Lines Of Insurance Research Articles

Harleysville Group, Inc. (PA)

AbstractInsurance (MIC: SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)Harleysville Group underwrites property and casualty insurance in both the personal and commercial lines of insurance. As an underwriter of property and casualty insurance, Co. has three segments which consisted of the personal lines of insurance, the commercial lines of insurance and the investment function. Co.'s personal lines of insurance include both auto and homeowners, while its commercial lines include auto, commercial multi‐peril and workers compensation. Co.'s business is marketed primarily in the eastern and midwestern U.S. through independent agents. As of Dec 31 2007, these insurance coverages were marketed through approximately 1,500 insurance agencies.

IBERIABANK Corp

AbstractCommercial Banking (MIC: SIC: 6022 NAIC: 522110)IBERIABANK is the bank holding company for IBERIABANK (the Bank), a Louisiana banking corporation. As of Dec 31 2007, The Bank operated 150 combined offices, including 81 bank branch offices in Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee, 30 title insurance offices in Arkansas and Louisiana, and mortgage representatives in 39 locations in eight states. Co. offers commercial and retail banking products and services through IBERIABANK and Pulaski Bank; operates mortgage production offices through Pulaski Mortgage Company, and offers a line of title insurance and closing services. As of Dec 31 2007, Co. had total assets of $4.92 billion and total deposits of $3.48 billion.

State Auto Financial Corp.

AbstractInsurance (MIC: SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)State Auto Financial is a property and casualty insurance holding company primarily engaged in writing both personal and business lines of insurance. Co. has three reportable segments: the personal insurance segment, which provides primarily personal auto (standard and nonstandard) and homeowners to the personal insurance market; the business insurance segment, which provides primarily commercial auto, commercial multi‐peril, fire and allied lines, other and product liability and workers' compensation insurance to small to medium sized businesses within the commercial insurance market; and the investment operations segment, which provides investment services for Co.'s invested assets.

Claims-Made and Reported Policies and Insurer Profitability in Medical Malpractice

The liability crisis of the 1970s led to the introduction of a new type of insurance policy designed, according to Doherty (1991), to reduce the un-diversifiable uncertainty associated with writing long-tail liability lines. These new claims-made and reported policies gained favor in place of the traditional occurrence coverage in the early eighties not only in medical malpractice, but also in the general liability arena. Under occurrence coverage, a loss incurred in a given year is covered by the contract for that year, regardless of when the claim is reported. In contrast, a claims-made policy pays only the claims reported in the policy year. Our paper presents a structure, conduct, and performance analysis a la Joskow (1973) of the medical malpractice insurance industry by focusing on the differences between the two contracts. The main question we want to address is why there are two types of contracts that cover the same risk exposure in the medical malpractice insurance industry whereas in other lines of insurance, only one exists primarily.

Harleysville Group, Inc. (PA)

AbstractInsurance (MIC: 8.2 SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)Harleysville Group underwrites property and casualty insurance in both the personal and commercial lines of insurance. As an underwriter of property and casualty insurance, Co. has three segments which consisted of the personal lines of insurance, the commercial lines of insurance and the investment function. Co.'s personal lines of insurance include both auto and homeowners, while its commercial lines include auto, commercial multi‐peril and workers compensation. Co.'s business is marketed primarily in the eastern and midwestern U.S. through independent agents. As of Dec 31 2007, these insurance coverages were marketed through approximately 1,500 insurance agencies.

IBERIABANK Corp

AbstractCommercial Banking (MIC: 8.1 SIC: 6022 NAIC: 522110)IBERIABANK is the bank holding company for IBERIABANK (the Bank), a Louisiana banking corporation. As of Dec 31 2007, The Bank operated 150 combined offices, including 81 bank branch offices in Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee, 30 title insurance offices in Arkansas and Louisiana, and mortgage representatives in 39 locations in eight states. Co. offers commercial and retail banking products and services through IBERIABANK and Pulaski Bank; operates mortgage production offices through Pulaski Mortgage Company, and offers a line of title insurance and closing services. As of Dec 31 2007, Co. had total assets of $4.92 billion and total deposits of $3.48 billion.

Alfa Corp

AbstractInsurance (MIC: 8.2 SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)Alfa is a financial services holding company that provides primarily personal lines of property casualty insurance, life insurance and financial services products. Co. is affiliated with Alfa Mutual Insurance Co., Alfa Mutual Fire Insurance Co., and Alfa Mutual General Insurance Co.. At Dec 31 2007, Co.'s insurance subsidiaries were direct writers of life insurance in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi and property casualty insurance in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Co.'s non‐insurance subsidiaries are engaged in consumer financing, commercial leasing, agency operations and benefits administration.

State Auto Financial Corp.

AbstractInsurance (MIC: 8.2 SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)State Auto Financial is a property and casualty insurance holding company primarily engaged in writing both personal and business lines of insurance. Co. operates through its subsidiaries: State Auto Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Milbank Insurance Company, Farmers Casualty Insurance Company, State Auto Insurance Company of Ohio, State Auto National Insurance Company, Stateco Financial Services, Inc., Strategic Insurance Software, Inc. and 518 Property Management and Leasing, LLC.. Co.'s principal lines of business include personal and commercial automobile, homeowners and farmowners, commercial multi‐peril, workers' compensation, general liability and property insurance.

Harleysville Group, Inc. (PA)

AbstractInsurance (MIC: 8.2 SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)Harleysville Group is an insurance holding company. Through its subsidiaries, Co. engages in the property and casualty insurance business on a regional basis. As an underwriter of property and casualty insurance, Co. has three reportable segments, which consist of the investment function, the personal lines of insurance and the commercial lines of insurance. Using independent agents, Co. markets personal lines of insurance to individuals, and commercial lines of insurance to small and medium‐sized businesses. As of Dec 31 2006, these insurance coverages were marketed primarily in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. through approximately 1,500 insurance agencies.

State Auto Financial Corp.

AbstractInsurance (MIC: 8.2 SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)State Auto Financial is a property and casualty insurance holding company primarily engaged in writing both personal and business lines of insurance. As of Dec 31 2006, Co. operated through its subsidiaries: State Auto Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Milbank Insurance Company, Farmers Casualty Insurance Company, State Auto Insurance Company of Ohio, State Auto National Insurance Company, Stateco Financial Services, Inc., Strategic Insurance Software, Inc. and 518 Property Management and Leasing, LLC. Co.'s principal lines of business include personal and commercial automobile, homeowners, commercial multi‐peril, workers' compensation, general liability and property insurance.

Can Independent Underwriters Benefit Insurers in High-Risk Lines? A Cournot Market-Game Analysis

One of the greatest dangers to the solvency of property-liability insurers is writing large amounts of new business in a high-risk line (i.e., a line of insurance in which a substantial portion of buyers consists of high-risk insureds). This practice is problematic because of both potentially inadequate pricing and potentially lax underwriting. A prominent example of the latter phenomenon was the collapse of many captive insurers in the early to mid-1980s, in which the insurers relied too heavily on independent underwriters motivated solely by increasing premium volume. In this article, we employ a Cournot market-game model to study the financial impact of informed independent underwriters (i.e., unaffiliated underwriters with private information regarding the risk characteristics of insureds) on insurers in high-risk property-liability lines. In a market with a risk-neutral insurer and CARA insureds, we find that the insurer will always do worse by using a risk-neutral underwriter than by operating on a direct-writing basis. However, for an insurer employing mean-variance optimization, the proper combination of underwriter-compensation and capital allocation may lead to better outcomes than direct writing.

Harleysville Group, Inc. (PA)

AbstractInsurance (MIC: 8.2 SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)Harleysville Group is an insurance holding company. Through its subsidiaries, Co. engages in the property and casualty insurance business on a regional basis. As an underwriter of property and casualty insurance, Co. has three reportable segments, which consist of the investment function, the personal lines of insurance and the commercial lines of insurance. Using independent agents, Co. markets personal lines of insurance to individuals, and commercial lines of insurance to small and medium‐sized businesses. As of Dec 31 2006, these insurance coverages were marketed primarily in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. through approximately 1,500 insurance agencies.

State Auto Financial Corp.

AbstractInsurance (MIC: 8.2 SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)State Auto Financial is a property and casualty insurance holding company. Co. is mainly engaged in writing both personal and business lines of insurance. As of Dec 31 2006, Co. operated through its subsidiaries: State Auto Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Milbank Insurance Company, Farmers Casualty Insurance Company, State Auto Insurance Company of Ohio, State Auto National Insurance Company, Stateco Financial Services, Inc., Strategic Insurance Software, Inc. and 518 Property Management and Leasing, LLC. Co.'s principal lines of business include personal and commercial automobile, homeowners, commercial multi‐peril, workers' compensation, general liability and property insurance.

Harleysville Group, Inc. (PA)

AbstractInsurance (MIC: 8.2 SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)Harleysville Group is an insurance holding company that engages, through its subsidiaries, in the property and casualty insurance business on a regional basis. Co. underwrites property and casualty insurance in both the personal and commercial lines of insurance. The personal lines of insurance include both auto and homeowners, and the commercial lines include auto, commercial multi‐peril and workers compensation. At Dec 31 2006, these insurance coverages are marketed primarily in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. through about 1,500 insurance agencies.

State Auto Financial Corp.

AbstractInsurance (MIC: 8.2 SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)State Auto Financial is a property and casualty insurance holding company primarily engaged in writing both personal and business lines of insurance. As of Dec 31 2006, Co. provided these personal and commercial insurance services through its principal insurance subsidiaries, State Auto Property and Casualty Insurance, Milbank Insurance, Farmers Casualty Insurance, and State Auto National Insurance Company. Co.'s principal lines of business include personal and commercial automobile, homeowners, commercial multi‐peril, workers' compensation, general liability and fire insurance.

Financial Distress in Australian General Insurers

AbstractWe develop and test a statistical model to identify Australian general insurers experiencing financial distress over the 1999–2001 period. Using a logit model and two measures of financial distress we are able to predict, with reasonable confidence, the insurers more likely to be distressed. They are generally small and have low return on assets and cession ratios. Relative to holdings of liquid assets they have high levels of property and reinsurance assets, and low levels of equity holdings. They also write more overseas business, and less motor insurance and long‐tailed insurance lines, relative to fire and household insurance.

Harleysville Group, Inc. (PA)

AbstractInsurance (MIC: 8.2 SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)Harleysville Group is an insurance holding company that engages, through its subsidiaries, in the property and casualty insurance business on a regional basis. Co. underwrites property and casualty insurance in both the personal and commercial lines of insurance. The personal lines of insurance include both auto and homeowners, and the commercial lines include auto, commercial multi‐peril and workers compensation. At Dec 31 2006, these insurance coverages are marketed primarily in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. through about 1,500 insurance agencies.

Biological and Psychobehavioral Correlates of Credit Scores and Automobile Insurance Losses: Toward an Explication of Why Credit Scoring Works

AbstractThe most important new development in the past two decades in the personal lines of insurance may well be the use of an individual's credit history as a classification and rating variable to predict losses. However, in spite of its obvious success as an underwriting tool, and the clear actuarial substantiation of a strong association between credit score and insured losses over multiple methods and multiple studies, the use of credit scoring is under attack because there is not an understanding of why there is an association. Through a detailed literature review concerning the biological, psychological, and behavioral attributes of risky automobile drivers and insured losses, and a similar review of the biological, psychological, and behavioral attributes of financial risk takers, we delineate that basic chemical and psychobehavioral characteristics (e.g., a sensation‐seeking personality type) are common to individuals exhibiting both higher insured automobile loss costs and poorer credit scores, and thus provide a connection which can be used to understand why credit scoring works. Credit scoring can give information distinct from standard actuarial variables concerning an individual's biopsychological makeup, which then yields useful underwriting information about how they will react in creating risk of insured automobile losses.

State Auto Financial Corp.

AbstractInsurance (MIC: 8.2 SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)State Auto Financial is a property and casualty insurance holding company primarily engaged in writing both personal and business lines of insurance. As of Dec 31 2006, Co. provided these personal and commercial insurance services through its principal insurance subsidiaries, State Auto Property and Casualty Insurance, Milbank Insurance, Farmers Casualty Insurance and State Auto National Insurance Company. Co.'s principal lines of business include personal and commercial automobile, homeowners, commercial multi‐peril, workers' compensation, general liability and fire insurance.

Mercury General Corp.

AbstractInsurance (MIC: 8.2 SIC: 6331 NAIC: 524126)Mercury General and its subsidiaries are engaged primarily in writing automobile insurance in a number of states, principally California. The percentage of direct automobile insurance premiums written during 2005 by state was 72.4% in California, 9.2% in Florida, 7.5% in New Jersey, 4.2% in Texas and 6.7% in all other states. Co. also writes homeowners insurance, mechanical breakdown insurance, commercial and dwelling fire insurance and commercial property insurance. The non‐automobile lines of insurance accounted for 10.0% of direct premiums written in 2005, of which approximately 57.0% was in the homeowners line.