Personal auto carriers are rapidly approaching a moment of truth when it comes to usage-based insurance programs, whether they have already launched such products or have remained on the sidelines.

Under the right conditions, having the private marketwhether primary insurers, reinsurers, the capital markets or some combination of all threepitch in to take on additional flood exposure could be a win-win for taxpayers as well as the insurance industry.

While flood insurance might represent the biggest growth opportunity for private carriers in years, its no certainty the industry would be eager or even willing to take on a greater share of such exposures unless conditions are established to give them a reasonable chance of making a profit.

As a growing number of insurance carriers attempt to sell small-business coverage direct to consumers, agents will need to be more than mere policy peddlers and price shoppers to remain relevant for their customers.

To win the information arms race, carriers are being challenged to upgrade their data management capabilities in underwriting, pricing, and claims, while grappling with a host of related technological and liability issues along the way.

Insurance company finance departments are more often being asked for decision support and strategic advice, prompting transformation initiatives to evolve the function into an internal business partnering role by strengthening its link to broader enterprise goals.

There were some significant in-laws missing from the industrys family reunion this yearthe growing number of investors flooding the property-catastrophe market with alternative sources of capital.

What can insurers do to shape their own destiny, rather than behaving like victims of circumstances beyond their control?