October 2020
Texas Surplus Line Reporter
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and writing about this business for over 40 years.
Articles
SLR 3rd Quarter Premium Results
Surplus lines premium in Texas is up by 11.99 percent compared with the end of the third quarter last year. The major line of Other Liability is up 8.67 percent, but the second highest line by total premium, Fire (including Allied Lines), was up 22.78 percent. The...
TWIA Meeting
Following a bit of political pressure and discussion on expanding the data available for the independent actuary, the Actuarial and Underwriting Committee of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association postponed action on a rate increase for residential and commercial...
Commissioner Authorizes Cut in Stamping Fee
Among his last acts as insurance commissioner, Kent Sullivan issued an order adopting a decrease in the stamping fee collected by the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas. The decrease is from 0.15 percent to 0.075 percent of gross written premium. The order, signed...
SLTX Plan of Operation – Opinion
Commissioner of Insurance Kent Sullivan left the office on Sept. 30 with a host of accolades for modernizing the Texas Department of Insurance and making it more accessible and more understandable to Texas policyholders and complainants. His recent actions in regard...
SLR Market Sets Record Growth
With direct premium written growing at 11.2 percent and surpassing the $50 billion mark, the surplus lines market segment set a new record in 2019, according to Best's 27th Market Segment Report: Expanding Opportunities Bolster Surplus Lines Growth and Operating...
News In Brief
People
MJ Kelly, a national commercial insurance brokerage operation headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, has announced the promotion of Tracy Todaro to director of marketing for MJ Kelly. She was most recently the territory marketing manager of MJ Kelly's Shreveport,...
Meetings and Education
The Insurance Council of Texas introduced the virtual replacement for the annual Property and Casualty Symposium, jointly sponsored by ICT and AFACT, with a business meeting on Oct. 6. Albert Betts, executive director of ICT, said that ICT is comprised of 400 insurers...
Local Acquisitions
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association has submitted revised application and renewal forms to the Texas Department of Insurance for approval. The new forms are applicable to both residential and commercial policies. The revised forms are part of TWIA's effort to...
Mergers & Acquisitions
CRC Group announced Oct. 1 that it has completed the acquisition of Specialty Risk Associates, a Shreveport, Louisiana-based MGA and surplus lines broker. The addition of Specialty Risk continues CRC Group's expansion in binding, transportation binding and personal...
NAIC
The initial meeting of the NAIC's Special Committee on Race and Insurance on Sept. 17 established the committee's five work streams and the co-chairs of each group. They include: Research/analyze level of diversity and inclusion within and access to the insurance...
TWAI
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association has submitted revised application and renewal forms to the Texas Department of Insurance for approval. The new forms are applicable to both residential and commercial policies. The revised forms are part of TWIA's effort to...
Litigation
In the case of Sproull v. State Farm, an Illinois appeals court recently ruled that an insurer could not depreciate labor as a component of replacement cost. The court analyzed whether labor, as a component of replacement cost, may be depreciated when calculating...
Merit’s Reads
I'm hearing more and more from organizations about how to protect employee engagement in a remote work environment. Then the next question is, "As a leader, what should I be doing?" Bestselling author Patrick M. Lencioni describes the leader's crucial role in The...
New Commissioner
Governor Greg Abbott has enough to deal with between now and Nov. 3, said attorney and insurance lobbyist Jay Thompson, Thompson, Coe, Cousins, when he addressed the Insurance Council of Texas Property and Casualty Symposium on Oct. 14. Thompson predicted that a new...