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In addition to its role as a forum in which researcher practitioners network and explore new methodologies, the S. I. R. seeks to bring to its Members and to the industry the timely, pertinent, thought provoking results of ongoing research. Some of this research may be conducted by the Society or by its individual or corporate Members. Other material linked here has been kindly made available by partnering organizations.
If you or your organization has a research report or similar information you believe will be of interest to the Members of the Society, or if there is other content you would recommend to be included on this page, please bring it to the attention of the Society's Vice President - Research.
New content for this page is subject to review by the Vice President - Research and the Research Committee.
If you are a Member of the Society of Insurance Research looking for information on a specific topic, please remember to also check the past conference presentations and the skills matrix directory of Members in the Members Only Section.
Select a topic from the menu on the left.
Items are shown in the order they were posted, with the most recent additions nearer the top of the page.
The Insurance Cycle and Credit Crunch: Impacts & Implications for the P/C Insurance Industry
Published by: Insurance Information Institute, presented by Dr. Robert P. Hartwig on March 18, 2008
This presentation provides a review of how the weakening economy and credit issues could impact the P/C industry. Dr. Hartwig also shares insight into what the federal government is doing to improve the economy and the implications to the insurance industry.
Download the presentation slides.
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A Firm Foundation: The Insurance Industry & Its Contributions to Society
Published by: Insurance Information Institute, presented by Dr. Robert P. Hartwig on April 10, 2008
This PowerPoint report, presented by Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, at St. John's University School of Risk Management, Insurance & Actuarial Science, focuses on how the insurance industry plays a key role in the U.S. economy and society as a whole. Sections highlight the insurers' role as claims payers, philanthropists, employers, taxpayers, investors, educators, promoters of public safety and rebuilders in times of peoples' greatest need, when they are confronted by catastrophe.
Download the presentation slides.
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Two Years Without Major Hurricanes: Implications for Insurers and Policyholders
Published by: Insurance Information Institute, presented by Dr. Robert P. Hartwig on April 4, 2008
This PowerPoint report, presented by Robert Hartwig at the 2008 National Hurricane Conference in Orlando, Florida, reviews catastrophe losses and insurer financial performance. The presentation discusses the financial strength of the property/casualty insurance industry over the past decades and presents two hurricane risk case studies, one for Florida and the other for Texas. The report also focuses on the post Katrina pricing environment and claims paying capacity and provides a Katrina litigation update. In a discussion of flood insurance, the report notes that complacency is already setting in, with renewal rates of flood insurance policies in Gulf states dropping.
Download the presentation slides.
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Marketplace Realities - Spring 2009
Published by: Willis North America, Inc.
This report presents the findings from four different studies that examine "diverse, vital risk management/marketplace arenas". The four different studies include.
- Green Economics: Climate Change Risk and Opportunity
- Surety Market Update
- The Aviation Marketplace
- Umbrella & Excess Casualty: a Marketplace in Dynamic Transition Casualty
Each one of these reports takes an in-depth look into the performance of these markets and current trends/developments.
See the complete report.
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U.S. Tort Liability Index: 2008 Report
Published by: Pacific Research Institute
This report provides a state-by-state ranking of tort costs and tort laws.
Read the newsletter.
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Long-Term Care: Hedging Your Bet (article on page 12)
Published by: Society of Actuaries, Risks and Rewards Newsletter, February, 2008; by Dawn Helwig, Rajesh Bhandula and Nicola Barrett
This article, on page 12 of the newsletter, takes a look at why LTC sales have not "exploded".
Read the newsletter.
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LMC Capital's "Insurance Industry Spotlight"
LMC Capital is a boutique investment banking firm focused exclusively on the insurance industry. The company provides a wide range of investment banking services regionally, nationally, and internationally for insurance companies and brokerages as well as regulatory advisory services for state insurance departments. LMC's investment banking services include full-service, professional advisory for mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, and valuations. The firm's aim is to adhere to the highest standard of ethics while providing unsurpassed advisory services to their clients.
LMC Capital's monthly publication, "Insurance Industry Spotlight", is designed to keep the firm's clients and interested insurance industry professionals informed about its activities by offering timely, independent research and information. In the Spotlight, they analyze selected mergers & acquisitions, capital raises, and ratings actions. It draws on LMC's extensive knowledge of ongoing activities and they offer it as a handy resource for those professionals who wish to stay abreast of the insurance M&A market.
"Insurance Industry Spotlight":
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U.S. Insurance Market, 2008
Published by: Marsh
As described in the publishers' note, this report provides an overview of 2007 experience in the Property & Casualty insurance market for both major and specialty lines. Additionally, the report shares insight from brokers and agents working with Marsh as to what may be in store for 2008.
See the U.S. Insurance Market report.
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Casualty Cost of Risk 2007: The Cost of Doing Business
Published by: Marsh
This report focuses on the "three most commonly purchased lines of primary casualty insurance: workers compensation, general liability, and auto liability." It is intended to provide readers with benchmarking data on the cost of risk (per $1,000 of revenue) from the Marsh proprietary database of "bound insurance placements completed during 2006".
See the Casualty Cost of Risk report.
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Life Insurance Industry: 2008 Outlook
Published by: Ernst & Young
The professionals at Ernst & Young take a look at the Life Insurance industry for 2007 and what they see as the industry's greatest challenges for 2008. They focus especially on seven issues in their 2008 outlook: retirement income; financial events; technology; offshoring; the Solvency II model; International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS); and tax issues and implications.
See the Ernst & Young report.
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2007 Auto Insurance Pricing Report
Published by: Insurance.com
An article by Insurance.com reviews rate trends based on data from over 1.4 million auto insurance consumers. In addition to reviewing aggregate results, this article also reviews growth and average prices by states.
See the Insurance.com article.
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2008 Reinsurance Market Review: Near Misses Call for Caution
Published by: Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC
The expanded report covers renewals trends across various lines, including property, casualty, life, accident and health, retrocession and marine, as well as by geographical areas. According to a press release announcing the release of the report: "The Guy Carpenter World ROL Index found reinsurance prices down approximately 9 percent on average worldwide, driven by excess supply and fueled by a combination of strong profits and low losses. Although the frequency of catastrophes in 2007 was high, the number of 'near misses' led to a lack of large catastrophe losses and a subsequent softening of the market."
See the Guy Carpenter report.
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Frequency of Deer-Vehicle Collisions
Published by: State Farm Insurance
During the 4th Quarter of 2007, State Farm released a map of the U.S. detailing which states had the highest rate of vehicle collisions with deer. The estimates were calculated by using State Farm's deer claim data from the last half of 2006 and the first half of 2007 and motor vehicle registration counts by state from the Federal Highway Administration. See the State Farm data presented as a map or in a chart.
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2008 Forecast: A New Year of Obstacles, Opportunities
Published by: LOMA
OMA/Resource recently invited insurance industry leaders to share their thoughts about what awaits the industry in 2008, and what companies can do to best prepare for the challenges that lie ahead. The following industry leaders provided their insight into areas such as sales, regulation, technology, customer service, and profitability:
- Lawrence J. Arth, CFA, chairman and CEO of the UNIFI Companies
- William F. Glavin, Jr., co-COO of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. and executive vice president and head of MassMutual's U.S. Insurance Group
- Mark A. Hug, vice president and chief marketing officer of Prudential Financial's individual life insurance business
- Al Meyer, CLU, ChFC, executive vice president of American Family Mutual Insurance
- George S. Mohacsi, FLMI, president and CEO of Foresters, a fraternal benefits society
- Susan D. Waring, CLU, ChFC, executive vice president and CAO for State Farm Life Insurance Co. and vice president for State Farm Health;
- John W. Wells, FLMI, CPA, CLU, ACS, senior vice president of operations at Bankers Life & Casualty
- Lizabeth H. Zlatkus, president of international wealth management and group benefits for Hartford Life, Inc
Read the full article from LOMA.
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Property/Casualty Insurance in 2008: Overpriced Insurance and Underpaid Claims Result in Unjustified Profits, Padded Reserves, and Excessive Capitalization
Published by: CFA (Consumer Federation of America)
This report takes a harsh look at the fairness and value of P&C insurance products. By comparing trends in loss ratios, income and profit, the CFA attempts to illustrate the argument that the industry has experienced excessive profit levels. Due to the controversial nature of this article, a rebuttal has also been provided. See the CFA Report. See the rebuttal by the Insurance Information Institute.
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To Your Health: Diagnosing the State Of Health Care & the Global Private Medical Insurance Industry
Published by: Swiss Re Sigma
This report, published in the 4th Quarter of 2007, takes a detailed look at the state of health care in the U.S. and other countries. A number of different metrics are reviewed, such as the trend in health care expenditures versus GDP. How do expenditures in the U.S. compare to other countries? What are the significant challenges impacting the health care industry?
See the Swiss Re report
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MetLife's Mature Market Institute
Demographic Profile: Aging Baby Boomers
We are all aware that baby boomers represent a large share of the U.S. population. Some would even argue that they also have the strongest buying power. Companies are taking a great interest in tracking this group..MetLife is no exception. The Demographical Profile: Baby Boomers was released by MetLife's Mature Market Institute. The information contained in this report will provide readers with the latest review of who baby boomers are, where are the greatest concentration, what are their annual expenditures, and much more. (Demographic Profile)
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Lehman Brothers Global Equity Research
Gelb's P&C Perspectives: P&C Subprime Update
In a recent report released by Lehman Brothers, Jay Gelb analyzes the sub-prime investment exposure for the property-casualty insurers covered by Lehman. The report looks at different scenarios of potential impact of "writing down the value of sub prime investments" on book value. Concerns regarding sub prime investing activity (by insurers) is the "other side of the coin" from the bank and investment house lending and leveraging of sub prime instruments. For both sides of the financial services sector, sub prime has been a significant issue of confidence and belief with investors and the investment community. While perhaps a bit more technical than some of the research we're accustomed to reviewing, it is a fascinating insight into the data calculation and hypothesis testing that professionals, such as Mr. Gelb, engage in every day as he and other members of the community work to understand and communicate the workings of our business. (Subprime Update)
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Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development
RANKING PORT CITIES WITH HIGH EXPOSURE AND VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE EXTREMES
EXPOSURE ESTIMATES
ENVIRONMENT WORKING PAPERS No. 1
The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (a France based organization) co-authored a report highlighting the impact of climate change on coastal communities. This study, released in 2007, includes international cities as well as key impact cities in the US. The study ranks about 130 port cities with the highest exposure and vulnerability to climate extremes. In total, the study finds that around 150 million people could be impacted, compared to just 40 million today.
Click here to access the article and to obtain a hard link to the survey results.
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SIR Membership Survey
From time to time, the Society surveys our Members regarding issues we consider of widespread interest to insurance researchers. A survey of SIR Members conducted during the summer of 2006 indicated that, while a majority are involved in Property & Casualty insurance, a significant percentage work with Life & Health business. Seventy per cent of respondents reported that Competitive Intelligence (CI) is at least part of their job responsibility, and nearly half reported involvement in Market Research. While both CI and other research practitioners identified limited budget or limited resources as their leading challenge, the great majority reported their budget had either remained the same or increased in 2006. See the linked summary report for other insights into the composition and perspectives of the SIR Membership.
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Conning Research
Conning Research & Consulting, a highly respected and nationally-known provider of insurance research, offers a growing array of specialty information products, insights, and analyses of key issues confronting the insurance industry. The Society of Insurance Research gratefully acknowledges Conning's permission to post the linked issue of "The Conning Commentary", which includes two excellent articles prepared in part from information presented at the Society's 2006 Spring Workshops in Philadelphia.
The article "The economic and insurance impact of an avian flu pandemic" was prepared by Terance B. Martin, FSA, MAAA and the article "Competitive Intelligence: A new way to better decision-making" was written by Clint Harris, CPCU, ARP, ARe. Both are employed by Conning Research & Development, Inc., and both participated in the SIR workshop on "Insurance Hot Topics / Emerging Issues".
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