At the AAIS Main Event
JACK RADER ELECTED AAIS CHAIRMAN;
CHRISTOPHER TAFT IS VICE CHAIRMAN

Jack M. Rader,  executive vice president and COO of Farmers Alliance Companies, McPherson, Kansas, was elected chairman of AAIS at the AAIS annual meeting held in conjunction with the AAIS Main Event executive conference, April 26-28 in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

A report on the presentations at the conference is available online.

Rader succeeds James W. Sullivan, president and CEO of Co-operative Insurance Companies, Middlebury, Vt., who remains on the AAIS board of directors.

Christopher P. Taft, president and CEO of Preferred Mutual Ins. Co., New Berlin, N.Y. was elected vice chairman to succeed Rader.

In addition, R. Douglas Haines, president and CEO of Buckeye Insurance Group, Piqua, Ohio, was elected a member of the AAIS board. Haines has served as a board member in the past.

The other AAIS board members are:

• Edward T, Berg, president and CEO of Pharmacists Mutual Ins. Co., Algona, Iowa;

• Roy Bubeck, president and CEO of Badger Mutual Ins. Co., Milwaukee, Wis.;

• Stuart C. Henderson, president and CEO of Western National Insurance Group, Edina, Minn.;

• Judy S. Jackson, president and CEO of NLC Insurance Companies, Norwich, Conn.;

• Jeffrey B. Kusch, president and CEO of Austin Mutual Ins. Co., Maple Grove, Minn.; and

• Paul Baiocchi, president and CEO of AAIS.

The 2010 AAIS Main Event conference is scheduled for April 11-13 at the Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa in Ft. Myers, Fla.

FINE ARTS LOSS CONTROL SURVEY
ISSUED FOR INLAND MARINE GUIDE

AAIS has issued a new loss control survey in the Fine Arts Floater section of the Inland Marine Guide, a leading industry resource of policy forms, rating procedures, and underwriting guidelines for the nonfiled classes.

Among other things, the survey provides a series of questions underwriters can use to systematically determine if alarm systems, wall mountings, and locks are in place to reduce losses to artworks on display, and to assess how artworks are stored while not on display.

For information on affiliating with AAIS for use of the Inland Marine Guide, contact Rick Maka, AAIS director of marketing, at rickm@AAISonline.com, or by calling 800-564-AAIS, ext. 222.

AAIS MEMBERS ELIGIBLE
FOR RAA MEMBER DISCOUNTS
ON REINSURANCE SEMINAR FEES

Under an arrangement with the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA), staff from AAIS member companies can attend reinsurance education programs at RAA member rates. The 2009 program lineup includes:

• Re Basics: Demystifying Reinsurance—A Basics of Property/Casualty Reinsurance Course, May 11-13, Chicago, Ill.

• Re Contracts: The Art of Designing Reinsurance Contracts and Programs, July 14-17, New York, N.Y.

• Re Underwriting: An Educational Forum for Underwriting Professionals, July 30, New York, N.Y.

• Re Claims: Reinsurance Claims Management, September 24-25, New York, N.Y.

• Re Finance: The ABCs of Financial Reporting & Analysis for Property/Casualty Insurers and Reinsurers, October 7-8, New York, N.Y .

For information about each program, or to register, go to www.reinsurance.org/seminars. When registering, choose "member" as your "registrant type" to get the tuition discount.

LOUISIANA DETAILS CONDITIONS
FOR NAMED STORM DEDUCTIBLE

A regulation from the Louisiana Department of Insurance details conditions homeowners insurers must meet to implement separate named storm deductibles in hurricane-prone regions of the state.

The regulation requires carriers seeking to implement named-storm deductibles to file with the department a plan for writing new homeowners business in Louisiana. Among other things, each plan is to describe the regions where the deductibles are to be implemented and the methods to be used to write new business.

Under the regulation, homeowners insurance is defined as insurance on 1-2 family owner-occupied premises. The regulation explicitly states that it does not apply to insurance on manufactured or mobile homes.

AAIS's current Homeowners rating plan in Louisiana provides for the application of a deductible, expressed as a percentage of the limit for applicable coverage, for loss caused by all windstorm or hail (if the policy does not exclude coverage for wind/hail loss).

AAIS does not anticipate immediate action to introduce a named storm deductible, but such an option will be considered for future updates of the AAIS Homeowners program.

MARYLAND CALLS FOR COMMENT
ON DRAFT MORATORIUM REGULATION

The Maryland Insurance Administration has issued a draft regulation governing temporary moratoriums on issuing insurance policies in advance of major storms or other emergencies.

Carriers and other interested parties are invited to submit comments on the proposal to P. Randi Johnson, associate commissioner, at prjohnson@mdinsurance.state.md.us. The deadline for comments is the close of business on May 18, 2009.

Under the proposal, no moratorium on issuing policies will be effective unless the governor has issued a disaster declaration or the National Weather Service has issued a hurricane or tropical storm watch, warning, or advisory.

A moratorium shall be limited to the lines and regions impacted by the event, and shall not effect automobile liability policies, adjustments to renewal policies within the 45-day renewal period, policies that have already been bound, or policies unrelated to the impending event.

A carrier must give at least two hours' notice before implementing a moratorium. Also the moratorium must be lifted at the first reasonable opportunity, and no later than 24 hours after the last weather warning.