3 Things – Insurance Attracts Investment, State Farm / Allstate & Launches AI/E&S

Hi Friends!  As we wrap up another week and enter the last week of the quarter, we once again bring you ‘3 Things We Learned’ our weekly post using the headlines of the industry to tell the story of what happened this week, tying major headlines together linking to themes we continue to see as the industry narrative unfolds.  This week featured a slowdown of news but featured live events, including The E&S Insurer Conference and Awards, along with the Insurtech NY Spring Conference in New York City.  We attended both and learned a great deal while connecting with industry colleagues.  Let’s delve into what we learned from the headlines and the live events and explore the week.

Insurance Continues to Attract Investment

Tokio Marine made a splash this week, releasing to the press that they had $10 billion to spend on acquisitions throughout the globe. They are eyeing public insurers and remain focused on the North American market, indicating its large opportunity and reminding us of their past acquisitions.

Axis Capital appointed a new head of its ILS segment.  This shows a focus on attracting more outside capital into their specialty insurance and reinsurance world.  Like many (re)insurers, they can offer a strong value proposition for investors looking for capital preservation as the 5% safe havens will likely begin to get smaller due to the Fed Chair’s comments about their plan to continue with rate reductions.

Coterie announced a $27 million funding round featuring Hiscox and others for an oversubscribed round that brings their total amount of funding to over $102 million.  This validates their value proposition and gives them capital for growth and market presence.

State Farm Pulling Back and Allstate Reports Cat Losses

State Farm announced they would non-renew 72,000 California homeowners policies, another move to slow down their significant underwriting losses of the last two years. This will leave a big hole in an already troubled market, with several other carriers having already pulled back. The regulators have their work cut out to ensure homeowners can continue to purchase insurance in the State.

Meanwhile, Allstate announced February results, and there was encouraging news that their catastrophe losses were below the $150 million reporting threshold. This was despite last week’s strong connective storms and winter tornados, which are looking like major secondary peril events with large losses for the industry. They continue to see rate increases take effect, but home repair inflation continues to climb.

Westfield has brought in a new leader for standard lines insurance. Stuart Rosenberg will join to bring balance and strategic direction to Westfield’s standard lines. Their specialty business, launched in 2021, continues to be the engine of growth, but Mr. Rosenberg will help to balance the other side of the business with the right mix of risks in the portfolio.

Launches and New Ventures Capture AI and E&S Opportunities

SiriusPoint continues to make news, this week announcing a partnership with NIP Group for an E&S program to target landscaping companies. They are putting their capacity and surplus lines underwriting company behind a specialty wholesale distributor with a niche in providing risk solutions.

Clearcover has launched a new claims feature leveraging generative AI to provide quick settlements.  The auto insurer will significantly streamline claims processing with large language models that could positively affect their expense ratio and be a model for other insurers to adapt to in the auto space.

Fidelis MGU has announced a rebranding along with strong 2023 results.  The new brand, The Fidelis Partnership, reflects the ‘commitment to stakeholders’ beyond the conventional distribution partner to serve the needs of reinsurance claims handling risk portfolio exposure management and collaboration.

Chubb has launched a global transactional risk liability platform to take advantage of opportunities and provide needed protection. As they expand globally, they will enhance their North American offering, bringing strong underwriting talent to broker partners.

Join us as we continue to explore the headlines and news shaping the insurance sector, and stay tuned for more insights on the unfolding narrative of our industry!  Stay productive, stay safe and stay in touch!