Commercial Lines

Large-scale weather events in the U.S. dominated insurance losses in 2012, pushing global insured claims for the year to $77 billion, says a report from Swiss Re.

Despite initial concerns about the impact of Superstorm Sandy on 2012 results, a collection of U.S. P&C insurers reported manageable underwriting losses for the year, according to ALIRT Insurance Research.

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck near the southwestern coast of Mexico, shaking buildings in Mexico City.

Storm activity in the eastern U.S. last week spawned a variety of damaging weather from the Southeast to the Northeast, and likely caused over $100 million in insured losses in Mississippi alone.

Congress is coming under renewed pressure from both state and federal legislators to reduce the cost of flood insurance and provide greater subsidies for the National Flood Insurance Program.

Superstorm Sandy will likely become the third-costliest hurricane in U.S. insurance history, but when examining historical storms using todays dollars and exposures, Sandy would fall to the 12th costliest storm, says the Insurance Information Institute.