Risk & Insurance articles from March 2003

Risk & Insurance archives from March 2003

Degrees of preparation.
March 3, 2003... When Steve Jaeger graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1989 with a double major in risk management and real estate, he was leaning toward a career in real estate. There was only one problem. "I had multiple job offers on the...

P&C leaders take market pulse. (Up Front).
March 3, 2003... The length of the current hard market should not be overestimated and the creativity of the plaintiff's bar to impose new costs on insurers should not be underestimated. That was the message delivered at the seventh annual Property/Casualty...

The first 10 steps to board governance. (Up Front).
March 3, 2003... A recent proposal by the New York Stock Exchange will soon require the boards and committees of its listed companies to undertake periodic assessments--a so-called governance review process, designed to strengthen boards and, as a result, help...

Boost productivity, cut injuries with job rotation. (Up Front).
March 3, 2003... Workers who continually perform repetitive tasks will likely suffer breakdowns over time, so employers should rotate workers through a variety of tasks or jobs to prevent injuries. The idea behind job rotation is to alleviate physical...

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. (News and Notes).
March 3, 2003... The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) in Indianapolis has announced its national agenda of state legislative and regulatory issues for 2003. Topping the list are rate modernization, credit-based insurance scoring,...

Zurich North America Small Business. (News and Notes).
March 3, 2003... Zurich North America Small Business of Schaumburg, Ill., has expanded its World Class Classes from 35 to 115 in the office, retail, service, wholesale, institutional and trade contractors business segments, including its builders' risk product....

Surety Association of America. (News and Notes).
March 3, 2003... The Standard Bond Form Number Index (BNI), developed by the Surety Association of America (SAA) in Washington, is now accessible online at www.surety.org. BNI is designed for use by surety companies, surety bond producers and other interested...

Willis Group Holdings. (News and Notes).
March 3, 2003... Willis Group Holdings, the New York-based global insurance broker, has announced the asset acquisition of Sunaro Inc., an employee benefits technology solutions company that delivers Web-based benefits communication, enrollment and...

Fireman's Fund McGee Marine Underwriters. (News and Notes).
March 3, 2003... Fireman's Fund McGee Marine Underwriters in New York is making its FOCUS(sm) Solution--a new e-solution for managing ocean cargo insurance--available to agents, brokers and their clients on a nationwide basis. The Fireman's Fund Online Cargo...

Texas Capital Bank. (News and Notes).
March 3, 2003... Texas Capital Bank in Dallas has launched an independent specialty insurance practice, Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc. The practice will offer life, disability, long-term care, health and liability insurance coverage;...

A.M. Best Co. (News and Notes).
March 3, 2003... A.M. Best Co. of Oldwick, N.J., has announced the availability of an online edition of Best's Captive Directory, accessible exclusively through its new online Captive Center (www.ambest.com/captive). The Directory comprises more than 25 years...

Premium thinking.
March 3, 2003... No matter what age you are, you're growing. And faster than you may realize. How fast? About 16,000 kilometers per hour. That's right. And every strand of DNA in every cell of your body is nearly two meters long, uncoiled. So...

Faulting the fiduciary. (Benefits).
March 3, 2003... Are your pension assets safe? Are your pension plan sponsors and trustees safe? Neither may be secure, as the stock market continues to flounder and plan participants struggle to secure their future benefits. And according to a recently...

PEOs: how they service the system. (Workers' Comp).
March 3, 2003... A professional employers organization arrangement establishes a co-employment relationship through which both the "work-site employer" and the PEO have legal rights and obligations with respect to the same group of employees. In such an...

Rising health-care costs for self-insureds. (Self-Insurance).
March 3, 2003... The self-insurance market, like everything else, has felt the sting of rising health-care costs. Self-insured benefit programs have felt the pain in a much more acute manner than fully insured programs because they are exposed not only to...

Bermuda front-runners. (Bermuda Angle).
March 3, 2003... Of the dozen large companies formed in Bermuda after 9/11, four have emerged as front-runners. The 2001 market leaders are Arch, AWAC, AXIS and Endurance. Each was started with $1 billion or more and is pursuing a different market niche. ...

Calendar of upcoming events.
March 3, 2003... March 9-11 Captive Insurance Companies Association's International Conference. Sessions at this year's meeting will address the tax front, international issues, corporate governance, U.S. business conditions, and will include industry...

A return to RTW: workers' comp providers--as well as employers and injured workers--would be better served were they to focus on sustainable return to work, not premium price increases. (Strategies).
March 3, 2003... It's abundantly clear that the workers' compensation industry has had a tough 2001, and that the final figures for 2002 will not be much better. Consider that the Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau now estimates the ultimate combined...

Hard market spurs captive growth: A variety of factors, including rising rates and tight underwriting restrictions, are driving employers into captives and risk retention groups in record numbers. (Special Report: Captives and Alternative Risk Transfer).
March 3, 2003... For nearly 10 years, the temptation was immense. Insurers were cutting rates with every renewal and aggressively pursuing employers they previously shunned. Some of those companies abandoned the captive insurers they formed during earlier...

Integrated risk: heyday or gone away? (Special Report: Captives and Alternative Risk Transfer).
March 3, 2003... Clearly demonstrating that all of your company's risks are well managed is vital. While this may seem impossible in today's contracted insurance market, it can be done. Just ask those risk managers who are fueling an unprecedented demand for...

Getting workers' comp costs under control: workers' comp insurance costs may accelerate as employers with good records continue to opt for self-insurance. (Workers' Comp).
March 3, 2003... Comparable workers' compensation insurance costs vary by as much as a factor of two among many neighboring states. Between the five lowest- and five highest-cost states, the average difference is a factor of more than three. For the...

Easing the renewal pain: with the dust settling on the toughest renewal period in memory, risk managers and their brokers are wondering what they can do to avoid a repeat experience. (Brokers).
March 3, 2003... Things are likely to get worse before they get better. The ongoing hard market remains the focal point of most risk-management functions. With hardening market issues significantly intensified over the course of the past year, insurance buyers,...

Technology Buyers' Guide. (Buyer's Guide).
March 3, 2003... BUYERS' GUIDE Technology Buyers' Guide Below is a guide to specialty software packages for insurance companies. This guide is not intended to be a complete directory but is an overview of some of the packages available. The software...

Taking a holistic approach to asset protection. (Cover Story: Technology for Risk Managers).
March 3, 2003... Among the many responsibilities facing today's risk managers, few are more important than protecting company assets by making sure people, property, data and products are safe. Whether it's an executive traveling to a politically "hot"...

Small devices, big challenges: handhelds present insurers with an assortment of new risks. But new technology is now helping many of them protect against the worst were it to happen. (Technology for Insurers).
March 3, 2003... Claims adjusters at the scene of an accident know there is nothing more important than recording data accurately and making sure it is communicated back to the home office quickly. More and more these days, field agents rely on their mobile...

Smoothing the way for better claims decisions: making critical claims decisions nearly always requires the human touch, but there are many parts of the process that lend themselves to today's Web technology. (Technology for Insurers).
March 3, 2003... Asbestos lawsuits have clearly taken a toll on U.S. businesses, costing 52,000 to 60,000 Americans their jobs, and costing companies--61 of which have filed for bankruptcy protection--as much as $275 billion, according to a December study...

Rough times for risk managers: how much more?
March 17, 2003... As if three years of a tough market wasn't enough, the sluggish economy, combined A with an uncertain international political climate, continues to hammer commercial and liability product offerings. What's a risk manager to do? In this...

Proposed pension reform legislation--expanding liability? (Up Front).
March 17, 2003... In the wake of the recent rash of large company failures with disastrous results for employees' pension funds, many employers are taking a closer look at their employee benefits and their potential exposure to litigation. They're not alone. The...

Pace of insurer failures slows in 2002. (Risk Stats).
March 17, 2003... The rate of insurance company failures in 2002 declined despite the hard market issues still plaguing the industry. Failures reported to Weiss Ratings were down from 45 percent in 2001 to 23 percent in 2002. The weak economy and risky bond...

New insurance catastrophe provisions effective in 32 states. (Up Front).
March 17, 2003... Employers may see a new fee on their workers' compensation insurance policies. A separate charge is now being added to cover terrorism. The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, signed into law in December, requires insurers to notify policyholders the...

West Virginia state fund threatened with insolvency. (Up Front).
March 17, 2003... The 89 year-old West Virginia workers' compensation fund is approaching insolvency, according to government reports and private sector observers. Governor Bob Wise and legislative leaders have pledged to take corrective action in the current...

Mellon Financial. (News and Notes).
March 17, 2003... Mellon Financial merged three affiliates into a single asset management organization. The new Boston-based company, Standish Mellon Asset Management, is made up of Standish Mellon, Certus Asset Advisors and Mellon Bond Associates.

Kemper Financial Insurance Solutions Group. (News and Notes).
March 17, 2003... Kemper Financial Insurance Solutions Group has agreed to sell their directors' and officers' liability insurance book of business to AXIS Capital Holdings Limited. The move was made in direct response to Kemper's recent downgrade in ratings.

FM Global. (News and Notes).
March 17, 2003... Johnston, RI-based FM Global has awarded over $42,400 in arson grants to 19 fire and emergency service agencies in the U.S. and U.K. The grants will assist the agencies in their efforts to prevent arson-related fires.

American International Group. (News and Notes).
March 17, 2003... American International Group announced a net, after-tax charge of $1.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2002 related to an increase of general insurance net loss and loss adjustment reserves. The reserve will be applied to excess casualty loss...

UnumProvident Corp. (News and Notes).
March 17, 2003... UnumProvident Corp. announced in February its quarterly net profit fell due to losses on selling investments. The company also announced it was answering questions from Securities and Exchange Commission about its accounting treatment of a...

Swiss Re. (News and Notes).
March 17, 2003... Swiss Re has accused World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein of deliberately underinsuring the complex before it was destroyed and of concocting a "hoax" to show he is entitled to two payouts. Swiss Re alleges that Silverstein had...

Lloyd's of London. (News and Notes).
March 17, 2003... Lloyd's of London is now part of the legal battle over the insurance of the World Trade Center. Lloyd's underwriter's filed a brief with a federal U.S. appeals court, contending that the attack was one event and warranted only one insurance...

Captivating strategies. (Benefits).
March 17, 2003... With property/casualty insurance rates rising and many lines of professional liability coverage unavailable, many corporations and organizations have been turning to captive insurance companies at a record rate. While most captive...

FMLA and workers' comp. (Workers' Comp).
March 17, 2003... The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) became effective on August 5, 1993, for most employers. It was enacted in recognition of the lack of employment policies to accommodate working parents in their choice between job security and parenting,...

Winds of change for insurers? (RIMS Show Preview).
March 17, 2003... As the Risk and Insurance Management Society prepares to converge on Chicago on April 6 for its 41st annual conference, attendees are looking for signs that the hard market will dissipate soon. As last year's RIMS conference approached,...

Managing employer-sponsored health care. (Special Report: Managed Care and Benefits).
March 17, 2003... Double-digit increases in health insurance premiums continue to plague employers, with no end in sight. We examine the reasons for this cost escalation, and what employers can expect in the forseeable future. The health insurance crisis...

Fringe on top: voluntary benefits have become a popular way to offer wokrers extras and control costs at the same time. Those familiar with such plans, however, issue some caution. (Special Report: Managed Care and Benefits).
March 17, 2003... As more and more companies are embracing the challenges of cost-cutting, layoffs and low morale, voluntary benefit programs have grown in popularity. Without having to invest a dime or administer them, employers signing onto such programs can...

Snared by the Web. (Special Report: Managed Care and Benefits).
March 17, 2003... With easy access to the Internet at work, many employees are becoming addicted to the Web. At its extreme, this is a new, emerging mental health problem that can be as devastating as alcohol, drug and gambling addictions. One corporate...

Back from the brink. (Disability).
March 17, 2003... Florida sod farm worker Arbey Perez had been struck by lightning and was clinically dead at the scene when co-workers arrived and began performing lifesaving CPR. That bolt of lightning started a swirl of activity to save Perez's life -- with...

Attacking violence: former hostage negotiator warns workplace violence won't go away until managers take an aggressive approach. (Liability).
March 17, 2003... Violence in the workplace will likely never go away, but it can be controlled, says Larry Chavez, workplace safety trainer and founder of Critical Incident Associates in Sacramento, Calif. Chavez, who surveyed 280 cases dealing with...

Calendar of upcoming events.
March 17, 2003... March 30-April 2 Insurance Fraud Management Conference. Held at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore, Md., this ISO and National Insurance Crime Bureau-sponsored show will feature issues and advances for effective fraud...