US / Americas

Markel opts to go wholesale-only for casualty construction business to eliminate channel conflict

Markel is moving to a wholesale-only distribution strategy for its construction business, a move that wholesale sources have said is being undertaken to minimise channel conflict with the Virginia-based carrier’s retail operations, The Insurer can reveal.

Ethos process continues after better-than-expected 2023

Ascot and its advisor Evercore are continuing to engage with interested parties including strategics and PE-backed platforms in the sale process for MGU Ethos after performance that was better than expected in 2023, along with signs of optimism returning to the key transactional liability business, Program Manager can reveal.

Southlake Specialty boosts western US footprint with Nevada General acquisition

Southlake Specialty has agreed to acquire Nevada General Insurance Company from Western National Mutual Insurance Company in a deal which will allow the Dallas, Texas-based carrier to begin offering its admitted product offerings into additional states across the western US.

Horace Mann posts Q4 earnings beat as P&C CR drops 27 points

Horace Mann Educators Corporation posted a comfortable earnings beat in Q4 2023 as the carrier’s property and casualty business recorded a 27.1 point improvement in its combined ratio to 100.9 percent.

AM Best takes Canopius' US and Bermuda subsidiaries off negative outlook

AM Best has revised the outlooks to stable from negative on the A- financial strength and “a-” long-term issuer credit ratings of Canopius US Insurance and Canopius Reinsurance Limited, with the agency citing an improvement in risk-adjusted capitalisation.

Boost adds over $130mm of reinsurance capacity to accelerate MGA platform growth

Insurance infrastructure company Boost Insurance has secured over $130mn in new reinsurance capacity to sit behind its MGA, insurtech, and embedded insurance programs, expanding its panel to more than a dozen reinsurers, The Insurer can reveal.

Fairmatic names Farmers’ Hinchley president of insurance

Fairmatic has appointed Jim Hinchley as president of insurance, with the executive joining the commercial auto insurtech after most recently serving as president of business insurance at Farmers.

Shepherd raises $13.5mn in Series A and targets further expansion

Construction-focused insurtech MGA Shepherd has raised $13.5mn in a Series A funding round that was led by Costanoa Ventures with participation from Intact Ventures, Era Ventures, Greenlight Re and Spark Capital.

Climate groups call on insurers to cease gas underwriting following US export pause

Seven insurers have been called on by a coalition of more than 100 climate groups to cease underwriting new and expanding liquified natural gas projects and their parent companies in the US, including all projects that have not been built or reached a final investment decision.

Tiptree stock dips 12% after Fortegra IPO scrapped

Tiptree Inc’s share price dropped almost 12 percent during Wednesday trading as investors responded to news that plans to take specialty carrier Fortegra – in which the firm has a majority stake – public had been pulled because of “prevailing market conditions”.

RB Jones launches new tech-focused division led by Eigen’s Crowe

RB Jones has hired Tim Crowe from Eigen Technologies to lead a new division that will build innovative insurance solutions as the HW Kaufman Group-owned MGU looks to develop and launch new offerings that directly address product and coverage gaps in the marketplace.

Q4 themes: favourable outcomes for personal lines, concerns around casualty

Just a couple of weeks into Q4 earnings reporting for 2023, it is clear that property and casualty lines are in a good place, Matt Carletti, head of insurance and insurtech equity research at Citizens JMP told The Insurer TV.

Chicago-based Lurie Children's Hospital grapples with network outage following cyber attack

Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago is currently dealing with a network outage due to a "cybersecurity matter", affecting phones, email, internet service and medical equipment reliant on computers.

Longevity prevails in the E&S specialty market

Allied World’s president for North America casualty Joseph Cellura examines the unique opportunities in the rapidly growing E&S market…

Ivans: Rates increases decelerated in all US major commercial lines except WC in January

Five of the six major US commercial lines experienced deceleration in rate increases in January compared to the previous month while workers’ compensation had a lower rate decrease, according to the Ivans index.

Inszone adds MS-based trucking specialist Southwest Insurance

Inszone Insurance Services has acquired Mississippi-based Southwest Insurance, which specialises in trucking insurance.

K2 launches Defense Base Act MGA with Nationwide as underwriter

K2 Oconus has launched a Defense Base Act insurance program, providing workers’ compensation coverage for US government contractors abroad with Nationwide serving as underwriter.

Safepoint sets up Florida reciprocal Manatee with $25mn surplus

KBRA has assigned a BBB insurance financial strength rating to Manatee Insurance Exchange, a new reciprocal insurer set up with $25mn of surplus notes held by Safepoint and Acrisure Re.

Fortegra pulls planned IPO over “prevailing market conditions”

Fortegra and its private equity sponsor Warburg Pincus have pulled the specialty carrier’s planned public listing despite having already disclosed an indicative pricing range, in the latest sign of the chill on the IPO market.

Next promotes Natoli to chief actuary at US insurance company

Next Insurance has appointed Philip Natoli as vice president and chief actuary of Next US Insurance Company.

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