Given the low-touch to no-touch nature of much of the portfolio, technology, automation, and third-party data are no longer differentiators, they are table stakes. To stay competitive and underwrite profitably, Markel has centered its strategy on three core areas: underwriting and pricing, distribution, and claims.
Author: Awais
From core systems to AI and analytics, help us spotlight the vendors delivering real value in 2026
The settlement announced by the Department of Justice on Wednesday comes after federal regulators accused Aetna of submitting inaccurate data to the CMS.
At the January 2026 reinsurance renewals, Fidelis Insurance Group added further efficiency to its aggregate protection for the year, in a renewal that saw meaningful rate reductions of around 20% for the company, according to Jonny Strickle, Group Managing Director of Fidelis Insurance Group.Speaking during the firm’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, Strickle noted that Fidelis’ outwards program delivers robust portfolio protection while driving ongoing margin improvement. He explained that by combining disciplined execution with long-standing industry relationships and expertise, the organisation is able to secure broad multi-class coverage at strong risk-adjusted pricing. “Trusted partnerships with top-tier reinsurers built over decades…
To determine its initial offer for a maximum fair price for a selected drug, CMS: (1) identifies therapeutic alternative(s) for the selected drug; (2) determines pricing information about the therapeutic alternatives to determine the starting point for the initial offer; (3) adjusts the initial offer based on information about the clinical benefit of the selected drug compared to its therapeutic alternatives; and (4) makes further adjustments to the offer price as needed based on manufacturer-specific data to determine the initial offer price. (The IRA does not include international drug price data as a benchmark to be used in CMS’s initial…
A Virginia boater is suing a Washington water utility for negligence in the collapse of a pipe that leaked millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River. The class action lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, comes weeks after a January sewage pipe collapse, shooting wastewater out of the ground and into the river in an area just north of Washington, D.C. The spill is seen as a serious environmental blight and became the focus of political bickering between President Donald Trump and Democratic-led Maryland, where the leak occurred. Dr. Nicholas Lailas, M.D., the…
The insurer will act as lead underwriter for a DFC reinsurance scheme backing as much as $20 billion in war-related losses
New report reveals a ‘different story’ about AI’s impact on collaboration
Multiple government agencies and the U.S. Coast Guard have been responding to a barge fire in the Delaware Bay since 8:20 a..m. yesterday. The barge is carrying salvage metal and has been moved to shallow water where it can be secured to allow responders on-scene to extinguish the fire and complete salvage operations, according to state officials. No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation. The Coast Guard reported that the barge is being towed to approximately two miles off Maurice River Cove, New Jersey, to remove the threat from the main ship channel,…
UBS urged a U.S. judge on Tuesday to shield it from new Holocaust-related litigation arising from an investigation of the former Credit Suisse’s activities during World War II. A lawyer for UBS asked U.S. District Judge Edward Korman in Brooklyn to issue a “clarifying order” that the $1.25 billion settlement reached in 1999 covered “all claims, past, present and future” related to the Holocaust, World War II, and their prelude and aftermath. Credit Suisse, which UBS bought in a Swiss government-arranged rescue in 2023, distributed the $1.25 billion to more than 458,000 Nazi victims and their families, according to court…
Britain’s banking stability watchdog has fined U K Insurance Ltd., now part of Aviva, 10.6 million pounds ($14.2 million) over a miscalculation in its Solvency II balance sheet for 2023 and 2024. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), part of the Bank of England, said on Wednesday that U K Insurance is a subsidiary and principal underwriter of Direct Line Group (DLG), which is now part of Aviva. Aviva said in a statement that the miscalculation happened before its acquisition of DLG in July 2025, adding that it had taken extensive action to enhance financial reporting controls in the part of…
The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a March 31 hearing to determine the probable cause of two fatal crashes involving Ford Motor’s hands-free advanced driver assistance system BlueCruise. Both crashes in 2024 involved 2022 model year Ford Mustang Mach-Es operating in the company’s partial automation mode in 2024 rear-end crashes in which the Ford SUVs struck stationary vehicles at highway speeds in San Antonio and Philadelphia. The crashes pose serious questions the limitations of the system. The NTSB plans to vote on “safety recommendations designed to prevent similar crashes in the future.” Since 2025, both the NTSB and National…
Relation Insurance Services acquired the assets of Rummel Associates, Inc. The transaction went into effect on January 31, 2025; terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Specializing in both commercial and personal insurance, Rummel is based in Chicago, Illinois. Jared Rummel, owner of Rummel Associates, will continue managing that office as a valuable part of the Relation family. Rummel was established in 1948. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Was this article valuable? Yes No Here are more articles you may enjoy. Interested in Mergers? Get automatic alerts for this topic.
Federal policy changes that decrease risk pooling will lead to higher insurance premiums for less-healthy populations and greater numbers of uninsured AmericansFunding cuts and policy changes by the Trump administration affect which Americans are eligible for low-cost health care coverage through Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces. These will have consequences for the health insurance “risk pool”: with fewer people likely to be enrolled in Medicaid or in ACA plans, expected health care costs (risk) will be spread (pooled) across a smaller population.This explainer describes how these policy choices affect risk pooling and what the implications are for…