Risk

High Strung

Being one of the first annual property and casualty insurance events held in the beginning of the year, the 2005 Joint Industry Forum (JIF) - which recently took place in New York City - revealed the considerable uncertainty felt by leaders within the industry toward the startling charges made against U.S. insurer and broker representatives in the commission controversy sparked by New York's attorney general, Eliot Spitzer. While the ongoing Spitzer investigation took center-stage at this year's JIF event, insurance CEOs also highlighted a myriad of ominous indicators which, in confluence, could signal a disparaging turning point in the industry's financial affairs. At the very least, increased public scrutiny and rising cost factors point to a new period of taut strain for management of the insurance industry, the JIF's analyst and insurer CEO speakers forewarn.

January 31, 2005

8 min read

Demystifying Technology

The "evils" of technology seem to haunt us wherever we turn. Portals are popping up all around us, broker management system vendors are changing their applications constantly and adding new software tools regularly, Microsoft seems to have all of us on a two-year leash of software licensing and renewal, and of course there is always a new virus poised to attack our business-critical systems every week.

January 31, 2005

6 min read

Political Wannabe..?

Public champion or opportunist? Big, bad industry or an “easy target”? The public furor created by New York’s attorney general Eliot Spitzer as a result of his investigation into certain types of remuneration paid by insurers to brokers and alleged “bid rigging” in the placement of business, could not have come at a worse time […]

January 31, 2005

4 min read

Allianz Global Risks Receives Provincial Licenses

Allianz Global Risks Canada has received its provincial licenses, following on reception of its federal license last fall. AGR Canada had been part of Allianz Insurance Co. of Canada, prior to ING Canada’s acquisition of Allianz Insurance and Trafalgar Insurance Co. of Canada late last year. AGR Canada was not part of the transaction and […]

January 31, 2005

1 min read