The Lower New York Insurance Blog

Rising sea-levels could one day leave significant portions of the Florida Keys underwater, experts say.
Researcher Evan Flugman said in a Florida International University report the Florida Keys are at the forefront of the emerging threat of rising sea-levels in the southern portion of Florida, The Miami Herald reported Sunday.
Continue reading …….Rising sea levels threatening Florida Keys

Introduction:

Recently, there is much talk in the news about regulating the insurance industry at the federal level. This recent activity has been sparked by the current credit card account defaults, bank closures and financial institution failures. The AIG situation and this past fall financial melt-down has also pushed the consideration for federal regulation. Although AIG’s hundreds of Property and Casualty (P&C) Insurance companies are sound and financially stable,  their credit default swap business for insuring bonds, mortgages and other financial packages had sever problems as mortgages and their offshoot CDOs were collapsing. There is obvious a requirement for credit default swaps (CDS) regulation -  search the blog for other articles on CDSs. Since state P&C insurance regulation has worked very well where federal financial market regulation has not worked well during the financial melt down, what is the rational in having the insurance industry regulated at the federal level? Let us explore this question by looking into to the charter of the New State Insurance Department.  The information that follows is from the the Department’s web site.

* Ensure the continued sound and prudent conduct of insurers’ financial operations;
* Provide fair, timely and equitable fulfillment of insurer obligations;
* Protect policyholders from financially impaired or insolvent insurers;
* Eliminate fraud, other criminal abuse and unethical conduct in the industry; and
* Foster growth of the insurance industry in the State.

The Department carries out its supervisory function by issuing licenses to agents, brokers, consultants, reinsurance intermediaries, adjusters, and bail bondsmen; conducting examinations of insurers to determine their financial condition, treatment of policyholders and claimants, and underwriting practices; and auditing each company’s annual reports.

The Department carries out its regulatory function by determining qualifications of insurers; regulating rates, certain retirement systems and pension funds; reviewing policyholders’ complaints; supervising the liquidation, rehabilitation, and conservation of insolvent insurers; and approving corporate formations, mergers, and consolidations.

Until 1849, insurance companies doing business in New York State were chartered by special acts of the Legislature. A law was passed that year requiring prospective insurance companies to file incorporation papers with the Secretary of State. The law also vested regulatory power over insurance companies with the State Comptroller, who was authorized to require the companies to submit annual financial statements and to deny a company the right to operate if capital securities and investments did not remain secure.

The Insurance Department was created in 1859 by the New York State Legislature and assumed the functions of the Comptroller and Secretary of State relating to insurance. The Department began operations in 1860. The Department is headed by a Superintendent appointed by the Governor. The agency continued unchanged after the 1925 constitutional reorganization of State Government.

In addition to its main office at 25 Beaver Street, Manhattan, the agency has staff in Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Oneonta and Long Island.

The New York Liquidation Bureau, a separate office under the jurisdiction of the Superintendent, is charged with rehabilitating or liquidating insurance companies. It is located in New York City.

Wm. E. Morrell Inc, of White Plains NY is celebrating their centennial for the last 100 years in business! Founded in 1909 and incorporated in 1913, they have served the businesses and households of lower New York for a Century.

Wm. E. Morrell Inc  “Morrell Insurance”  History Brief

William (Wm.) E. Morrell Inc., was established in 1909 by William E. Morrell in White Plains New York. Soon afterwards, William’s brother Herbert K. Morrell joined the firm. On July 9, 1913 William’s and Herbert’s filings for the incorporation of the company was completed. The incorporation records are preserved in the Westchester County New York Record Center as record: A-0050(26), P 149. William passed away early in the century leaving his brother

Centennial

Herbert as sole proprietor. Herb’s family, four generations strong, continues managing the Insurance Agency to this day. The Agency originated as both a Real Estate and an Insurance Agency. During the Roaring-Twenties, Real Estate was the main business for the Agency, but during and after the 1930s depression, Insurance became the driving business for Morrell Insurance.

William (Wm.) E. Morrell Inc., also known as Morrell Insurance, has been responsible for providing outstanding  insurance products and services ever since. We are a four generation strong family business leveraging our insurance history of serving and building strong relationships in the Westchester, Fairfield, New Haven, Rockland and the Bronx areas. And now continuing the tradition by expanding the relationships to the New York City, Long Island, Upstate New York, Upstate Connecticut and New Jersey areas. Our regular customers particularly value our service approach coupled with our vast experience with insurance policies, coverages and claims expertise. Our true hearted goal is building relationships with all people, professions and communities, knowing their insurance needs to “serve them better!”.

Take confort in knowing that your  insurance plan includes trusted insurance, backed by a century of proven experience - knowing that the same people who are helping you today will continue serving you for years to come!

Join them in celebrating their 100th year in business!

Sponsor: Morrell Insurance

Our favorite insurance technology-related blog posts from around the Web (May 24-30, 2009):

The Consequences of Printing Money

Celent’s Nicolas Michellod examines the current state of the credit crisis, paying particular attention to the amount of money currently in circulation across the global economy. “More than questioning if there is really a credit crisis, what appears to me to be an issue of high importance for the future is the money aggregate in circulation in the economy,” Michellod writes.

Social Network Phishing Risk

Claire Wilkinson, author of the Insurance Information Institute’s Terms & Conditions blog, links to a New York Time’s blog post regarding recent “phishing” expeditions on Twitter.

Aging America: A Looming Catastrophe?

Workers Comp Insider offers readers a peak at an upcoming IAIABC Journal article, Aging America: The Iceberg Dead Ahead, written by Lynch Ryan CEO Tom Lynch. “Tom describes the massive problems that the aging workforce presents to workers compensation systems - problems that are compounded by funding problems with other social insurance programs,” according to the blog post.

Continue reading …….Honor Roll: This Week’s Top Insurance Blogs (May 24-30)

Life-insurance companies shares have surged lately, and some have stated they do not require government financial assistance from the TARP. Downgrades for insurance stocks by rating agencies have also halted. Just a few months back, financial stocks including insurance companies were in a melt down - stocks were falling and downgrades were a daily activity.

Was it TARP funds approval which helped the Life Insurers?

This month, the Treasury said that it would make TARP funds available to life insurers. The life insurers efforts from this past autumn to obtain government help has paid off. The Treasury has preliminary approved financial funding for six insurers. Thus giving the markets confidence by having TARP funds available to insurers which contributed to the boosting insurers share prices. Investors now know that funding is available for these companies, allowing them to get threw these resent harder times.

Since the Treasury Department gave life insurers preliminary approval for funding under the TARP, the Hartford Financial Services Group and Lincoln National are expected to accept the  funding.

Was it  Insurers turning down TARP Funding which helped the Life insurers?

But possibly it is the opposite side of the coin for the surge. Many insurers are refusing TARP monies! In the fall, many life insurers went to great efforts to qualify for the TARP by changing their entity to become bank- or thrift-holding companies.  When the Treasury delivered preliminary TARP approvals, the market conditions then changed, allowing the firms to increase capital by working with private investors. Insurers turning down funds signals confidence to the markets. Insurers that take TARP funds may be seen as weak market players.

Allstate Chairman and Chief Executive Thomas J. Wilson said this month that given the company’s strong liquidity and capital positions, “we will not participate in this program.” Ameriprise Financial Group Inc., one of the six life insurers to win preliminary approval, said Friday that it wouldn’t take the money. Prudential Financial Inc. also responded that it expected to reject the aid. Previous posts on your-insurance-site.info reported Travelers said no to TARP.

Are there new Surprises Ahead? - Commercial Real-estate! - Variable Annuity

Although the economy has steadied,  there may be plenty of surprises ahead, for the economy and the markets. Many analysts expect the commercial real-estate sector to continue to weaken. This is a great concern initiated from my reading and listening to current financial news. It seems that many commercial real-estate mortgages will reset or bonds back by these mortgages will be downgraded this summer. Standard & Poor’s warned that billions of dollars of top-rated bonds backed by commercial mortgages could face downgrades. The financing shortages in commercial real estate is pressing hard on the economy to cause major  economy damages. The Fed announced in March that it would expand one of its main rescue programs to help resuscitate the $700 billion market for bonds backed by mortgages on office towers, strip malls and other commercial property. The recent Standard and Poor statements on downgrades does not give confidence on the Fed’s program.

Many of the life insurance companies are at risk by  holding commercial real-estate mortgages. One of the insures mention above had $22 billion in commercial-mortgage loans on its books at the end of the first quarter.

Life Insures typically have sizable variable-annuity business. When general markets share prices decline, will then cause the pressure on the insurers capital holdings.

Three-quarters of U.S. consumers prefer buying insurance products through agents and other trusted sources, but younger and higher-income consumers are more inclined to purchase products via the Web than through an agent and are more inclined to switch insurers, according to findings of a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. … Continue reading …….Despite Online Insurance Access, U.S. Consumers Prefer Buying from Agents

Our favorite insurance technology-related blog posts from around the Web (May 10-16, 2009):

Jacksonville Florida - They Were Waiting!

Here’s an extensive post from AgencyPort on one of the finals days of the company’s tour of insurance carriers and agents down the east coast. The tour recently stopped at Carolina Casualty Insurance Company, which rolled out a new agency portal a couple years ago. “CCIC has started development on a prioritized list of enhancements that will improve the quoting and submission process further,” says the blog post’s author, Ken O’Sullivan.
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Where’s My Junk Mail?

Celent’s Craig Weber — reflecting on his experience as a new father — says that insurers are missing out of life event marketing opportunities. “While the insurers sit idly by, my wife and I have received direct mail offers from photographers, clothing stores, umbilical cord blood banks, and even a local private school,” Weber writes. “I’m thinking insurers must be able to access the same databases as everyone else, in which my name now has a checkbox in the NEW PARENT columns. But if they do, they aren’t working those databases very well.”
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BCBSSC’s Anne Castro Named to Federal IT Standards Panel

Continue reading …….Honor Roll: This Week’s Top Insurance Blogs (May 10-16)

A web site, dedicated for promoting the non-nationalize direction for health care, contains videos, links and other information to present their point of view.

There are many debates on Nationalizing the Health Care System.  The debates predominately boil down to two typical questions:

• Is free health care more expensive than than the currently available  private system -  who will pay for it?

• How do we insure health care to the current of  millions that do not have it.

The site name is  Faces of Government Healthcare which provides information siding with the non-nationalizing side of this debate - it clearly sides with the notation that National Health Care will not improve the situation but rather be very harmful. They go as far to state the question: Will Socialized Health Care in the US Kill Canadians?

The site states its belief on health care systems on the sites first paragraph.

“Any serious discussion of health care reform that does not include choice, competition, accountability and responsibility — the four “pillars” of patients’ rights — will result in our government truly becoming a “nanny-state,” making decisions based on what is best for society and government rather than individuals deciding what is best for each of us.”

For sure, there will much debate on this topic in the coming years.

Our favorite insurance technology-related blog posts from around the Web (May 3-9, 2009):

Virginia, where a hacker or group of hackers may have stolen millions of patient records from the state’s prescription monitoring program Web site.

A Boston-based vendor, continues its 4-week, 15-state tour of insurance agencies down the east coast.

SAP and Oracle have both loosened their tough stances on “non-negotiable” maintenance fees. “Buyers should not feel constrained by any ‘proposed’ fees, as long as they have the option to walk”.