Insurers

The Treasury has said rumors that it had increased car insurance premiums were untrue, noting that insurance premiums have been set by insurance companies since July 1.  In a written statement on Friday, the Undersecretariat for the Treasury claimed that recent news stories which had appeared in several national newspapers and mentioned increases in car insurance premium payments did not refl

Hedge Fund Manager Jay Brown of Second Curve Capital, has recently taken a long position in MBIA’s stock. He recently responded to an email sent by Whitney Tilson. In looking at this lately, it seems like the Bear argument against the stocks has gone from a strict dissertation of fact to a bit of yelling fire in a crowded theater. Even Ackman has been extremely quiet lately about the subject p

What insurance company do you have?  UnitedHealthcare had the lowest rate of contract compliance, according to the AMA report. About 62 percent of medical services billed were paid by UnitedHealthcare at the contracted rate, compared with 71 percent for Aetna and 98 percent for Medicare. —– AMA issues first report card on health insurers By CARLA K. JOHNSON, [...]

The life insurance sector has never had to face such a lot of challenges in maintaining the growth like present. Highly increasing inflation and saving rates could make reduce the number of new insurance contracts. According to Vietnam Insurance Association, during the first months of 2008, the domestic life... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, an

Discussed: MBIA (MBI), Ambac (ABK), Lehman (LEH),Yahoo (YHOO), Icahn, Oil (USO) Best quote: About Yahoo management regarding Icahn, "I think perhaps they should have took him more seriously in the beginning"...Great.. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Disclosure ("none" means no position):None ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books Enter y

MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI) and AMBAC Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: ABK) are actually responsible for taking back some of today's market gains. Actually, it is Moody's... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

After spending much of the past year verbally backing Bill Ackman's short position on the bond insurers Ambac (ABK) and MBIA (MBI) an SEC filing reveals Whitney Tilson's hedge fund T2 Partners is now long both. In the filing, T2 has a $176 thousand stake in Ambac and $388 thousand in MBIA. Both are new holdings since the previous filing. Disclosure ("none" means no position):None ↑

24 hours to report all Singapore accidents to insurers From Sunday, motorists who don’t inform insurers in time will forfeit part of their no-claims discount or even insurance cover By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent REPORT EVEN MINOR ONES: Under the new rule, motorists must report all road accidents, even when there is no [...]

The things that are looked at in a car insurance estimate can be mystifying. Why should it matter whether your car is paid off? And who cares whether it is a Ford or a Dodge? Insurers know what they're doing. Their estimates are based on a wide variety of factors that go together to determine their risk. When you take out an insurance policy, what you're really doing is asking them to take some of

A follow up to yesterday's post on whether or not it might be time to look at the sector. You may want to check it out before going on. Here is an interview with MBIA (MBI) CEO Jay Brown. It should be noted Brown was not at the helm when things went south. Part 1 Part 2 What I took from this was the dire valuations currently being given to their portfolio's. Should these estimate

Insurers reap one-off gains from changes in Singapore CPF rules  Members rushed to invest their savings before new rules kicked in on April 1 By Michelle Tay  NOT UNUSUAL: ‘This is not an unexpected result, given the CPF rule change.’ — MR MARK O’DELL, president of the LIA, on the rush by CPF members to invest their savings [...]

Boston Property - The price of title insurance, a mandatory surcharge on every Massachusetts mortgage loan, more than doubled over the last decade. The average borrower last year paid about $1,500 at closing.A chorus of critics, including state regulators and members of Congress, say the title insurance industry overcharges its customers. The industry says it offers a valuable service at a fair price, and it has opposed reforms with considerable success. But there is still an easy way to cut the cost of insurance in half.

The bond-insurer units of FGIC Corp. and Security Capital Assurance Ltd. (SCA) are stepping up efforts to help debt-ridden Jefferson County, Ala., out of its fiscal mess. The county, which includes Birmingham, has been allowed to delay a $53 million sewer bond debt payment so negotiations can continue on a plan to avoid what would be the nation’s largest municipal [...]

The things that are looked at in a car insurance estimate can be mystifying. Why should it matter whether your car is paid off? And who cares whether it is a Ford or a Dodge? Insurers know what they're doing. Their estimates are based on a wide variety of factors that go together to determine their risk. When you take out an insurance policy, what you're really doing is asking them to take some of your risk and paying them to do it â€" so the only fair way to determine this is to look at all your risk factors. The most obvious factor as to whether you are likely to cost them money is you and your driving record. Are you a safe driver? Do you have tickets, and have you been found at fault in accidents before? Even if you were not at fault in an accident where you were a driver, insurers

A COMMON lament among motor insurers is that underwriting vehicle risk is by its perverse nature a losing proposition. Padded repair bills, damage fraud, theft, third-party claims and the growing trend of young drivers getting into nasty accidents contribute to high payouts. Moreover, competition among the 30-odd motor insurers has held premiums down. The facts though do not support fully the assertion. Taking the past 5 years - a period when car ownership rose rapidly - as a guide, profits were recorded in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, a loss-incurring year for the industry overall, two of the three largest motor insurers - AIG and NTUC Income - were profitable, proving that motor underwriting is generally not meant for small outfits with limited portfolios and poor histories in settling claims

Bond Insurers Examine Fine Print On Bad Loans Last Update: 3/28/2008 3:25:55 PM By Lavonne Kuykendall Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES CHICAGO (Dow Jones)–As default rates on mortgages made in the last couple of years rise to troubling levels, the details in original loan documents will be getting a thorough going-over by bond [...]

European Law requires member states to have in place a scheme to assist victims of road traffic accidents that happen in the European Union, but are outside of the victims home country.In the UK this scheme is run by the Motor Insurers Bureau and is known as...

I’ve been told that all guys will get prostate cancer to some degree if they live to a moderately old age. The good news that, for many, it will have little or no impact on their lives or their mortality. Prostate cancer that is slow growing, that is to say a low stage and grade, is [...]

The WSJ is out with an article about how much exposure life insurers have to subprime assets as estimated by Fitch.  The Prince is just smiling as the contagion from the subprime crisis just continues to be felt in new and unanticipated areas and ways. Excerpt from the WSJ: Fitch Ratings said U.S. life insurers have an estimated $7 billion to $8 billion in unrealized losses on subprime and Alt-A investments. The credit rater said that amount totals 13% of exposure and 3% of total industry capital. Fitch expects the industry to have recorded losses of $2 billion to $3 billion in the fourth quarter. Life insurers have been among the many investors burned by investing in securities backed by subprime or Alt-A mortgages. As delinquencies on those loans have surged, the securities’ p

Earlier this year CNN issued this story on its website. The story and corresponding segments aired during Anderson Cooper 360 as well as other CNN programs mirror the experience that many of my clients have had with insurance companies (especially those dealing with Allstate Insurance Company). Story Highlights ? State Farm, Allstate employ consultant's strategy, CNN research finds ? Theme of strategy is "deny, delay, defend," former employee says ? Companies convince juries that claims are fraudulent ? Insurers deny treating claimants unfairly See the story at:

Four title insurers in Washington state face nearly $300,000 in fines after being accused by the state’s Insurance Commission of violating a rule that limits annual spending on gifts and other inducements to $25 per person. While many of the offenses involved small expenditures, Washington state regulators appear determined to enforce the letter of the law in their third action against title insurers since an investigation conducted in 2005 and 2006 found “widespread, pervasive and routine use of illegal spending to steer business to their companies.” Last month, Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler

Insurers charge a premium and when they receive that premium they use it to build up a fund. That fund then earns interest however the insurer incurs some costs not only on writing the business, selling the policies but also on administering the fund. In addition the fund must be sufficient to pay out claims (deaths). The life insurance companies use mortality tables which help them estimate when a group of people may be expected to die. Insurers can not tell when any one person will die, but they often they can say with some level of certainty that of 100 people aged 'x' next birthday one person will be expected to die within the next twelve months. So if all people were the same then insurers could manage the fund and charge premiums to make certain that the fund always had enough money in it to pay the deaths that would be expected to occur that year. However not everyone is the same. Some are fitter than other. Some have illnesses. Some have had accidents. Some are over weight. S

Insurers avoiding ‘rehab’ coverage By Lee Bowman Scripps Howard News Service Celebrities are sure to make headlines when they enter “rehab” for alcohol and-or drug abuse. News stories often mention that the price tag for star addiction treatment runs $40,000 or more a month. They seldom express doubt that the performers or sports stars can afford the cost. Substance-abuse treatment for millions of other Americans doesn’t include massages, personal trainers or juice bars. But for many, it is prohibitively expensive. And a new study said the costs are becoming less likely to be covered by private insurance. That’s a major problem, because another study just out - this one from the federal Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health Services Administration - found that most of the nation’s estimated 16.4 million illegal-drug users and 15 million alcohol abusers work full-time. There are 10 million in each group, so there is overlap. So, how much

PRNewswire-USNewswire A CarInsurance.com Customer Said:CarInsurance.com has a lot of energy.Clayton L.Orlando, FLHARTFORD, Conn., Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Recent and upcoming reports on CNN illustrate how difficult it can be for auto accident victims to get fair compensation from insurance companies, even in seemingly straightforward and minor cases. The network's 18-month investigation which aired this week on "Anderson Cooper 360" found that tactics to "delay, deny and defend" form the strategy of many auto insurance companies. The story outlined how insurances companies will offer to pay a fraction of actual expenses from an accident. If you are in a minor impact crash and get hurt, former insurance industry insiders told CNN, insurance companies will most likely try doing the same thing to you: delay handling your claim, deny you were hurt and defend their decision in drawn-out court battles. Connecticut citizens do not escape these maneuvers. "I believe that ins