A staggering number of billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events have rocked the United States in 2023. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported in early September that 23 events with losses exceeding $1 billion each had hit the country last year. That marked the most in a calendar year in more than four decades of record-keeping.

Catastrophes, higher building costs, and inflation are all impacting commercial underwriting performance and insurer profitability. Proper portfolio valuation is becoming exponentially important as the reinsurance market tightens. So, how can insurance companies better manage their books of business now and into an uncertain future? The answer is rooted in addressing valuation issues by tapping third-party vendors. The answer is tied to partnering with a robust digital platform provider. The answer is collaboration.

In the past, it was easy for insurers to dismiss data as untrustworthy because they didn’t want to invest in it. Now, third-party vendors present necessary advances that help to paint the bigger picture. Platforms like OneShield are the glue that brings these tools together. And, not just for underwriting purposes. In the commercial lines business, customers are generally good risk management partners. OneShield and its customers have seen tremendous engagement with agents and policyholders who want to proactively manage risk. Failing to enable that is a missed opportunity.

The National Association of Mutual Insurers (NAMIC) held its 2023 Annual Convention on September 17-20 in National Harbor, Maryland. During the convention, AAIS sat down with Brian O’Larte, Director of Ratings Analytics at AM Best, and Lauren Magro, Financial Analyst at AM Best, to discuss CAT losses and reinsurance, the importance of company size in the mutual market, strategies to address the market, rating implications for mutuals, and more.

The National Association of Mutual Insurers (NAMIC) held its 2023 Annual Convention on September 17-20 in National Harbor, Maryland. During the convention, AAIS sat down with Professor Bob Hartwig, Ph.D., CPCU, Director of the Center for Risk and Uncertainty Management at the University of South Carolina, to discuss the effect of the U.S. economy on the insurance market, the current state of the reinsurance market, trends affecting carriers, and the impact of an election year.

For this Advisory Report, AAIS spoke with Patrick Laws, President of the Wisconsin Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (WAMIC) ahead of the 2023 WAMIC Convention. He discussed the biggest challenges facing the U.S. and Wisconsin insurance markets, how WAMIC is supporting its members amongst these challenges, and what to look forward to at this year’s convention.

Insurance carriers are still dealing with the fallout from the most challenging reinsurance market in a generation, where there was a significant fundamental pivot in pricing and risk appetite, especially for property catastrophe risk. In the AAIS Pulse session, Exploring Fundamental Shifts in the Reinsurance Market, host Ed Kelly led a discussion with Andy Marcell, CEO of Aon Reinsurance Solutions, and Frank Nutter, President of Reinsurance Association of America (RAA), as they shared insights on what caused such dramatic changes across the industry, the government reaction, and how carriers can prepare themselves for success moving forward during this challenging time.

At the 2022 NAMIC Annual Convention, AAIS interviewed Senior Vice President of e2Value Skip Coan about major insurance industry trends, their impacts, and his advice for mutual insurers.

At the 2022 NAMIC Annual Convention, AAIS interviewed Wisconsin Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (WAMIC) President Patrick Laws about current trends affecting mutual insurers, the impact of these trends, advice for member companies, and more.

This past week NAMIC hosted over 1,790 insurance professionals at their 2022 annual convention in Dallas, Texas. AAIS interviewed NAMIC President and CEO Neil Alldredge and discussed the highlights of the 127^th Convention as well as current trends and strategies for 2023, plus, what we can expect from NAMIC in the future and more.

Recently, Dowling and Partners’ Gary Ransom spoke to AAIS CEO and President Ed Kelly during the Virtual Main Event, discussing how COVID-19 will touch nearly every aspect of the insurance ecosystem. The impact is pervasive. In fact, according to Mr. Ransom, the COVID-19 pandemic is on track to become the largest insurance event in history, according to one industry expert.

Climate change continues to wreak havoc on farm and agriculture businesses. With increasingly unpredictable weather, destructive storms, and a decrease in natural resources, the farm & ag industry is scrambling to find a more reliable way to farm– one that would protect the industry from a quickly changing world.