Insurers could face new transparency obligations as well as technological and regulatory challenges as they explore different methods of rating pay-how-you-drive and even pay-where-you-drive auto coverage, an industry executive warned.

Insurers of coastal properties can cut down their risk by inducing homeowners to strengthen dwellings and working to improve building and land use, a reinsurance expert suggested.

The U.S. property-casualty insurance market would be able to handle another Katrina-like event this year, and there is capacity to issue catastrophe bonds post-event, representatives from Swiss Re said.

State Farm Insurance Company will raise its auto insurance rates by 2.5 percent in Illinois because of claim costs, a company spokesperson said.

Max Capital Group Ltd. has highlighted two reports from proxy advisory firms as further ammunition in its bid to acquire IPC Holdings, Ltd., while a third report highlights the benefits of a rival offer from Validus Holdings.

The Nevada legislature has overridden Gov. Jim Gibbons' veto of a workers' compensation bill that would, in part, dictate the use of the 5th Edition of the American Medical Association (AMA) Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment.

Validus Holdings' hostile takeover bid for IPC Holdings does not appear to have much support from IPC stockholders, a Bermuda judge said last week.

From four-legged vandals escaping police custody to a modern-day twist on Archimedes' ancient death ray, most insurance professionals have a war story or two about weird and unusual claims they've seen over the years.