializing in property/casualty, employee benefits and personal...

Marsh. (News and Notes).
February 1, 2002... Marsh, New York, has acquired Eurobrok, a leading Spanish risk management company that specializes in providing services to medium-sized companies.

Aon Corp. (News and Notes).
February 1, 2002... Aon Corp., Chicago, has launched Aon Management Consulting, a new organization designed to help companies make improvements in productivity, efficiency, bottom-line growth, and organizational leadership.

The St. Paul Cos. (News and Notes).
February 1, 2002... The St. Paul Cos., St. Paul, Minn., has acquired the right to renew surety bond business previously underwritten by Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. in Novato, Calif.

Royal & SunAlliance Insurance. (News and Notes).
February 1, 2002... Royal & SunAlliance Insurance, headquartered in the United Kingdom, has sold its holding of six million shares in Chubb Corp., Warren, N.J. Royal & SunAlliance subsidiaries will retain 3.02 million shares in Chubb.

United States Aircraft Insurance Group (USAIG). (News and Notes).
February 1, 2002... Ace USA, Philadelphia, has become a member of the United States Aircraft Insurance Group (USAIG) aviation pool. Under this agreement, future Ace USA business aviation accounts for corporate aviation, noncritical products, pleasure and business...

Caliber One. (News and Notes).
February 1, 2002... Caliber One, the excess and surplus lines arm of PMA Capital, Philadelphia, has created a specialized professional liability underwriting unit that will offer both primary and excess claims-made coverage to a variety of business classes.

Citigroup. (News and Notes).
February 1, 2002... Financial services giant Citigroup, New York, will sell up to 20 percent of its Travelers Property Casualty insurance unit to the public, and give the rest to its shareholders next year. The IPO could raise about $5 billion. The spin off is the...

Interest increases in biometrics as a security tool. (Technology Solutions).
February 1, 2002... A few years ago, biometrics, the technical analysis of biological data to determine a person's identity, was merely a technical darling of the IT set. The system that scans various identifiable body parts to determine identity made its debut...

Inreon and reway merge. (Tech Briefs).
February 1, 2002... inreon, a reinsurance trading platform based in London, has merged with reway, a reinsurance auction platform that was a wholly owned subsidiary of Germany's Gothaer Re. The move is the second such consolidation effort from inreon, which also...

Quotesmith.com acquires insure.com. (Tech Briefs).
February 1, 2002... Online insurance broker Quotesmith.com located in Darien, Ill., has acquired selected assets of Hartford, Conn.-based Insurance News Network, including its flagship Web site, insure.com insure.com provides consumer and professional insurance...

Online broker resource. (Tech Briefs).
February 1, 2002... E-Risk Services LCC has released an online resource for its producers, called The Broker Zone. Located on the company's Web site, www.eriskservices.com, the online resource contains tools for several lines of insurance, including private...

RiskIndustry.Com. (Insurance Online).
February 1, 2002... RiskIndustry.Com, a new risk and insurance e-commerce consulting service based in Columbus, Ohio, has launched a risk industry portal, also called RiskIndustry.Com (www.riskindustry.com). This free site, founded by insurance and Internet...

ECS Inc. (Insurance Online).
February 1, 2002... ECS Inc., an Exton, Pa.-based XL Capital company that offers environmental risk management solutions, has introduced the Virtual Center for Environmental Risk Management, available at www.ecsinc.com/brokereducation. It is designed to provide...

Online spy. (Technology Solutions).
February 1, 2002... This month, Risk & Insurance editors spied an article on AIG Online (www.aigonline.com), in which Miriam Stickler of KPMG's Insurance Insider, notes that 2002 could be a good year for insurers despite Sept. 11 losses and new competition that...

Insurance capital of the world? (Bermuda Angle).
February 1, 2002... In less than two months after September 28 last year, more than $20 billion was committed to the global insurance industry. This new capacity may be the greatest allocation of capital since the Marshall Plan rebuilt Europe after World War II....

Occupational disease issues. (Workers' Comp).
February 1, 2002... Important differences exist between occupational diseases and traumatic injuries. Traumatic injuries, for the most part, present few questions relative to their occurrence or their relationship to the employment. In the majority of cases, a...

The industry reacts--part 2. (Risk Primer).
February 1, 2002... Insuring acts of terrorism will be a challenge to insurers, legislators, and policyholders alike for many years to come. At the time of this writing, much is left to be resolved after the events of September 11, 2001; the legislative response...

Europe's pendulum of risk: The single European currency is now a reality in 12 countries, but insurance and risk managers remain preoccupied with the terrorism issue. (Cover Story).
February 1, 2002... In normal times, Europe's risk managers would still have a full agenda of problems in the opening weeks of 2002. The introduction of a single pan-European currency in 12 countries on January 1 would be expected to head the schedule. The...

A different world for EPLI. (Special Report: Employment Practices).
February 1, 2002... Risk managers are facing a market for employment practices liability insurance that includes higher rates, stricter terms, and a resistance from insurers to fine-tune policies. It wasn't long ago that insurers were banging on doors,...

EPLI goes to Europe. (Special Report: Employment Practices).
February 1, 2002... U.S. style employment-related lawsuits are making their way across the Atlantic as changing labor laws in Europe now make it easy for employees to sue companies for unfair dismissal and other issues. Four years ago, Gina Higgins was in...

A guide for a tighter market: A survey of insurance companies reveals how the products for employment practices liability insurance are changing. (Special Report: Employment Practices).
February 1, 2002... The market for employment practices liability insurance is definitely changing, with significant pressure on rates and deductibles and only incremental improvements in coverage and services. What follows is an except from The Betterley...

Analyzing the boiler industry. (Boiler).
February 1, 2002... Finite element analysis is being used more and more throughout the boiler industry to detect flaws in equipment. But a lack of uniform standards for its effectiveness in determining fitness for service is creating confusion. Who would have...

A new paradigm for a competitive market: A new concept, competitive risk management, allows companies to exploit risk and profit from the risk/reward ratio that is inherent in every business transaction. (Risk in Focus).
February 1, 2002... In the challenging business climate of today, executives must continuously find new ways to add value to their firms. Some firms are succeeding in ventures that previously were not possible by using sophisticated risk management techniques in...

After the attack. (Workers' Comp).
February 1, 2002... The terrorist attack and anthrax-related deaths may create thousands of cases of posttraumatic stress disorder, along with many other types of mental stress cases. How many of these will translate into workers' comp claims or other employee...

Investing in an uncertain future: The investment high of the last two decades is over. An unstable economy is the new order. How can insurers manage assets in this uncertain environment? (Insurance Executive).
February 1, 2002... There aren't many people looking ahead with glowing optimism. In a post-terrorist world, many companies are sizing up the markets through a cloudy crystal ball. The bull market is gone, and the economy is still reeling from its effects. While...