Shredding apart high-value targets: a Northeast hurricane could drown New York City and parts of New England, and sink a few insurance and reinsurance carriers as well, with losses as high as $100 billion.
Summary * A Northeast hurricane is one of the most overlooked risks because people have a short memory of past storms, and fail to appreciate the possibility and impact of a future event. * When it comes to Northeast hurricanes, the preparation by developers, insureds...

Insular Life's premium income up 28% to P6.8 B in 10 months.
The country's first and largest Filipino life insurance company, Insular Life, reported a 28 percent jump in its gross premium income for the first ten months to P6.8 billion, exceeding the 2006 gross income for the same period by P1.5 billion. The robust sales performance from January...

Taken for granted: asking a lot of "what-ifs" can hurt one's head, but that's all in a day's work for risk managers. Or should be.
Most of us, not just the risk management junkies in our midst, understand the mental calculus necessary to evaluate how much risk will yield a given amount of reward. Take going to war, for instance. It doesn't require a genius to figure out that there's a chance you might...

Takaful market posts solid growth: higher oil prices and a Gulf building boom boost demand for coverage.
Premiums in the Gulf Cooperation Council's Takaful market, a form of mutual profit-sharing insurance acceptable in Islamic, or Sharia, law, reached the equivalent of $167 million in 2005, a 41 percent increase over the $119 million in premiums collected in 2004, according to a new report from ratings agency...

Sun Life posts P8.3 B in new business.
Byline: JAMES A. LOYOLA Sun Life Financial-Philippines (SLFP) registered P8.3 billion in new business sales last year from its three product lines - life insurance, pre-need and mutual funds, up 75 percent from the previous year's level. The firm reported P1.6 billion in combined first...

Hanover's new start; Insurer reports rebound after turning point.
Byline: Bob Kievra WORCESTER - Having reset the foundation, The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. is poised for long-term growth, an agile insurer able to capitalize on a changing insurance industry, the company's president and chief executive officer said yesterday. At the company's annual meeting, President...

P/$ rate stands at P41.52/$ 1.
The peso exchange rate stands at P41.52 to the US dollar, its closing last Friday at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx). The weighted average rate appreciated to P41.683. Current account surplus up 9.3% The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported last week that...

Burning question looms for fire season: How severe?
Byline: Susan Palmer The Register-Guard Wildfire season begins today in Lane County and firefighting officials are hedging. They are predicting an average fire season west of the Cascades. But they confess that they don't really know what's in store. "We never know for sure," said...

New auto policy benefits enter Hanover showroom.
Byline: Bob Kievra WORCESTER - The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. today will announce new policy benefits and product offerings for Massachusetts drivers as the property and casualty sector ramps up for new regulations governing how the state's 4 million drivers are insured. Hanover, the ninth-largest...

Income up at Hanover.
Byline: Bob Kievra WORCESTER - The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. yesterday said third-quarter net income jumped 61 percent on lower catastrophe losses and growth in the property and casualty insurer's specialty products segment. Hanover posted net income of $53.9 million, or $1.03 per share for...