Liberty Mutual enters Russian market...

Liberty Mutual, one of the largest insurance companies in the world, said it would enter the Russian market. Boston-based Liberty Mutual, the world’s ninth-largest property and casualty insurer by revenue, gets just over a quarter of its net written premiums from international markets. Passenger auto is the largest line within that segment. Read more..

(Ref: Insurance Journal, March 29, 2012)

Bills to fight auto insurance fraud!

New York state’s Senate passed three bills to fight auto insurance fraud. These measures will now move to the state Assembly for consideration. According to the New York Senate, auto fraud schemes cost New Yorkers more than $1 billion a year.The bill would enable insurance companies to retroactively cancel policies taken out by people who commit auto fraud. This would allow an insurance company to retroactively cancel an auto insurance policy in the first 60 days if the initial premium payment is not honored by a bank due to insufficient funds, non-existence of a bank account, or unauthorized use of a bank account. The second bill would establish a new felony-level crime of staging a motor vehicle accident. The thrid bill is against the runners. A “runner” is a person who receives money for obtaining clients or patients to participate in insurance fraud. read more.. 

(Reference: Insurance journal March 23, 2012)

Ohio Tops in Claims for Metal Theft !

Ohio leads the nation in property insurance claims for the theft of copper and other metals, an industry-supported organization that fights insurance fraud says. The National Insurance Crime Bureau says Ohio property owners made 2,398 such claims during the three-year period from 2009 through 2011. Nationwide, such claims broke the 25,000 mark over the same period, an 81 percent jump from the three-year period from 2006 through 2008. Texas ranked second in the number of metals theft claims, followed by Georgia, California and Illinois. The bureau listed the top metro areas for such claims as Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Detroit.

(Ref: Insurance Journal News March 23, 2012) Read more...

MassMutual introduces two new products!

MassMutual introduces two new participating whole life insurance products: 

-whole life legacy 100

-whole life legacy 20. 

Whole life legacy 100 offers guaranteed cash values that equal the policy face amount at the age of 100 and supplemental retirement income solves that are 20-30% higher.

Whole Life Legacy 20 Pay is ideal for young professionals who want to fund their whole life policy well before retirement.

In addition, conversions credits may be available when converting MassMutual Vantage Term^SM life insurance to either Whole Life Legacy 100 or 20 Pay. These new products complement the existing suite of high quality whole life insurance products, and offer you one of the most comprehensive and competitive whole life insurance portfolios in the industry today..

Successful insurance agents...

Some insurance agents makes six figures a year, while others are not able to. They adopt same hours, sell the same products and were trained by the same sales manager. Why some are successful and some are not?. The reason behind succesful insurance agents lies in their work pattern. They spend more time on the phone with qualified insurance prospects instead of cold calling or relying on referrals.Cold calling is a mere waste of time. Successful insurance agents buy insurance leads and follow up on them which eventually gives them more referrals.

 (Ref: Insurance Journal ) Read more...

Millions at risk due to sea level rise in US!

Global warming resulted in sea level rise has put millions in US at risk. It has doubled the annual risk of coastal flooding of historic proportions across widespread areas of the United States, according to a report from the non-profit research group Climate Central.

By 2030, the report says, many locations are likely to see storm surges combining with sea level rise to raise waters at least four feet above the local high-tide line. Nearly 5 million U.S. residents live in 2.6 million homes on land below this level. More than 6 million people live on land below 5 feet; by 2050, the study projects that widespread areas will experience coastal floods exceeding this higher level. Read more...

(Ref: Insurance Journal: National news)

Debt Ridden India Makes More Claims on Its Insurance Giant

LIC, as the state-owned company is known, has bailed out the government before. It bought shares in state-owned banks in 2009. In 2010, it bought the government’s stake in a mining firm. This time, it is injecting a billion dollars into some state banks. It has also bought out part of the government’s stake in an oil firm. Taxpayers should have been outraged at LIC’s decision earlier this month to buy $2.5 billion of overpriced shares in the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). Analysts believe the government sold them at a 5 to 7 percent premium to the market price of 283 rupees [$5.67]. The shares were trading at about 282 rupees on Tuesday.

(Ref: Insurance Journal: News) Read more... 

Severity of Tornado high!

The aftermath of last week’s devastating tornado is very high according to reports. Independent agents and carriers are working to handle volumes of claims for those affected by the storms in the Midwest and South. Two forceful storm systems swept through the regions, spawning a series of twisters that destroyed communities and left dozens reported dead. Some of the hardest-hit states include Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.

While the amount of insured damage from the storms on Feb. 28 to 29 and March 2 to 3 is still being tallied, catastrophe modeler EQECAT pegged its initial estimate of insured losses at $1 billion to $2 billion.
(Ref: IA Magazine) Read more...

Expand agency with online strategies!

To achieve success in today's market, an extensive e-marketing expertise and a dynamic online presence is required. It makes a difference where an agency ranks in the local search results when a consumer searches online for insurance. An agency that makes the top three listings shares 63% of the traffic, according to research. Land in the bottom seven and that figure drops to 32%. And only 5% of searchers continue to the second page of results.

(Ref:: IA Magazine) Read more..

Olympic Insurance-The Motorcycle Insurance Specialist

Many people did not realise the importance of bike insurance until recently. The challenge here is to find the right company that understands your need in all circumstances. That is where we come in. We have hands on experience in this field. Besides that we are proud members of the prestigious Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America and Louisiana. We would be happy to offer you guidance regarding far-reaching coverage and specialised claims.

So start with a motorcycle insurance quote and get the motorcycle insurance you desire.

https://www.olympicinsurance.us/motorcycle_insurance

"I've got a deal for you" Insurance Trap

This is something we come across very often in our life be it for furniture or buying insurance. The fact is that 'you get what you pay for'. Initially going for cheap things later on turns out to be expensive. (Ref Insurance Journal) Read more..

Huge Loss From Deadly Tornadoes

Insurance companies were the worst hit due to the series of tornadoes which caused loss to human life and property. Allstate incurred a loss of $2 billion while Travlers lost $1 billion due to the heavy storms. As a result of this, property insurance rates have been rising steadily for the first time in years, as losses soaked up excess capacity. (Ref: Insurance Journal) Read more

City Council of Denham Springs approves flood regulations

The Federal Emergency Management Agency had given the city a deadline of April 3 to make the changes or lose the right for city residents to purchase federal flood insurance.The City Council approved changes to its flood ordinances Monday night. Changes to the regulations require all construction or substantial improvements within the city to be built with materials resistant to flood damage.

(Ref: theadvocate.com) click to read more..