Hit by underwriting losses due to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and the Chilean earthquake, specialty insurer Markel Corp. posted a 36.7 percent decrease in second-quarter net income.
Thanks to a string of very good luck--namely, four consecutive years of calm hurricane seasons--the Florida property insurance market appears able to absorb the blow of a large storm in addition to a series of smaller events this year.
Florida's top insurance regulator vowed to do more financial reviews of the state's insurers like the ones his office performed at the start the of the year.
Second-quarter net income for The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. dropped to $2.3 million from $64.4 million a year ago as the personal and commercial lines insurer absorbed $85 million in catastrophe losses.
New Jersey Insurance Commissioner Thomas B. Considine has proposed to repeal a regulation to establish new rating territories in an effort to level out automobile insurance rates throughout the state.
Actions to improve its Encompass subsidiary, lower growth and additional risk management actions in California and Florida negatively impacted property liability results for Allstate Corp., which reported a 62.7 percent drop in second-quarter net income.
Moody's Investor Services expects reserve releases from the U.S. property & casualty industry to "taper off" over the next year to two years.