As we count down the final days of 2021, we remain wholly committed to making all our Members successful by sharing the latest news and information impacting your business to deliver a modern advisory experience second to none. That is the theme of the 2021 installment of our eMagazine, AAIS Viewpoint, which is now available.

Cyber security is a pressing issue. With daily advancements in technology comes the need for a game of rapid catch-up in the security sector. Every day there are new products and solutions to help protect us from this growing threat. The challenge within the insurance industry is how to underwrite this constantly evolving risk.

Research from NASA points to several factors that support climate change from rising sea levels to warming oceans and glacial retreats. The effects of climate change have a significant impact on the insurance industry, which generates considerable premium, expense, and losses based on insured catastrophes. As these events become more unpredictable and severe, the industry must adapt.

In July 2020, consulting firm McKinsey & Company put out a report detailing the talent transformation within the insurance industry. The topline message: Talent strategy is as important as business strategy.

A distributed workforce, also known as telecommuting or remote work, occurs when a business has employees that work in different locations (e.g., their home, satellite offices, etc.). This is an idea that AAIS has embraced successfully for nine years before the COVID-19 pandemic. The long-held belief that collaboration can only happen in person in a single location is no longer the case.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) continue to be a concern in our society, and the issues it presents extend beyond the communities where we live to the places and industries where we work. In 2021, AAIS Director of Government Relations Lori Dreaver Munn presented at the Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals (AICP) Annual Conference on a more nuanced concern – improving DEI in insurance products.

The AAIS Pulse newsmagazine recently featured a discussion with experts from Munich Re, Berkley Re Solutions, and AAIS hosted by AAIS Vice President of Products John Kadous on the emerging risks affecting policyholders in the homeowners market. The focus was on the evolving threats around cyber, fire and flood and how they’re being impacted by climate change, technology and more.

The AAIS Pulse newsmagazine recently featured a discussion between Maryland Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Birrane and AAIS VP of Government, Legal and Compliance Robin Westcott. They covered a range of topics, from careers in insurance and climate change to National Association of Insurance Commissioner Working Groups, technology, insurtechs and much more.

The AAIS Pulse newsmagazine recently featured Robert Hartwig, Ph.D., CPCU, industry expert and insurance professor at University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business. He spoke with AAIS CEO Ed Kelly on a range of topics facing the industry including COVID-19, climate change, cyber risk, year-end financials, and much more.

AAIS conducted a Proof of Concept (POC) using the open Insurance Data Link (openIDL) for regulatory reporting. The results demonstrated that this blockchain/distributed ledger technology can dramatically improve both the output and process of insurance regulatory reporting for insurers and regulators.