Author: completebodyneeds

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said wildfires in the southwest are a major economic setback for the region as businesses and tourists were forced to evacuate. “Everyone is fully mobilized in response to the ecological and social disaster,” Lescure said after a meeting with insurance companies at the finance ministry. “But it’s also an economic thunderbolt hitting a region that did not need it.” “Fires — although they account for only 4% of claims — generate the second-highest cost for home insurance, representing some 25% of the total, according to a report released in 2025 by the French insurance federation.”…

French and Spanish firefighters preparing to battle wildfires for a sixth consecutive day face worsening weather conditions as temperatures are forecast to rise further. With more than 300,000 people evacuated across the two countries through the weekend, a French official said an uncontrolled fire in the southwest Atlantic coast’s Gironde region is headed toward Bordeaux, an urban center of 265,000 people. “This is a fire that is completely erratic, that has no consistency, it comes and goes” and feeds on itself, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told broadcaster France 2 on Sunday evening, declining to rule out that the blaze will…

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the US-Iran war has brought home how vital maritime trading routes are to a country like Australia, which conducts 99% of its global trade by sea. Protecting Australia’s supply of critical goods – and exports of minerals, liquefied natural gas and agricultural products – requires maintaining maritime security across vast distances and countering threats far from Australia’s coasts. This task is becoming increasingly challenging as China’s naval presence expands in the Indian Ocean. Recently, a team of researchers from Stanford University, La Trobe University and Australian National University conducted a series of…

U.S. claim volume fell 8.9% from last year, with total claims dipping 13.1% below the five-year average, despite several large catastrophe events, says a new report. Changes in policy language and policy provisions are a big factor in suppressing the volume, according to authors of Verisk’s property report on the first quarter. “We’re really starting to see increased usage across the board of those ACV (actual cash value)-only loss provisions and loss settlements and endorsements than we have in the past,” said Susan Fleming, vice president of business intelligence and insights at Verisk. Verisk is seeing more carriers using the…

For insurers, the periodic El Niño climate phenomenon has traditionally lowered the risk of costly Atlantic hurricanes, but decades of population growth along coastal areas and rising property values are forcing them to rethink that assumption. Marked by warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in parts of the Pacific Ocean, El Niño typically suppresses Atlantic hurricanes by creating atmospheric conditions that make it harder for storms to form. U.S. government scientists said El Niño arrived in June, which was also the start of the Atlantic hurricane season. They expect a below-average season in 2026 of eight to 14 named storms and one…

It’s not always immediately clear which coverage line a claim will ultimately engage at the outset. What initially appears to fall within errors and omissions liability (E&O) may also raise questions about leadership decisions, oversight, or disclosure, bringing directors and officers liability (D&O) considerations into view. In these situations, the focus is less on categorization and more on how the claim is evaluated and handled as additional facts emerge. Claims often develop across multiple dimensions, requiring coordination across functions and, at times, across more than one coverage line. So, where does a claim go when it doesn’t fit neatly into…

Small Business Market Details: The Kinsale Small Business Division concentrates on smaller risks with an emphasis on contractors and OL&T/premises-related exposures, offering brokers an alternative to traditional binding authority markets. Small risk is defined as having revenue under $2.5 million, apartments less than 200 units, area under 100,000 square feet, buildings less than 200,000 square feet, and vacant land less than 1,500 acres. A business that does not fit the small business casualty definition is sent the same day to the appropriate Kinsale underwriting division. Target Classes include contractors (general contractors & artisan trade contractors). Primary classes written include appliance…

National Sompo International Holdings Ltd., Service Insurance Companies Sompo International Holdings Ltd. has a definitive agreement to acquire Service Insurance Companies, a monoline workers’ compensation insurance company based in Austin, Texas. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1982, Service Insurance brings claims expertise and a complementary focus on the small and medium-sized enterprise segment. Brad Davis, current president of Service Insurance Companies, will continue to lead the business for Sompo. The Doctors Company, ProAssurance Corporation The Doctors Company completed the acquisition of ProAssurance Corporation for $25 per share in cash, a total value of about $1.3 billion.…

The leader of an organized retail theft ring targeting high-end jewelry stores across Southern California was handed a 16-year prison sentence. From April 2023 to May 2024, Rodney Allen Flynt Jr. and his accomplices carried out thefts resulting in more than $1.5 million in losses to stores. Flynt pleaded guilty in March after a preliminary hearing, and was sentenced to 16 years and four months in state prison. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $1.2 million. According to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office, which pursued the case, this marks the longest sentence they have secured in an…

Insurance is part of the financial industry. Therefore, a reasonable assumption is that executives in the insurance industry would know that money costs money. Based on their actions, though, it seems many don’t know or have forgotten. The few that do truly understand this fact possess quite a competitive advantage. The easiest example to explain the cost of money is to use a loan. I want to borrow $1 million. The bank is going to charge me 7% annual interest. The cost of money is 7% of the outstanding principal for the length of the loan. Let’s say I never…