Personal Lines

Why is it that so many people seem to hate--or at the very least, distrust--the insurance industry?

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said yesterday that he has approved a cut in State Farm auto insurance rates averaging 8 percent per policyholder.

The chairman of a key subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee today said he intends to move quickly to impose direct federal oversight of insurance, starting with a system to regulate systemic risk.

The Treasury Department said last night it had approved Allstate Corporation and five other insurers to get taxpayer rescue money under its multibillion-dollar Capital Purchase Program.

Fitch Ratings announced it has dropped American International Group property-casualty subsidiaries' insurer financial strength a ratings notch based on the stress of its continuing financial problems.

A modeling firm which has been projecting pandemic flu impact for the past three years says the current outbreak while growing is unlikely to cause big insurance losses.

Insurance prices are not likely to begin rising until early 2010, but federal government actions before then could mean abrupt price spikes rather than gradual shifts, an economist suggested yesterday.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) climate risk disclosure survey of insurers is a valid request for information, two regulators said after the concept was attacked by a think tank.