W. Michael Cox, chief
economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of
Dallas, will be the keynote speaker at the AAIS
Main Event, April 20-22 in Ponte Vedra
Beach, Fla.
Cox, dubbed a "Prophet of Boom" by one national
magazine, is a renowned proponent of free market capitalism who authors
the Dallas Fed's annual reports on rising American living standards.
Cox's findings are reported extensively in major publications, and he is
a frequent guest on national media programs. At the Main Event, Cox will
speak on "Ten Important Long-Term Trends in the Economy."
In addition to Cox, plus other outside experts and
the CEO Panel described in previous
Advisories, the 2008 AAIS Main Event will feature expanded
participation by AAIS staff members.
This year’s "AAIS Update" presentation on AAIS
product research and development will focus on three themes:
Also, additional time is allotted to this year’s
roundtable discussions, which will provide detailed information on
topics presented in the AAIS Update. Attendees can select from among four roundtables:
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Personal Lines, moderated by Susan Luecke,
assistant vice president of personal lines;
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Commercial Lines, moderated by Tony Leist,
assistant vice president of commercial lines;
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Farm and Agriculture, moderated by Sherry Taylor,
manager of farm and agribusiness; and
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Executive, moderated by Paul Baiocchi,
AAIS president.
Other AAIS staff participants will include:
For a detailed description of the meeting and
its social events,
To register for the Main Event,
Register by Feb. 29 to qualify for the early-bird discount.
To reserve a room at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club,
Rooms are filling up at our conference hotel, so reserve yours today.
For more information, contact Joseph Harrington,
director of corporate communications, at
joeh@AAISonline.com, or by
calling 800-564-AAIS.
AAIS recently released revised rules under the
Terrorism Losses Manual Supplement of the Inland Marine Guide.
The supplement, revised to reflect the latest
extension of the federal terrorism reinsurance program, includes two
versions of rules, one for states with Standard Fire Policy (SFP)
requirements, and another for states without SFP requirements, or that
exempt inland marine from those requirements.
The rules will be filed on an advisory basis in
certain states where there is no filing exemption for the traditionally
nonfiled inland
marine classes.
Revised rating information pages for certified
terrorism loss will be released
shortly for use with the Guide. These pages, to
be filed in conjunction with terrorism supplements for various
commercial lines, are being revised to add information for the
Farm Inland Marine Program and remove references to certain filed lines.
However,
no changes are being made to the rating information itself.
The Louisiana Department of Insurance recently
issued a special data call for residential property insurance data.
Companies are asked to respond by April 30, 2008.
Among other things, the department seeks information
on direct written premium, new business written, cancellations, and
non-renewals for the years 2003-07. Data is requested by ZIP Code for
homeowners, mobile homeowners, dwelling and allied lines, renters, and
unit-owners insureds. Data is to be further broken down according
to these categories: "all perils," "wind only," and "non-wind only."
Due to the specifications of the data call and the
request for 2007 data, AAIS cannot respond on behalf of its affiliates
writing business in Louisiana. A
letter announcing the data call and a Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet for
responding are provided.
A recent
bulletin from Alabama Insurance Commissioner Walter Bell states that
property/casualty insurers operating in the state are prohibited from directly or
indirectly requiring consumers to purchase additional types of
insurance (such as auto or life insurance) as a condition of acquiring
homeowners coverage.
The prohibition extends to renewals of existing
coverage, but insurers are not prohibited from requiring an insured to
have a principal residence insured by a company before extending
coverage to a secondary residence.
Any company that has engaged in homeowners product tying practices over
the past 12 months was given 10 days from the issuance of the bulletin
to report such activity to the Alabama Department of Insurance.
Insurers that write liability coverage are invited
to participate in a special AAIS research study regarding the frequency
and severity of claims for personal injury, such as libel, slander, and
violation of privacy.
In particular, carriers are asked to respond to a
voluntary call for personal injury claims data from 2002 through 2006.
Information and instructions are available in a Microsoft Word
document, and a
Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
is provided for responding to the data call.
The study seeks to determine how the frequency and
severity of personal injury claims have been affected by:
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The growing use of e-mail, blogs, "gripe sites,"
networking sites, picture/video phones, and other forms of
electronic communication; and
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The growing incidence of "cyberbullying" and
other offensive behaviors associated with these communications.
All carriers that write personal injury coverage can
participate, whether they are AAIS members or not. Companies that
provide data will receive a report with the aggregate results, plus
analysis.
If you have questions about the study, contact Greg
Jaynes, director of actuarial services, at
gregj@AAISonline.com, or Larry
Thill, manager of data management, at
larryt@AAISonline.com.
