Despite High Court Victory, Insurers Must Re-Examine Consumer Notifications

Automobile insurers Geico and Safeco can celebrate major victories with the Supreme Court's unanimous finding that both made good-faith efforts to see consumers were properly notified when credit information influenced their rate-setting and underwriting decisions.

But the time for celebration could be a short one, legal experts said, according to an exclusive story in BestWeek U.S./Canada. Across the industry, insurers now will have to parse the high court's language to see how existing notification programs measure up, knowing that ignorance and ambiguity won't be valid defenses the next time around. Richard Fischer, a partner with Morrison & Foerster LLP, said insurers have now received specific tests from the highest court in the land, but he imagines they are tests some companies would currently fail.

Also in BestWeek Europe:

* When Markel Corp. was looking for a location to serve the international market with its specialist covers, it chose London and set up shop in 2000.
* From Shanghai to Amsterdam to London, retrenchment was the rule for a variety of insurers recently. To tell where likely general economic growth is going to be, keep an eye on the movements of insurer.

And in both editions of BestWeek, the Best's Global Insurance Composite Index finished the week of June 7 up 25.97% from a year ago. The composite index reflects the performance of 181 insurance stocks. The week's top performers were Korean Reinsurance Co., LIG Insurance Co., Dongbu Insurance Co., Tower, and Millea Holdings.

The bottom five performers were FPIC Insurance Group, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, United Fire & Casualty Co., National Security Group, and Beazley Group.

BestWeek is published by A.M. Best for insurance professionals. To subscribe, please call A.M. Best's customer service department at (908) 439-2200, ext. 5742, or e-mail your request to customer_service@ambest.com.

Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Company is a full-service credit rating organization dedicated to serving the financial services industries, including the banking and insurance sectors. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Article Source: http://www.share.onlypunjab.com

For more information visit  www.ambest.com email to customer_service@ambest.com

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated