Insurance risk management
Albert Risk Management Consultants
- The Softening Market: Take Control and Reap the Benefits
The statistics are in. All things considered, 2006 proved to be a very profitable year for property and casualty insurance companies. Industry experts report that insurance companies realized record-level profits with after-tax net income of approximately $60 billion. The mild hurricane season of 2006 defied all predictions and afforded insurers with a well needed break to recoup from the significant storms losses of 2004 and 2005. Insurers also continued to benefit from stricter underwriting standards and higher rate levels imposed on most policyholders with catastrophe loss exposures over the past several years. - Ten Essential Rules of Risk Management for Educational Institutions
We are often asked what the essential areas of Risk Management are for Educational Institutions. At this time of year when people are thinking about New Year’s resolutions, we thought we would share a copy of the key points addressed by Albert Risk Management in a recent seminar, When Bad Things Happen to Good Institutions. - Settle or Litigate: Making the Right Claims Decisions Affects Every Company’s Bottom Line
You receive a call from a claims adjuster seeking your approval to settle a claim for $50,000. Do you know what to ask in order to evaluate the proposal? Are you equipped to assess the answers to your questions so you can be sure the proposed settlement makes financial sense for your company? - Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Privacy and Employee Driving Records
In both “hard” and “soft” insurance market cycles, insurance carriers have been applying stringent underwriting guidelines to automobile liability coverage. Truckers and companies with large auto fleets have been mainly affected but even those companies with less than five vehicles may experience this as well. Underwriters will routinely pull the drivers’ MVR (Motor Vehicle Reports) and review them to make sure that they are acceptable based on their underwriting criteria. In some instances, when the employed driver falls outside certain underwriting criteria, insurers exclude them from the auto policy. For privacy reasons, the underwriter is not allowed to disclose to you why the driver is excluded. This underwriting practice varies by insurance carrier, but has become generally much more common. - Insurer Insolvencies From A Policyholder's Perspective
My insurer is WHAT? I paid my premiums and now you’re telling me they may not pay claims? Insurer insolvencies are very unsettling to policyholders. A policyholder’s immediate reaction is that of panic and concern with regard to coverage and payment of claims. This article attempts to answer the questions that are commonly asked by policyholders when their insurer becomes insolvent. - Risk Identification in the Cyber-Era
Cyber-risk assessment and management is essential to the business continuity and asset protection goals of virtually all organizations. It is surprising that while corporate information technology people spend a great deal of time and effort on network security, many organizations have not conducted an in-depth analysis of their cyberspace risks and, therefore, have not as yet developed risk management practices aimed at mitigating and controlling those risks.. - Weather Experts Predict a Busy Storm Season: Is Your Property Insurance Program Ready?
The 2005 hurricane season created havoc in the property insurance market which continues to be felt as insurance buyers negotiate their 2006 renewals. The losses the insurance market sustained from the hurricanes reversed the previous softening of the reinsurance market and have resulted in significant rate increases. These increases are being felt across the property insurance market; and as the rates reinsurance companies charge primary insurance companies increase, so do the rates the insurers charge the insurance buyers. - Protecting Retail Profits: Selling Price Valuation and Business Interruption Insurance
The risk manager for a large retail client with international operations recently came to us with a dilemma. In order to comply with his senior management team’s mandate to continually reduce operating expenses, he had to reduce property insurance costs despite his company’s continued growth and increased property exposures. - Who's Covering My Claim?
It is not uncommon for a claim against a school to potentially involve more than one insurer. A natural and anticipated response by an insurer in their claim investigation would be to ascertain whether there is other insurance that may apply and to place the burden on the policyholder and the other insurer to prove otherwise. Such conflicts can, at a minimum, create delays in loss adjustment and insurer defense obligations, and at worst, jeopardize coverage entirely. - Is Your Most Valuable Asset Protected?
Many companies believe their most valuable asset is their employees. Would you lose yours after a fire? Or, when you get back in business after a fire, would you have the funds and resources to find, hire and train new employees to replace the skilled workers who found other jobs when they were laid off during the shutdown? This won’t be a problem if you have the right insurance... - Why Are My Workers’ Compensation Premiums Increasing?
Our clients and prospective clients often ask the following questions: Why are my workers’ compensation premiums increasing? Is this situation temporary? What will happen next year? What can we do to minimize the increases?
