A View from the Press Box

If the insurance industry had the equivalent of baseball’s “Comeback Player Of The Year” award, the winner in 2009 would no doubt be Maurice Greenberg. (more…)

The most prolific headline generator by far this year was American International Group, which struggled to regain its credibility and repay its debt to taxpayers after a massive federal bailout while changing CEOs, fending off challenges to its executive compensation, rebranding its property and casualty subsidiaries and burying the hatchet with its former boss. (more…)

Back in January, Brian Duperreault, president and CEO of Marsh & McLennan Companies, said the property and casualty industry was entering its “first ‘invisible’ hard market,” in which prices would begin to rise–but because of shrinking insurable exposures, little positive impact would be seen in top- and bottom line results. That’s not exactly how the year played out, with no sign of price hikes ahead.

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Phil Schreiner, the former editor of Claims magazine, was a gentleman and a scholar, and there aren’t many of us left. My former comrade in arms passed away this month at the age of 66 after a short battle with lung cancer, and the business journalism community he served and the insurance industry he covered are much the worse for his loss.

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As I scanned all the 2009 editions of National Underwriter, picking candidates for my annual choices as the year’s biggest stories, one thought kept crossing my mind—it could’ve been worse. Read on for my top-10 picks and a retrospective on the year that was for p&c insurance. (more…)

Way back on Jan. 5, I peered into my crystal ball for the likely Top-10 Property and Casualty Insurance Stories of 2009. Before I reveal what turned out to be my actual picks here on Dec. 21, let’s see how accurate my predictions were: (more…)

One of the more outspoken consumer advocates–Birny Birnbaum, executive director of the Center for Economic Justice–is packing it in as an NAIC-funded representative, complaining the deck is stacked against he and his colleagues because of the overwhelming advantage insurers enjoy in both people and dollars. (more…)

 On Wednesday night the property and casualty insurance industry held its annual “love fest” in New York City, honoring its greatest cheerleader, Willis Group Chair and CEO Joseph J. Plumeri.  NU Associate Editor Mark E. Ruquet was on the scene, and left wondering whether the industry would ever be able to project the positive image it has of itself to the public at large. (more…)

Most insurance industry professionals concede the value of recruiting a diverse work force , but not as an end unto itself, according to NU readers responding to the most recent “Question of Ethics.” (more…)

While AIG has taken a beating the past couple of weeks in the news media following questions about executive pay and its reserves, there has been one far more positive story–the fact that the company finally buried the hatchet with its former boss, Maurice Greenberg. The deal sets the stage for a long-rumored, triumphant return by Hank to his former domain. (more…)