Advisen Library
Advisen's briefings and topical reports examine a wide range of issues, both current and long-term, concerning the commercial insurance industry and its professionals. From the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, to Hurricane Katrina, to cyber liability, these reports break down the complexities and subtle issues behind events, and clarify their impact on insurance professionals in a meaningful and authoritative fashion.
Securities Litigation Quarter 1 April 2012
After years of dramatic increases in securities litigation activities, and a record-setting 2011, the number of new filings dropped in the first quarter of 2012 to an annualized rate more akin to the level set in 2010. In addition to the effects that an improving economy has had on company fortunes, and thus on litigation, the falloff may be attributed in part to a decline in M&A activities leading to fewer merger-objection suits. At 377 new securities suit filings in Q1 2012, the annualized level of about 1,500 was 16 percent below the high watermark set in 2011. The number of new filings in the quarter was also 9 percent below the previous quarter, and over 33 percent below a year earlier in Q1 2011.
State of the European D&O Insurance Market April 2012
European directors and officers are increasingly exposed to investigations, regulatory enforcement actions and lawsuits, sparking demand for Directors and Officers Liability (D&O) Insurance. In an overall shrinking commercial insurance marketplace, D&O is one of the few lines of business to be growing - a key reason more insurers are entering the D&O market. As a result, competition is pushing pricing down, even as the frequency and severity of claims increase.
State of the Commercial P&C Insurance Market March 2012
An underwriting loss in 2011 and very low interest rates are among the factors prompting insurers to push for rate increases. Premiums are edging higher in most lines of commercial P&C business, but policyholder’s surplus – a measure of market capacity – remains near its all-time high. Rates are likely to continue to increase incrementally, but barring exceptional catastrophe losses in 2012, the type of hard market experienced in 2001-2003, when the average commercial lines premium shot up 50 percent, is unlikely.
This Advisen special report, sponsored by Starr Companies, examines the forces shaping the commercial P&C market and offers actionable insights for planning, decision making and reporting purposes.
Advisen Webinar: Hospital Property Risk Management and Insurance in a Changing World March 2012
A hospital is comprised of a wide range of services and functional units, resulting in complex engineering and property risk management challenges. To make matters yet more complicated, the healthcare sector is undergoing rapid transformation -- driven by factors such as changing demographics, new technologies, and legislated reforms -- which have implications for property loss control and risk management. Many hospitals also are under pressure to reduce costs, leading to difficult budgeting decisions that may mean fewer funds for property loss prevention measures.
The Gathering Front: New Realities of Terrorism Risk Sponsored by Chartis March 2012
Terrorism can occur anywhere in the world at any time; any person, business or country can be its target. It can occur on land, in the air or in the water, and in food supplies. It can be directed against physical structures and even against the largely unseen computer networks. As terrorism evolves, so too must corporate risk managers and safety professionals. They must look for vulnerabilities in every facet of their operations.
This Advisen report, The Gathering Front: New Realities of Terrorism Risk, sponsored by Chartis, offers risk managers practical insights various facets of terrorism as they continue to develop plans to protect employees, physical assets and data, wherever they may be around the world.
European risk and insurance management professionals recognise a broad array of cyber-related risks as significant threats to their organisations, ranging from social media risks to data breaches to business interruption resulting from a malicious attack. Once considered exclusively the purview of the Information Technology department, the management of these exposures is now viewed by many organisations as an enterprise-wide concern.
This Advisen survey of European risk management professionals, sponsored by Zurich, reveals the cyber-related risks that most concern organisations, and the ways they are organising their efforts to combat them. The full five page report, A New Era in Information Security and Cyber Liability Risk Management: A Survey on Enterprise-wide Cyber Risk Management Practices in Europe, can be downloaded at no charge.
The Risks to the Retail and Hospitality Industries March 2012
The buzz around cloud computing continues to grow, but some retail and hospitality companies have been hesitant to jump on the cloud bandwagon. Although the benefits of cloud technology are apparent, these companies have an overall level of trepidation as to whether the cloud can provide a secure and reliable platform for facilitating PCI-compliant transactions. However, the lure of reducing costs, improving efficiency and moving away from outdated legacy applications are proving hard to ignore as companies begin to explore the opportunities that exist in the "cloud."
This report examines both the benefits and the risks of cloud computing for companies in the retail and hospitality industries and offers practical insights into how they can take advantage of the cloud while assuring data security and PCI compliance.
The Liability Issues of Cloud Computing Service Providers Sponsored by CNA February 2012
“The Cloud” is where many technology companies now reside. Cloud Computing enables individuals and businesses to operate in a cost effective and efficient manner. Few would argue that this method of computing does not offer businesses potential benefits, however, the cloud service provider and its clients are also exposed to a host of risks including data security, privacy and business interruption, all of which have the potential for financial liability.
In this CNA sponsored Whitepaper produced by Advisen Ltd. we will explore government regulations that have had liability implications for cloud providers, the changing standards industry contracts, risk mitigation and the role of insurance.
Securities Litigation Hits Record in 2011 January 2012
From heightened regulatory activity to opportunistic litigators, new securities filings in 2011 built upon the new plateau established in 2009 and 2010. Driven substantially by regulatory actions and an up tick in securities class action suits, new filings in 2011 were up 10 percent over 2010. But despite the growing volume of litigation, premiums -- especially for public companies -- remain mired at soft market levels.
Driving Down Claim Costs with Predictive Modeling Sponsored by Zurich December 2011 
Tools based on predictive modeling are transforming claims management. In workers’ compensation, automobile liability, general liability, medical professional liability, etc., predictive modeling enables insurers to identify problematic claims soon after they are reported, and to quickly allocate the necessary resources to mitigate losses. Predictive models also are used throughout the lifecycle of a claim to identify emerging problems and to flag potentially fraudulent activity. As a result, significant cost savings can be achieved.
This 6 page report, sponsored by Zurich, explains the principles of predictive modeling and demonstrates how insurers and risk managers are using groundbreaking new tools to help contain claim costs.
Market Trends Impacting Multinational Travel Risk Management Sponsored by ACE December 2011 
After a decline resulting from the “Great Recession,” international travel is on the rise. Not only are business people, students and nonprofit volunteers traveling more, destinations for overseas assignments and study abroad programs are changing as emerging economies become vital engines of global economic growth. Corporations, universities and nonprofit organizations all recognize their obligations to address the health and safety issues of foreign travelers. Increasingly risk management departments are structuring comprehensive programs combining insurance and travel services to provide foreign travelers with access to high quality medical care, health and safety information and evacuation from dangerous situations if necessary.
State of the Insurance Market Sponsored by Swett & Crawford November 2011
Rising premiums during the third quarter is good news for property/casualty insurers, which have endured eight years of soft market conditions. Rate increases, however, may not yet be sustainable. Capacity is at near-record levels despite one of the worst years ever for catastrophe losses. Underwriters undoubtedly will try to push rate levels higher, but it will be an uphill fight against excess capacity, which encourages competition.
This six page Advisen Briefing, sponsored by Swett & Crawford, examines the forces shaping the current property/casualty market and offers valuable insights for January 1 renewals and beyond.
The Myths of Volunteer Immunity Sponsored by CNANovember 2011 
The nonprofit sector would be a shell of what we know it to be today without the billions of hours of donated time provided every year by volunteers. In order to protect these civil servants from personal liability, and encourage volunteerism, the government has passed volunteer immunity laws to provide some protection from civil liability. While these laws provide a degree of protection they are not complete solutions. This is a common misunderstanding by many in the nonprofit sector that could lead to disastrous consequences.
Perhaps it's a new dawn, as the business community begins to wake from the slumber, and nightmares, of the credit crisis. Or perhaps it's the morning calm before the sun once again rises to shine its light on the next scandal. The credit crisis brought about a rise in litigation activities for all major types of securities suits. After a record first quarter, however, new filings in 2011 demonstrated a steady drop for most types of suits, falling to a pre-2009 level in the third quarter, as 2009 was when credit crisis-related suits began to mushroom. At 316 securities suits filed in Q3 2011, new filings are down from 367 in Q2 and the high of 421 in Q1. Despite these figures, the record-setting first quarter leaves 2011 thus far at an annualized level higher than all previous years, and Q3 annualized was greater than all years prior to 2009.
Social media is a fast and inexpensive way for Healthcare Organizations (HCOs) to communicate with patients and employees. Many top HCOs prominently use social media for communication. The Mayo Clinic, for example, has over 120,000 followers on Twitter. But as HCOs utilize these online tools to increase visibility, encourage communications with patients and market products and services, significant business and reputational exposures must be considered. Social media can be an effective tool for delivering an organization's message, but the use of social media by HCOs must be tightly controlled to avoid monetary and reputational penalties.
This new Advisen report, sponsored by OneBeacon Professional Insurance, examines the social media risks faced by HCOs and their employees, and offers practical advice for mitigating risk.
Increased enforcement of existing environmental regulations in the United States is not the only trend that should have risk managers in a wide range of industries re-examining environmental risks. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has its sights on areas that it never regulated before, including stormwater runoff from diffuse sources such as agricultural sources and municipal parking lots, and 90 new contaminants. Beyond enforcing Superfund more rigorously-adding sites to the National Priorities List (NPL) at a pace not seen in more than a decade--cleaning up water and air pollution has become a rallying cry for the EPA. In Europe, EU member nations are slowly working to implement the Environmental Liability Directive--one country at a time-subjecting heavy industrial businesses to a strict liability standard for pollution events, and holding businesses in other industries accountable under a negligence standard. The time is now to get ahead of the regulatory curve-in the United States and outside U.S. borders. This special webinar examines how and where regulators are targeting traditional environmental risks and new ones, as well as the role of insurance and local claims specialists around the globe.
A growing number of organizations are now realizing that cyber security extends well beyond the IT department. A wide range of issues such as lost or stolen data, violation of privacy laws, intellectual property infringement and social media-related risks such as cyber-bullying and textual harassment constitute a much broader scope of cyber exposures. To gain insight into the current state of enterprise-wide information security and cyber liability risk management, Zurich sponsored a survey of 503 risk managers, administered by Advisen Ltd. This 9-page report, A New Era in Information Security and Cyber Liability Risk Management: A Survey on Enterprise-wide Cyber Risk Management Practices, not only offers insights into best practices in information security and cyber risk management, it also provides a useful framework for risk managers and other to benchmark their own programs.
Organizations that implement social media business strategies face a variety of liabilities for their online activities ranging from copyright infringement to invasion of privacy to consumer fraud law violations. However, the benefits of corporate use of social media often outweigh its risks. Often the more difficult challenge a company faces is the adverse effects caused by the unsupervised activities of its employees while using social media. While it can be an effective business tool, social media has also proven to be an easy way for employees to communicate sensitive or inappropriate information outside the organization, enhancing the potential for legal implications. Organizations are now finding that they are exposed to an array of liability due to the use of social media by their employees.
This report, the second in a three-part series on Social Media sponsored by OneBeacon Professional Insurance, examines the risks faced by organizations for the social media activities of their employees, and offers practical sugestions for controlling those risks.
Governments across Europe, to varying degrees, have passed laws requiring new financial disclosures, enhanced shareholder protections, and greater transparency. Many have developed formal structures for collective action proceedings by shareholders or their representative. Previously thought a luxury of large companies, D&O liability insurance in Europe is primed for robust growth across companies of all sizes as it is increasingly viewed as essential. Changes to laws governing executive responsibilities, increased cross-border regulator vigor, and greater access to collective litigation will drive this growth.
Social networking is a ubiquitous part of life in the 21st century. Companies across the world are recognizing the power of social media and are rushing to create Facebook pages and amass followers on Twitter. Many firms use social networking websites to research job candidates and some to monitor employee activities. Online social networking can be a powerful tool for organizations of all types, but it also presents a bewildering and rapidly evolving web of liability exposures. Potential sources of liability range from copyright infringement to invasion of privacy to consumer fraud law violations.
Aircraft Products Liability Insurance is an affordable insurance for most aircraft product manufacturing businesses that provides a risk financing tool that mitigates financial loss for aircraft and space mishaps. This two page article from the Aircraft Builders Council presents rationale for why mid-sized and smaller manufacturers should strongly consider purchasing products liability because...
Since the onslaught of the credit crisis, suits against financial services firms, particularly regulatory actions, have been filed at a fevered pitch. In the second quarter of 2011, the fever may have finally broke, as both overall regulatory actions and lawsuits filed against financial services firms have slid back to pre-credit crisis level. At 332 securities suits filed in Q2 2011, new filings are down from the high of 398 in Q1, but the annualized level remains on par with the record-setting year of 2010. The falloff in overall new filings from Q1 to Q2 resulted from the falloff in regulatory actions against financial services firms, at levels unseen since the pre-credit crisis year of 2006...
Catastrophic and potentially ruinous breaches are increasingly common. What may begin as an investigation into a seemingly manageable security problem sometimes mushrooms into a disaster, with skyrocketing notification, monitoring, remediation and reputational damage costs...
In any given year, there are scores of earthquakes, most barely significant enough to rattle a teacup. But since January 2010, the globe has been rocked by eight quakes of magnitude 6.1 or greater, one of which was 9.0. Two resulted in enormous loss of life and many caused significant property damage.
Workers' compensation has been a hotbed of risk management and insurance innovation in recent years. Runaway claims costs have led to sweeping changes in the ways submissions are underwritten and claims are managed.
Private equity investments into not-for-profit health care institutions is booming. The capital infusion has brought welcome relief to many hospitals, which had been brought to the brink by rising operating costs and diminished revenues.
Securities suit filings are on track to set a new record in 2011. Following on the heels of the credit crisis, which sparked record-setting litigation in 2008 and 2009, 2010 set yet a new record at 1,293 suits filed. Based on the volume of suits filed in the first quarter, 2011 may surpass last year's all-time high.
Insurance buyers are likely to enjoy continued favorable pricing conditions through 2011, but the convergence of a number of factors suggests that a firmer market may be on the horizon.
Slowly, but with growing certainty, the economy is recovering. Improving economic vitality is good news, but for many companies, their risk profiles change as business activity picks up. Increased activity means proportionately more losses: more trucks driving more miles will inevitably result in more accidents, for example.
Merger objection suits are lawsuits filed by disgruntled shareholders of a company that has been, or is about to be, acquired. The number of lawsuits filed skyrocketed in recent years, even as the number of mergers and acquisitions plummeted during the Great Recession.
The insurance pricing cycle is driven by the law of supply and demand. For the past several years, the supply of insurance capacity has exceeded the demand for that capacity, forcing prices down.
With the credit crisis subdued, and the depths of Great Recession left behind, 2010 was a year of healing, albeit at a modest GDP growth-rate and scant jobs growth. The year saw credit crisis-related suits wind down and previously white-hot filings of Madoff-related cases cooled.
Download "Preemption and REMS: Evolving Risk Landscape for Generic Drug Manufacturers," a new Advisen whitepaper sponsored by Lexington Insurance Company. The report examines the doctrine of preemption, how it applies to the pharmaceutical sector, the critical Wyeth v. Levine Supreme Court decision, other pending cases, as well as their impact on generic drug manufacturers. more....
The commercial property & casualty insurance industry is overcapitalized, which fuels price competition. Insurers look to put excess capital to work, which results in a glut of insurance capacity and a highly competitive market. more....
As gigabytes and terabytes of digital information became easily available to anyone with an Internet connection, a dilemma for content creators surfaced: how can information be monetized when many users of information expect it to be free? "The Battle to Survive the Digital Age: Monetizing Online Information," sponsored by OneBeacon Professional Services, examines the risks faced by a wide array of online content companies. more....
This article observes that valuation multiples of insurance companies have declined significantly during the crisis and have not recovered. These lower valuations reflect investors' concerns about future profitability and growth as well as the potential impact of weaknesses in risk governance and management on the value of their investment. more....
In a quarter marked by the signing of the Dodd-Frank financial reform, establishing future governance burdens, plaintiffs' attorneys had no problem finding current complaints to file. The number of securities lawsuits filed in the quarter, including derivative actions, regulatory suits, and securities class action suits, among others, remained at inflated levels. more....
Creations of the mind, or intellectual property (IP), have become increasingly important sources of wealth and power in the global marketplace. Organizations, countries and individuals that possess know-how also have the keys to growth and economic development. These assets, however, are constantly being attacked on various fronts by competitors, organized crime and others. more....
Every organization that handles credit card transactions or maintains records about its clients should be concerned about data security. Breaches occur with alarming frequency, and even a moderate breach can cost a company millions of dollars in response costs, system repairs, lawsuits and fines and penalties. Like every other company, information technology companies should be certain their data is secure. more....
Patents, copyrights, trademarks and other forms of intellectual property (IP) are among the most significant drivers of competitive advantage for many companies today. These intangible assets are highly vulnerable to misappropriation and theft, requiring companies to implement various safeguards to protect them. more....
Exactly how extensive are the insurance ramifications of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster and spill in the Gulf of Mexico now considered to be the largest offshore oil spill in US history? more....
A surge in securities litigation in the second quarter of 2010 was driven by short term reactions to headline-grabbing events as well as what are shaping up to be longer term shifts in litigation trends. more....
This paper discusses how insurance companies can use analytics to break strategic stalemates that prevent them from creating value. It shows what they need to do to generate the needed risk insights, at the intersection of the strategy, risk management, underwriting, investment and actuarial disciplines. more....
One of the important requirements of AIRMIC members is access to more and better benchmarking data. In response to this requirement, AIRMIC commissioned Advisen to undertake research with the membership into Property Damage / Business Interruption(PD/BI) insurance. The research and the publication of this benchmarking report have been sponsored by Willis, the global insurance broker.
The initial survey has yielded some interesting data. more....
The wrath of the credit crisis and the ensuing Great Recession took its toll on securities litigation in 2008 and 2009. Securities class action suits (SCAS) remained strong during this period, but it was regulator activities from many levels that erupted. more....
The commercial lines insurance market has been pummeled by the combined impact of deeply depressed rates and declining written premiums resulting from the global recession. Nonetheless, insurers will post a profit for 2009 and capacity remains abundant. more....
Data security is a widespread problem for companies across-the-board. Any entity with a presence on the Internet, with sensitive data on servers connected to the Internet, or transmitting data such as credit card payments, is exposed to this risk. more....
Wage-and-hour lawsuits have been an escalating threat to companies of all sizes over the past decade. Now outranking discrimination lawsuits, measured by both number of filings and size of settlements, these employment practices lawsuits have become an unforeseen calamity for companies across all industry sectors and a new challenge for risk managers. more....
Millions of people across the world now participate on social network websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Businesses have discovered that social network sites offer new channels to reach customers and prospects, and can be sources of valuable information for evaluating job candidates. more....
Copyright violations are rampant on the Internet, and copyright infringement lawsuits - some demanding hundreds of millions of dollars - are on the rise. more....
Reflecting the general tenor of the first decade of the new Millennium, 2009 was a tumultuous year. From the depths of the Great Recession, to ballooning bailouts and a fictitious balloon boy, to the King of Pop's last moon-dance, to angry Tea Parties unfit for a queen, most feel happy to have left it behind. Securities litigation took a similar delirious path. more....
Directors & officers (D&O) liability insurance in Europe is primed for robust growth given changes to laws governing executive responsibilities and to collective litigation processes. Accounting scandals and corporate governance shortfalls in Europe cost investors billions of Euros in the early years of this decade. more....
Despite dismal 2008 results reported by property & casualty insurers, soft market pricing has prevailed in 2009. Recovering stock markets and a lack of significant insured catastrophes losses thorough the first half of 2009 have taken some of the financial pressure off insurers. more....
Securities lawsuit filings came in at a high clip in the third quarter, but below frantic first quarter levels. With 169 suits, Q3 2009 was up 11 percent compared to Q2 2009. Both securities class action and securities fraud cases grew solidly, representing approximately three-quarters of all filings. more....
In the battle for the large and profitable middle market, attracting and retaining top sales and account management talent is essential to success. more....
A shift in strategy now pits the largest brokers against mid-size firms in a battle for the middle market. Driven in part by responses to investigations by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. more....
Securities lawsuit filings fell off from in the second quarter from frantic first quarter levels, with 140 suits down substantially from 221 in the first quarter, but the average settlements and awards spiked. Filings were down across all securities case types, as securities class action, securities fraud and breach of fiduciary duties represented the lion's share of cases. more....
Some insurance company executives are trumpeting the return of the hard market, but Advisen insurance program data from risk managers and brokers show that soft market conditions persist in most lines of business. more....
With 169 securities lawsuits filed in the first quarter, 2009 is trending higher than 2008. Filings were up for securities class action, breach of fiduciary duties suits and cases filed in courts outside of the United States. more....
Commercial insurance follows a boom-and-bust pricing cycle that, conventional wisdom proclaims, is largely uncorrelated with broader economic cycles. But the current recession is different. more....
Price: $299
The global credit crisis in the aftermath of the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market led to an explosion of securities lawsuits in 2008, but it was only one part of a rapidly shifting securities litigation landscape more....
Madoff Litigation Information more....
Advisen is tracking 68 Madoff-related cases already filed, and more are being filed on a daily basis. But how many of these suits will lead to insured losses? more....
A five-year soft market, fueled by chronic overcapacity, is coming to an end. Following two years of record profits, losses from both underwriting and investment activities are destroying excess insurance capacity, signaling that the bottom of the commercial insurance pricing cycle is near. more....
Private equity firms and hedge funds have seen stellar growth over the past decade, riding the wave of easy credit and eager investment pools more...
Utilizing the concepts of academic research on aggressive accrual accounting policies, Advisen introduced proprietary adjustments, and created a powerful tool - Advisen Total Accrual metric (ATACm) more...
Advisen Ltd., the leading provider of content, analytics, and technology to the global commercial insurance industry, released a special report based on a survey of brokers following the American International Group (AIG) liquidity crisis.more...
Most AIG commercial lines policyholders participating in an Advisen survey reported that, while they are confident in the financial strength of AIG insurance companies following the $85 billion loan by the federal government, more than two thirds plan to get quotes from AIG's competitors when their policies renew. more...
Advisen is committed to providing a portfolio of measures for insurance professionals, only available on Advisen, to consider in assessing the risk of companies.more...
Advisen Report: Liabilities incurred under sophisticated financial instruments ravaged American International Group. As AIG teetered on the verge of bankruptcy Monday and Tuesday, brokers were flooded with calls from nervous AIG policyholders. more...
Data security breaches can potentially cost companies tens of millions of dollars in fines and penalties, loss mitigation expenses, and settlements of lawsuits. more...As insurance products become more sophisticated and responsive to the data security risks of large companies, and as enterprise risk management processes are more widely implemented, corporate risk managers will be increasingly involved in the treatment of cyberliability exposures.
Which insurance decisions and coverage issues are likely to be impacted by Nanotechnology, the manufacture and manipulation of materials at the molecular or atomic level? Nanotechnology holds the promise of higher agricultural yields, diminished pollution, renewable energy sources and less expensive water filtration systems. more...However, the risks associated with these new processes and materials are still largely unknown. Insurers and risk managers only now are beginning to address the liability and safety issues associated with the impending onslaught of transformational products.
Cell phones have become an essential business tool, but studies have demonstrated that cell phone use while driving can lead to increased risk of an accident. Recent lawsuits highlight the potential liability of employers for damages caused by employees using cell phones while driving on company business. more...An employer with a strong cell phone policy will be in a far better position legally than the employer who has no policy. However, having a policy is not a bulletproof shield against liability.
After skyrocketing between 2001 and 2003, commercial insurance premiums in most lines have been falling since the beginning of 2004. The soft market shows fews signs of abating in 2008. more...Barring major catastrophes, insurance buyers should see steadily falling premiums throughout the year.
Traditional insurance products are inconsistent with certain Islamic principles. As a result, assets owned by Muslims are largely uninsured. Takaful, a viable alternative to traditional insurance acceptable to Muslims has recently emerged as one of the fastest growing segments of the global insurance market. more...The growth potential for Takaful in Muslim countries is clear, but a strong opportunity also exists in the US and Europe to meet the insurance needs of millions of Muslims and tens of thousands of Muslim-owned businesses. The opportunities also extend to the reinsurance market, as Takaful operators seek reinsurance coverage that also is in compliance with Islamic law.
The substantial financial losses associated with subprime mortgage lending and the follow-on impact on the credit markets are expected to result in increased frequency and severity of losses under directors and officers liability ("D&O") and errors & omissions ("E&O") policies. more...As of this date, insurance analysts have pegged the potential underwriting exposure of D&O and E&O insurers for losses resulting from subprime lending to be as high as $8 billion. This estimate does not include or address investment losses incurred by insurers through investment of their premium dollars. This analysis also does not address the related issue of D&O and E&O exposures arising from credit risk problems resulting from - but not related to - subprime lending.
To date, more than $170 billion has evaporated from the balance sheets of companies around the world as the result of the meltdown of the U.S. subprime mortgage market. more...Commercial banks and investment banks have been the hardest hit, with write-downs for Citigroup and UBS alone accounting for more than $28 billion. Losses have been nearly evenly split between U.S. and non-U.S. companies.
A flurry of high-profile recalls of Chinese-made products has sparked more than 100 lawsuits against American companies. more...The speed of China's expansion into the global export market has not been matched by a growth in the countrywide regulatory infrastructure, but American companies and consumers have few avenues of legal recourse against Chinese manufacturers.
Corporate governance and accounting scandals costing investors billions of Euros have led to new disclosure requirements, enhanced shareholder protections and a greater willingness on the part of investors to take legal action throughout Europe. more...nstitutional investors have become more active in policing corporate governance and performance. Lawyers and plaintiffs have gained experience in litigation against directors and officers, and U.S. law firms with broad experience in class action litigation are bringing their expertise to Europe. Litigation funding firms have proliferated. Some analysts predict that Europe is poised for an epidemic of shareholder suits.
Like every other industry, the insurance industry is subject to the law of supply and demand: when supply exceeds demand, prices fall. more...n the current market, aggregate policyholders' surplus - supply in the insurance supply-and-demand equation - is growing strongly, leading to heightened competition and downward pressure on rate levels. Unless catastrophe losses in 2007 are unusually severe, cutting deeply into aggregate policyholders' surplus, it is likely that commercial insurance buyers will enjoy sharply lower premiums in most lines of insurance throughout the year and into 2008.