Risk & Insurance articles from September 2006

Risk & Insurance archives from September 2006

R.I.P. insurance?
September 1, 2006... This month, Beaumont Vance, senior risk manager at Sun Microsystems, questions fundamental notions about risk transfer using insurance. He challenges conventional wisdom. For the biggest risks, mostly large Fortune 500 companies, insurance may...

No '60 Minutes'.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Dear Editor, Cyril Tuohy and Matthew Brodsky's "point-counterpoint" debate over the relative merits of brokers over or under 40 years of age provided two well-thought and stylishly presented arguments. Although, I have to admit I was...

True face missing.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Dear Editor, The best answer is to stop illegal employment and shut down businesses who obviously hire illegals. Deport illegals and make them come in legally if they want to work here. They are like drugs. You have to stop both supply and...

Needs answers.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Dear Editor, Interesting article in the April 15, 2006, issue of Risk & Insurance[R] on killer flu and its impact on the life insurance industry. My questions: Would policies be rewritten to exclude deaths caused by pandemic flu? Would...

Step in right direction.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Dear Editor, Mr. Rousmaniere's article on carpal tunnel ("Mary's Mystery," Risk & Insurance[R], July 2006, p. 18) was a good start into a problem that employers have probably been unfairly paying for for many years. Typing has consistently...

Upcoming events.(Calendar)
September 1, 2006... SEPTEMBER 5-10 2006 Big "I" Convention This year's Fall Leadership Conference of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America will be held in New Orleans at the Hilton New Orleans. III; www.independentagent.com;...

Quote of the month.
September 1, 2006... "We started a biggest-loser contest in my office... and 13 of us lost more than 300 pounds."

Scofflaw employers targeted in California: companies that hire illegal immigrants could be on the WC hook.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
September 1, 2006... A national advocacy group opposed to illegal immigration is teaming with a California attorney to target companies that hire undocumented aliens, using workers' compensation costs and other economic factors as a weapon. The idea is to use...

Missing Monte Carlo: what if risk managers were invited?(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
September 1, 2006... Corporate risk managers have issues with the reinsurance world that may never get addressed. The Rendez-Vous de Septembre is the time of year when insurers and reinsurers meet in Monte Carlo to catch up, meet new contacts and deal. It's an...

For now terrorists prefer old, proven technology: "tipping point" to CBRN use years away, experts say.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
September 1, 2006... Why not start with the bad news and get it over with? According to Gary Ackerman, it seems possible that terrorists one day will use CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) weapons as a staple of their arsenal. Ackerman is...

Power to the employees: the Supreme Court defines what "retaliation" means in worker discrimination cases.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
September 1, 2006... Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits employers from retaliating against their employees who complain about discrimination. But up until a June unanimous decision by the Supreme Court, employers, lawyers and even lower courts could...

Worth repeating.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
September 1, 2006... "People don't want to be unfit or unhealthy." Edwin Quick, commissioner, Certification of Disability Management Specialists Commission "Some clients are not happy about premiums, but we have not had anyone turn away." John Cooper,...

Aon swallows Breitstone, completes power broker environmental hat trick.(BROKERS: People, Ideas and Trends shaping the Brokerage Community)
September 1, 2006... With Aon's purchase of the environmental broker Breitstone & Co. Ltd., and the naming of Peter Breitstone as managing principal and chief executive officer of its Environmental Services Group, the No. 2 insurance broker has scored a hat trick...

Willis opens branch in Macau.(BROKER NEWS & NOTES)
September 1, 2006... Willis Group Holdings, the global insurance broker, has announced that it will be opening an office in Macau with plans to have the new operation serve the region's growing leisure and entertainment industry, which has recently enjoyed a $12...

Gallagher buys S.F. agency.(BROKER NEWS & NOTES)
September 1, 2006... Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has announced the acquisition of S. P. Tarantino Insurance Brokerage Inc. of San Francisco. S. P. Tarantino, founded in 1979, is a full-service retail insurance broker that provides risk management and commercial...

Survey: retention rewarded.(BROKER NEWS & NOTES)
September 1, 2006... A subsidiary of The Hartford, the Business Management Group, has released its "2006-2007 Owner, Executive and Producer Compensation Survey," which found that insurance agencies and brokers are rewarding business retention, profitability and...

Marsh joins leadership council.(BROKER NEWS & NOTES)
September 1, 2006... The Pew Center on Global Climate Change has welcomed global broker Marsh Inc. onto its Pew Center's Business Environmental Leadership Council, or BELC. The move signals Marsh's continued effort to address the impacts of global climate change as...

HRH buys Chicago agency.(BROKER NEWS & NOTES)
September 1, 2006... Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Co. has signed a definitive agreement to buy the assets of Chicago-based insurance agency and brokerage firm, Thilman & Filippini LLC. A top 100 intermediary in the United States, Thilman Filippini provides property/casualty...

A middleman for music.(BROKERS: People, Ideas and Trends shaping the Brokerage Community)
September 1, 2006... Teena Hostovich, a partner at Lockton Insurance Brokers Inc. in Los Angeles, served on the Hollywood Bowl Gala Committee and sponsored the organization's Seventh Annual Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame Concert and Opening Night. The event kicked off...

Willis.(BROKER MOVES)
September 1, 2006... Willis has announced the appointment of three insurance professionals to lead its executive risks practice group in Canada, which is part of its North American executive risks practice. This group is led by JONATHAN ASHALL and MURN MEYRICK,...

What causes insurance cycles?(WORKERS' COMP)
September 1, 2006... I do not know in general, but for workers' compensation I have some ideas. A conventional wisdom that investment yields drive the cycle seems doubtful. There appear to be several factors, among them delay and deception. The top of a cycle...

Gordon Gekko steps ashore.(ROGER ON RISK)
September 1, 2006... The only movie director Oliver Stone has made that bears watching is "Wall Street." Most of his work--"JFK" is the perfect example--is overwrought and hysterical. While some of "Wall Street" is a little over the top, it still makes good viewing...

Communique to communicators.(BROKERAGE)
September 1, 2006... When the president fired press secretary Scott McClellan this spring and supplanted him with Tony Snow, he was saying, "We have a communications problem, and it's him." To be sure, he did have a "communications problem," but it wasn't the fault...

Following a man to the edge.(BENEFITS)
September 1, 2006... War in Iraq, terrorists in Afghanistan and nukes in North Korea. U.S. policymakers have their agendas full with these obvious threats to national security. But what about domestic issues, like the rising cost of providing health benefits and...

Back to risk manager school.(RISK MANAGEMENT)
September 1, 2006... The risk management profession is in need of some fresh air. Aside from the emergence of ERM, the changes to the risk management framework have been minor over the last 10 years. The good news is that some very impressive work regarding risk...

For whom the bell tolls: carriers and reinsurers, falling short in meeting the needs of corporate risk managers in the age of the "megacatastrophe," are in danger of becoming irrelevant.(Cover story)
September 1, 2006... For hundreds of years, companies have relied on insurance to mitigate most risks. Ever since underwriters first started insuring ships in London in the 17th century, insurance has been the primary risk management solution. However, as the risk...

Insuring benevolence: if enough rain doesn't fall in the Horn of Africa this year, drought victims in Ethiopia could benefit from the global insurance market's increasingly sophisticated index-based products. Insurers could spread their catastrophe risks outside the norm.(SPECIAL REPORT: REINSURANCE)(Industry overview)
September 1, 2006... The United Nation's World Food Programme is the first international humanitarian agency to tap into the evolving weather derivatives market with a $1 million policy from AXA Re, which will pay out if the rainfall in areas of Ethiopia falls...

Three steps to risk manager re: reinsurers seem out of most risk managers' leagues or, worse, for those risk managers who want access, out of their reach. Neither has to be the case.(SPECIAL REPORT: REINSURANCE)
September 1, 2006... "My view is," says Bill McGannon, "I think it's absolutely necessary to get to know who the devil your reinsurers are." McGannon got his first big break at getting to know his reinsurers when he was risk manager at a major Canadian energy...

The taste of independence: independent brokering firms on both sides of the Atlantic are coming to the rescue of energy markets in the throes of a "CAT crisis.".(SPECIAL REPORT: REINSURANCE)
September 1, 2006... Two centuries of political independence aside, U.S. energy companies still rely heavily on the London markets for important insurance, especially catastrophic coverage from Lloyd's syndicates. Recent economic and regulatory changes on both...

Landing a risk career: how Cheryl P. Johnson, a former flight attendant for Braniff Airways, ended up managing risks for the Dallas public schools.(PROFILE)
September 1, 2006... With 163,000 students, nearly 20,000 employees and $1.7 billion worth of property spread over an area a quarter the size of Rhode Island, the Dallas Independent School District presents a formidable array of challenges for Executive Director of...

Saving benefits for the future: more and more employers are concerned with promoting health and wellness in the workplace. They're faced with aging baby boomers and their replacements, 20-somethings who aren't so healthy themselves.(BENEFITS)
September 1, 2006... Healthy employees mean a healthy company. To achieve this goal, employers are looking for greater integration among their many workplace benefits programs, including workers' compensation, disability management, wellness and prevention--and...

Surviving in the general liability jungle: how buyers and brokers can strengthen their general liability claims process.(RISK MANAGEMENT)
September 1, 2006... The courtroom is at the heart of managing general liability claims. Why? The courtroom is at the heart of general liability management because every general liability claim centers on the idea that a policyholder mistake hurt someone. ...

A land where time stands still: four years on, and agents are still frustrated at the amount of data entry they need to perform with their software.(TECHNOLOGY)
September 1, 2006... The news at the annual ACORD-LOMA conference in May wasn't just that duplicate data entry was labeled the No. 1 time-waster among agents and brokers. The other, more surprising news was how little has changed in the four years since the first...

What London's 1666 fire says about Katrina: two devastating events, separated by 339 years, show how far risk management and insurance have, or haven't, come.(CATASTROPHE)
September 1, 2006... At about 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 29, 2005, several hundred feet of New Orleans' Industrial Canal levee collapsed. Within three hours small sections of other levees suffered collapses, dooming the city to catastrophic flooding. At about 2 a.m. on...

A bitter pill: big Pharma seems to be the target du jour of plaintiffs' attorneys. This product liability onslaught might not just be affecting the insurance market, but also the pharmaceutical companies' abilities to produce new, more effective drugs.(RISK & INSURANCE: INDUSTRY RISK REPORT: PHARMACEUTICALS)
September 1, 2006... The global pharmaceutical companies with their deep pockets have been the target for damaging lawsuits and class actions. They've been accused of misleading labeling and the withholding of testing data of certain drugs, of failure to conduct...

Industry risk report pharmaceuticals.
September 1, 2006... Risk managers in Big Pharma have to swallow a bitter pill if they hope to transfer their product liability risk to insurers, but it is by no means their only exposure. Drug companies have to get their product to market first and foremost, so...

Directory: risk management and employee benefits software.(Directory)
September 1, 2006... Below are paid listings of specialty software packages for the risk management/employee benefits market. To obtain more information on any of the programs listed, please select the appropriate URL. For more information, please contact Allison...

Catastrophe.(SOFTWARE)
September 1, 2006... CustomWeather Inc. has announced the release of its new hurricane software package. This new software package provides the capabilities to request historical hurricane data based on date ranges and bounding boxes for hurricanes, tropical...

Mapping.(TECHNOLOGY)
September 1, 2006... CDS Business Mapping LLC, a specialist in online property risk mapping, has announced that it has added a new Flood Elevation report to its RiskMeter Online service. This report makes it possible to gain a better understanding of flood risk for...

Analytics.(TECHNOLOGY)
September 1, 2006... Quality Planning Corp., the rating integrity solutions company, has introduced a new data analytics product, which allows users to uncover costly insurance premium rating anomalies. It works by comparing an insurer's rating information with...

Risk management.(TECHNOLOGY)
September 1, 2006... ABD Insurance and Financial Services, a leading provider of global insurance, risk management and employee-benefits solutions, has announced new service levels and technological advancements for its interactive insurance, risk management and...

Disability management.(TECHNOLOGY)
September 1, 2006... Disability RMS, one of the nation's leading provider of turnkey disability risk management products and services, has announced that it has filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent is for its new group...

Compliance.(TECHNOLOGY)
September 1, 2006... Wolters Kluwer Financial Services has released its latest version of the NILS INSource product, which gives insurance compliance professionals a novel way to research complicated insurance regulatory requirements with the potential for...

Hurricane.(INSURANCE)
September 1, 2006... ICAT Specialty Insurance Co. has announced a new product, residential named hurricane insurance, for dwellings, apartments, town homes and condominiums in Hawaii. Written on an admitted basis, the new ICAT Specialty product provides coverage...

Identity theft.(INSURANCE)
September 1, 2006... West Bend Mutual, one of the top 50 insurers in the nation, has announced that it will now offer its policyholders identity theft resolution services should they fall victim to identity theft. Policyholders will also be given access to...

By the numbers: reinsurance.
September 1, 2006... BY THE NUMBERS: REINSURANCE Estimated amount increase of CAT cover purchased in the U.S. market at year-end 2005 25% CAT cover rate increases expected at the mid-2006 renewals 10% New money in...

Agent Orange.
September 15, 2006... Independent insurance agents are seething, as they've been for some time now. But this time they are about to go red with rage and explode. Why? Because they're tired of dealing with the mountains of data entry foisted upon them by agency...

Old news.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
September 15, 2006... Dear Editor, That is an amazing story ("Wholesalers Feel the Heat," Risk & Insurance[R], July 2006, p. 26). In all due respect, the amazing part is that the subject is news. Ten years ago, I was an E & S casualty manager for a major...

Consultants: forget it.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
September 15, 2006... Dear Editor, I read the response to my "Chasing Our Tails" article (Risk & Insurance[R], March 2006, p.37) by Erie Schmidbauer, in the July 2006 edition of Risk & Insurance[R]. I think our differences--and they are significant--boil down...

Misinformed article.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
September 15, 2006... Dear Editor, You made very misleading statements in your article ("The Blooming of a Better Brownfield," Risk & Insurance[R], Aug. 2006, p. 32). Because this one project had a coverage disagreement, you insinuate all pollution insurance is...

Upcoming events.(Calendar)
September 15, 2006... OCTOBER 7-11 CIAB Insurance Leadership Forum The annual Insurance Leadership Forum of The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, a meeting of senior industry executives and CIAB members, will be held again at the historic Greenbrier...

Why marry in Wyoming? Workers' comp denial could violate the constitutional "right to marry.".(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
September 15, 2006... An injured oil-field employee claims the state of Wyoming illegally interfered with his right to marry because it included his wife's earnings when calculating his total income in denying him extended workers' compensation benefits. The...

It pays to be polite: disclosure and apology slash legal costs.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
September 15, 2006... For captives on the receiving end of a nasty medical-malpractice lawsuit, it pays to be polite. Rapid disclosure, a formal apology and an early settlement offer can yield big dividends, according to legal experts. "Our experience is...

Blow, blow, blow your building down: study unlocks secrets of wind damage.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
September 15, 2006... A research project getting under way this fall, dubbed the "Three Little Pigs," is the first of its kind to analyze in real time how wind--up to Categow-5 hurricane strength--takes apart light-frame structures. The $7 million research...

Name change for American Re.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
September 15, 2006... As of September 2006, American Re-Insurance Co. will be known as Munich Reinsurance America Inc. The name represents, according to the company's official statement, the integration of American Re into the Munich Re Group, as well as the giant...

The finest 50 in P/C: benchmarking reveals why some carriers thrive.(UPFRONT: News, Updates and Other Emerging Strategies from Around the World)
September 15, 2006... Every year, Ward Group selects the top 50 property/casualty insurers out of a field of more than 3,000. The operational consulting firm bases the list on financial performance over the last five years, but it also benchmarks other facets of P/C...

Worth repeating.
September 15, 2006... "We didn't spend a dime on outside consultants." Arthur B. Kordus, director of global risk management, Banta Corp. "Right now we are paying 25 cents on the dollar for Katrina, and... 35 cents on the dollar for Rita." George...

Lockton gets global; top privately owned broker expands, its way.(BROKERS: People, Ideas and Trends shaping the Brokerage Community)
September 15, 2006... Lockton Cos. Inc., the largest privately held broker and 11th-largest U.S. broker, announced its acquisition of Alexander Forbes International Risk Services. In buying the international brokerage of Alexander Forbes Ltd., Lockton displayed the...

Aon.(BROKER MOVES)
September 15, 2006... Aon has announced the appointment of RODERICK (ROD) J. HOOD as resident managing directorof Aon Risk Services Roderick J. Hood Minnesota. Prior to this role, Hood, who has been with Aon since 1997, served as senior vice president and practice...

Aon Construction Services Group.(BROKER MOVES)
September 15, 2006... Aon Construction Services Group has announced the addition of three veteran professionals to Aon's San Jose, Calif., offices. MILENA MIKIN joins Aon Construction Services Group as a marketing specialist; and DAVID SALLEY and KAREN SMITH both...

Integro.(BROKER MOVES)
September 15, 2006... Integro today announced that RUTH KILDUFF has bean hired as a Managing Principal, specializing in healthcare coverage, for the firm's New York office. Kilduff has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare sector, most recently serving...

Integro Insurance Brokers Ltd.(BROKER MOVES)
September 15, 2006... Integro Insurance Brokers Ltd. has announced that PETER BURTON has accepted the position of compliance officer. Burton has 32 years of experience in the Lloyd's of London and U.K. insurance market. He joins Integro from St. Paul Travelers U.K.,...

St. Paul Travelers settles.(BROKER NEWS & NOTES)
September 15, 2006... It was announced last month that the St. Paul Travelers Cos. Inc. has settled with the attorneys general of the states of Illinois, Connecticut and New York, as well as the New York State Department of Insurance, for $77 million. The settlement...

Willis turns on energy business.(BROKER NEWS & NOTES)
September 15, 2006... The global broker Willis Group Holdings Ltd. has announced that it has formed a worldwide, multidisciplinary business unit that will serve the energy industry, called Willis Energy. The business taps into the broker's teams in hub cities...

McIntyre in Middle East.(BROKER NEWS & NOTES)
September 15, 2006... The McIntyre Group, a full-service insurance brokering and consulting firm for large accounts, has announced that it has opened operations in the Middle East. The new office will support a leading logistics company that specializes in...

Aon quitting P/C.(BROKER NEWS & NOTES)
September 15, 2006... Aon Corp. has announced that it plans to no longer underwrite property/casualty. It will sell off its warranty and some specialty assets, according to management at the global brokering house, and will put the reminder of its assets in runoff....

Concentra's clinical strategy.(WORKERS' COMP)
September 15, 2006... In the late 1970s, a few Texas doctors created a handful of occupational medicine clinics called Occusystems. Independently, in the early 1980s, several Boston-based rehab professionals founded CRA, a ease management firm. In the mid-1990s, CRA...

Outrage at an arrogant bully.(ROGER ON RISK)
September 15, 2006... If you've seen the movie "Brazil," you will understand what has happened to my brother. In the movie, an administrative error--compounded by cover-ups, official denials and dirty tricks--leads to the wrong man being driven crazy. In real life,...

Len Brevik's line in the sand.(BROKERAGE)
September 15, 2006... Be careful what you wish for. Those of us hoping the level of debate on the optional federal charter question would finally be raised were granted that wish, in a sense--the wrong sense. When Len Brevik stepped to the microphone at the July...

A 'dog's life' upheld.(THE LAW)
September 15, 2006... Recently I traveled more than 30 miles to attend the sentencing of a young man convicted of animal cruelty for tying a domesticated dog to a tree and "punishing" it in ways too inhumane to describe. The dog somehow survived and now lives with a...

The prodigy: Arthur B. Kordus is a renaissance man, and a risk manager--full of professional dedication and determination but a lover of close family, thoughtful diversion and uplifting art. Where does he find enough hours in the day?(Cover story)
September 15, 2006... "Arthur Kordus, Banta Corporation." The cellphone voice is crisp and authoritative. Arthur B. Kordus, director of global risk management for Banta Corp.--a $1.4 billion printing and supply-chain management company--is always taut, totally...

To offshore or not to offshore? More and more, that's the question.(WORKERS' COMPENSATION)
September 15, 2006... Although the workers' compensation industry is viewed as a provincial, state-by-state system, it cannot completely escape the technological and demographic trends that speed globalization in other industries. Claims-payers today depend upon the...

SOA: a named peril fraught with risk: the insurance technology sector remains divided over the value of a modular, open architecture. Big carriers show a guarded interest.(TECHNOLOGY)
September 15, 2006... These days, you can't set foot into an information-technology department without hearing the expression "services-oriented architecture." Companies that change their technical infrastructure to follow this model are headed to the Promised Land...

The crude calculus: drivers are longing for the days of cheap gasoline, and oil companies are pining for the days of cheap insurance. Those days are gone, swept away by hurricanes. Now the oil industry faces paying much more for much less when they go to buy windstorm coverage for their offshore rigs and platforms.(INDUSTRY RISK REPORT: OIL & GAS SERVICES)
September 15, 2006... From the frigid North Slope of Alaska to the gale-swept North Sea, oil companies have worked for decades in the harshest conditions that nature can dish out. But the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico dealt the industry its worst lashing ever as...

How to get good enough: the underwriting status quo in the marine and energy insurance market is sinking. Parts of it already lie in tatters at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. The time has come for a new model to float to the surface.(INDUSTRY RISK REPORT: OIL & GAS SERVICES)
September 15, 2006... The intense hurricane activity in Florida and the Gulf Coast over the last two years has turned the marine and energy insurance market upside down, triggering a long overdue re-examination of best practices. What new models will emerge is...

Industry risk report oil & gas services.
September 15, 2006... INDUSTRY RISK REPORT OIL & GAS SERVICES The oil and gas services industry operates in some unfriendly climates. Think an oil rig in the middle of a Cat-5 hurricane. Think Iraq. In onshore and offshore locations at home and abroad, the...

The two sides to retention act expansion: proponents of broadening the Liability Risk Retention Act to include property say it would be easier and cheaper for buyers. But others worry that it might invite yet more loosely regulated companies to underwrite risks.(SPECIAL REPORT: RISK RETENTION)
September 15, 2006... For much of the past decade, life for Pamela Davis and her list of nonprofit clients has been convoluted, far more complicated than need be. That's in part because every time a client renews an insurance policy, they have to consider three...

A steady gait? Risk retention groups took off a few years back, but now the rate of RRG formations seems to have come back down to earth. Is the fad over?(SPECIAL REPORT: RISK RETENTION)
September 15, 2006... Those were heady years for risk retention groups in '03 and '04. There were 112 new formations between the two years, which more than doubled the total number of RRGs that had previously existed in 2002. But then came 2005, and total new...