While the U.S. economy slowly returns to normal following the COVID-19 pandemic, the insurance industry continues to grapple with business interruption claims, court battles and the future of pandemic-related insurance. In Part II of our two-part Advisory Report, Nicole Milos, Assistant Counsel at AAIS, explains the systemic risk global pandemics pose to the insurance industry and how we’re leveraging data gathered during the pandemic to meet customer demand for future pandemic-type coverage.

While the U.S. economy slowly returns to normal following the COVID-19 pandemic, the insurance industry continues to grapple with business interruption claims, court battles and the future of pandemic-related insurance. In Part I of a two-part Advisory Report, Nicole Milos, Assistant Counsel at AAIS, explains why BI policies were never meant to cover losses from pandemics.

During the height of the COVID pandemic, Berkley Re Solutions’ Jeff Cron joined AAIS for a an AAIS Pulse session looking at ‘Cyber Crime: The Online Home Invasion.’   "We’re all online more, seeing content, and clicking links to different articles, videos, and other forms of media. While the actual risk hasn’t changed, volume has magnified, with more scams and more screen time.”

The burgeoning cannabis market is creating pressure on the insurance industry to develop products that address risks emerging from increased legalization. AAIS Commercial Lines Product Manager Joe Jonas shared his insights on the market during the 2021 Business Insurance Cannabis Update. Mr. Jonas was joined by Charles Pyfrom, CMO at CannGen Insurance, and host Gerrit Nagarwalla, CPCU from Canopius, for a discussion on ‘Claims, Policy & Underwriting.’

In this edition from the AAIS Webinar Series, titled: The Value of Risk Control: Moving Beyond the Basics, Bryon Snethen, Vice President Risk Improvement at EMC Insurance and Jacob Pereira, a Solutions Engineer at Risk Control Technologies identified the purpose and value of risk control to a variety of stakeholders, including agents, insurance companies, policyholders, and society.

In an AAIS Webinar, FLAMES: The Modern Fire Protection Evaluation Model, AAIS Vice President Phil LeGrone, and AAIS Senior Risk Strategy Lead Matt Hinds-Aldrich, PhD, outlined the new fire model, FLAMES, and the advantages it offers over traditional models for underwriters assessing and managing non-cat fire risk.

Imagine this: You’re working from home, like many others during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your children are also home, remote learning. One of your kids falls prey to malware, infecting your entire network with a virus. Your at-home business’s website is shut down for eight hours. You sigh a breath of relief, thankful that your insurance will cover the costs… or does it?

In August 2020, AAIS introduced its new Risk Awareness Service (RAS), a digital resource center tracking catastrophic risk and providing risk information in real time. At the inaugural AAIS Pulse Newsmagazine, AAIS VP Data and Actuarial Services Phil LeGrone described the Risk Awareness Service, its goals, and the value it can provide insurance carriers and the customers they serve. He also welcomed Jeff Waters, a Senior Product Manager at Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the leading modeling firms, to add his perspective on emerging modeling approaches and tools.

With an increasing number of employees working from home, there has also been an alarming increase in personal and professional cybercrime exposure. At the September 2020 AAIS Pulse, AAIS Personal Lines Product Manager Linda Jancik hosted a panel of cyber-focused leaders, including CyberScout’s Eric Warbasse and Berkley Re Solutions’ Jeff Cron and Chris Ellis to discuss the rise of cyber threats, future predictions, and how carriers can protect their customers from emerging digital exposures.

Cannabis insurance is a budding topic, growing alongside the expanding cannabis industry. Five states have approved recreational cannabis during the 2020 elections, bringing the total states where cannabis is fully legal to 15. What does this mean for the cannabis market, particularly for insurers involved with this growing industry?