As MGAs and revamped carriers re-enter cat-exposed areas, brokers finally have leverage – within limits
Author: Awais
South Florida water managers are sounding the alarm as the worst drought in a quarter-century has left parts of the state critically short of groundwater and reservoir supplies. “Without conservation, water supplies over the remainder of the dry season may not be available to meet the present and anticipated requirements of water users while also protecting the water resources from serious harm,” reads an order issued Friday by the South Florida Water Management District, according to the Miami Herald. The district has ordered water usage restrictions in some areas, including Cape Coral in Lee County, for residents and businesses that…
Texas’ top lawyer is taking a manufacturing company to court, saying its Bastrop plant smells like “boiling blood, and even death” and is making life miserable for people as far as 10 miles away. Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit this month against Darling Ingredients, Inc., an Irving-based company that turns used cooking oil, food waste and inedible animal parts into animal feed and fertilizer. According to the lawsuit, odors coming from the facility have been described by residents as smelling like dog food, cooked grease and burning feathers. The attorney general’s office says those smells are harmful. The…
Republicans think patients should be shopping for better health care prices. The party has long pushed to give patients money and let consumers do the work of reducing costs. After some GOP lawmakers closed out 2025 advocating to fund health savings accounts, President Donald Trump introduced his Great Healthcare Plan, which calls for, among other policies, requiring providers and insurers to post their prices “in their place of business.” The idea echoes a policy implemented during his first term, when Trump suggested that requiring hospitals to post their charges online could ease one of the most common gripes about the…
Technology transformation moves from strategy deck to survival mandate – InsuranceFest 2026 will map this decisive phase
Oklahoma men’s basketball’s offense wasn’t the only thing that caught fire in the Sooners’ game on Saturday, Feb. 14. A popcorn machine caught fire at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman during the first half of OU’s game against Georgia, sending fans sprinting and causing a delay to the action. No injuries were reported. The fire occurred in the upper concourse of the arena about four minutes into the game. Fans quickly cleared out from the adjacent sections. Some attendees exited the building altogether according to video shared on social media. Automated sprinklers extinguished the flames, according to News9. The Norman…
Pinpoint Predictive, a risk assessment platform for property and casualty insurers, announced that its rating models have been approved for use in Ohio and Georgia, bringing its total number of approved states to nine. Insurers operating in Ohio and Georgia can integrate Pinpoint’s predictive models directly into their existing program frameworks for filed homeowners and personal auto rating plans. Pinpoint’s solutions include underwriting, ratemaking, claims and discovery. With approvals now spanning Ohio, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, South Carolina, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Louisiana and Mississippi, Pinpoint Predictive continues to expand its national footprint and support carriers seeking regulator-approved tools to strengthen underwriting…
The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered two Houston, Texas-based construction companies and their owners to reinstate and compensate two workers who were fired for raising asbestos concerns during repair of a hotel after Hurricane Beryl. The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated a whistleblower complaint by the terminated employees of Rise Construction LLC, owned by Jivar Foty, and Niko Group LLC, owned by Jessica Foty. The two employees alleged they were fired after raising concerns to the owners about lack of training, asbestos certification, personal protective equipment, and illegal dumping of asbestos. OSHA found that the terminations were…
Tapco Underwriters, a North Carolina-based managing general agent, has new livery and a new name, 17 years after it was acquired by CRC Insurance Services. The MGA will now be known as CRC Tapco and will continue to focus on specialty and surplus lines, the Birmingham, Alabama-headquartered CRC Group said in a news release. “Tapco has always been part of the CRC family, and this rebrand allows us to fully embrace the power of that partnership,” said Keith Allred, president of CRC Tapco. Tapco was launched in 1983. It was acquired by CRC in 2009 and continues to work as…
Transaction offers 46% premium ahead of planned delisting
A category of insurance risk that hardly existed a little over a decade ago has morphed into a meaningful source of losses for the industry. Claims tied to SRCC — strikes, riots and civil commotion — are emerging as a growing headache for insurers as episodes of unrest increasingly lead to the destruction of property in Western democracies. Howden Re estimates that insured losses related to SRCC soared from negligible levels in 2013 to more than $8 billion between 2020 and 2024. SRCC losses are prone to huge swings between years, with single events often changing the landscape significantly. After…
Hiscox Re has announced the launch of Hiscox Capital Partners, which is set to bring together under a single structure all the capital partnership activity the organisation has managed for nearly two decades, including third-party capital and insurance-linked securities (ILS).At the same time, Hiscox Re & ILS, the reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) unit within Hiscox Group, has now been rebranded as Hiscox Re. According to the firm, the rebranding marks a clearer and more streamlined presentation of the firm’s product offering to cedants, brokers, institutional investors and re/insurance partners. Hiscox Re is comprised of Hiscox Group’s reinsurance business and…
ALKEME Insurance has signed a $27.7 million naming rights partnership with the Arizona Athletics and Arizona Sports Enterprises to rename the McKale Center at the McKale Center at ALKEME Arena. The parties are calling the 15-year agreement the largest publicly known arena naming rights partnership in the Big 12. The McKale Memorial Center has served as a national stage for championship competitions and the home of the famed Wildcats. Through the partnership, Arizona Athletics and ALKEME will collaborate with the university’s Eller College of Management to develop entrepreneurship and leadership programming with initiatives that include “Shark Tank”-style leadership experiences, mentorship…
Rhode Island officials said that three people, including the suspected gunman, are dead, and three others were injured in a shooting during a high school hockey game at a Pawtucket arena on Monday afternoon. Police said the shooting appears to have happened after a family dispute. Two members of the shooting suspect’s family and a friend were killed before the shooter fatally shot himself, Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said. “A good Samaritan stepped in and interjected in the scene, and that’s probably what led to a swift end of this tragic event,” Goncalves said at a news conference. She…