Monthly Archives: July 2009

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Bad News for the P/C Insurance Sector

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Though the insurance industry as a whole has fared somewhat well during the current financial crisis, a report out today says P/C insurers haven’t been so lucky.

A.M. Best has reported a surprising drop in net income of 87% for the U.S. P/C insurance sector during the first quarter of 2009.

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The report states that:

  • Net income for commercial lines dropped 52.9% to $1.6 billion in the first quarter, compared to the same quarter last year.
  • Net premiums written for commercial lines fell 7.
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    8% to $46 billion in the quarter.

  • Underwriting losses decreased from .
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    5 billion in the first quarter of last year to $500 million in the first quarter of this year.

  • Policyholder surplus dropped 14.6% to $197.6 billion, according to the report.

Best stated that though the outlook for the U.S. P/C industry remains somewhat bleak for the remainder of the year, the projection for the commercial lines segment (barring mortgage guarantee and financial guarantee insurers) should post an underwriting profit.

The report is available for $65 (for nonsubscribers) at bestweek.com.

Storm Summary

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Welcome to the first “Storm Summary” post of the hurricane season. Each Friday from now until the official end of the season (November 30) I will post an update on past and present storms, like the following:

NAME STATUS DATE LOCATION DAMAGE
Ana TD 5/28 Mid Atlantic None
Blanca TS 7/6 to 7/8 East Pacific None

In another interesting development, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced the arrival of El Niño, which is “the periodic warming of central and eastern tropical Pacific waters [that] occurs on average every two to five years and typically lasts about 12 months.” Although most people think of this phenomenon in negative terms for the damage it can spur on the West Coast, it is actually beneficial to the East Coast/Gulf Coast in the sense that warmer waters in the Pacific usually create conditions that suppress Atlantic hurricanes. Why exactly this occurs is not something I’m qualified to explain but, as I recall, it has something to do with warm and cool air mixing in a different way and creating a “wind shear” that helps prevent storms from developing. The International Research Institute for Climate and Society can probably explain it better.

NOAA breaks down some other benefits.

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El Niño’s impacts depend on a variety of factors, such as intensity and extent of ocean warming, and the time of year. Contrary to popular belief, not all effects are negative.

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On the positive side, El Niño can help to suppress Atlantic hurricane activity. In the United States, it typically brings beneficial winter precipitation to the arid Southwest, less wintry weather across the North, and a reduced risk of Florida wildfires.

El Niño’s negative impacts have included damaging winter storms in California and increased storminess across the southern United States. Some past El Niños have also produced severe flooding and mudslides in Central and South America, and drought in Indonesia.

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Hopefully this will help keep the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season mild.

For constant, up-to-date storm information, visit NOAA. And for breaking information on the insured losses the storms create, check out the Insurance Information Institute and the Insurance Services Office.

Most importantly, don’t forget to check back next Friday, July 17, for our second “Storm Summary” installment.
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hurricane

Death by Chocolate

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It’s not all delicious enjoyment when it comes to chocolate …

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and chocolate making.

Yesterday, an employee at a chocolate processing plant died after falling into a vat of chocolate at a New Jersey-based plant. The 29 year-old man, Vincent Smith II, was dumping raw chocolate into the vat when he fell and suffered a blow to the head by the metal paddle used for stirring.

OSHA is currently investigating this freak accident.

Major Cyber Attacks Hit Government Agencies

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American and South Korean government agency websites have been attacked by, what some may call, cyberterrorists. The sites have been mostly inoperable since the attacks began during the July 4th holiday weekend.

Access to at least 11 major Web sites in South Korea — including those of the presidential Blue House, the Defense Ministry, the National Assembly, Shinhan Bank, the mass-circulation daily newspaper Chosun Ilbo and the top Internet portal Naver.com — have crashed or slowed down to a crawl since Tuesday evening, according to the government’s Korea Information Security Agency.

Major U.S. websites were also targeted, including those of the White House, Pentagon and the New York Stock Exchange. The National Intelligence Service feels confident that the attacks were executed not by an individual, but by a “specific organization or on a state level.

The South Korean news agency, Yonhap, has reported that the National Intelligence Service believes North Korea or pro-North Korean groups are responsible.

This high-level attack is reminiscent of the cyber warfare reportedly enacted by Russia towards Georgia just one year ago. Corresponding with Russia’s ground war, the country also launched attacks on websites of Georgia’s president, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, adding to the country’s chaos.

The attacks will be difficult to trace, said Professor Peter Sommer, an expert on cyberterrorism at the London School of Economics. “Even if you are right about the fact of being attacked, initial diagnoses are often wrong,” he said Wednesday.

The fact that cyber attacks are so difficult to trace gives attackers the confidence to continue their crimes of cyber warfare on a prolific level — all at the expense of confidential personal information and even classified government records.

Will the Obama Administration’s multi-billion dollar cyber security project be strong enough to stop such sophisticated hackers?