Balancing Financial Sustainability and Legal Challenges
News Brief: State Farm Stands by Bonuses at Property Unit; AIG to Cut Jobs
Welcome to the News Brief, our roundup of the week's top stories in commercial lines.
It's a case of 'Thanks for the advice, but we're going in a different direction'. State Farm has been looking to raise property rates at its commercial multi-peril-focused unit in California to ensure its long-term sustainability in the state, but the carrier has rejected suggestions from the market's regulator that it suspend bonuses or reduce commissions to address capital shortfalls.
AIG has put up to 450 staff in its international business on notice of potential redundancy as part of what it describes as a consultation related to the ongoing reshaping of its business.
A judge in Connecticut has ruled that Liberty Mutual does not have an obligation to pay out damages stemming from its indemnifying a golfing television network that allegedly swindled one of its investors.
Not such good news from the courts for State Farm in a ruling with implications for all carriers that insure rideshare drivers. An appeals court in Georgia has overturned a ruling by a trial court that would have let State Farm off the hook in a lawsuit filed by a woman involved in a collision with a Lyft rideshare driver. The Court of Appeals of Georgia said that the trial court had erred in determining that Lyft was not a motor carrier.
Also this week we caught up on the market share race in commercial lines. Amid 10% year-over-year revenue growth, New York-based Travelers is positioned to displace Chubb as the No. 1 US commercial lines carrier once full-year 2024 earnings data begins to get reconciled in January. The table below is a snapshot from the full rankings.
Table of the week
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