Featured Articles Blog

Swiss Re Corporate Solutions to acquire QBE’s Global Trade Credit and Surety business 0

Swiss Re Corporate Solutions to acquire QBE’s Global Trade Credit and Surety business

Zurich (Feb. 20, 2026) – Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, the commercial insurance arm of the Swiss Re Group, has agreed to acquire the Global Trade Credit and Surety business of QBE Insurance Group (QBE), subject to regulatory approvals. Upon successful completion, the acquisition will strengthen Swiss Re Corporate Solutions’ primary credit and surety insurance offering and expand its capabilities to address the risk management needs of corporate clients. The transaction supports Swiss Re Corporate Solutions’ strategic ambition to diversify its portfolio and capture new growth opportunities. QBE’s Global Trade Credit and Surety business operates through a highly experienced team with a strong presence in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The portfolio is expected to generate annual revenues of approximately USD 200 million. This specialty insurance line plays a critical role in helping companies manage payment and performance risk arising from their accounts receivable. Globally, this segment of the insurance market generates around USD 19 billion in premium annually, with continued growth potential driven by heightened economic uncertainty, more complex supply chains and rising demand for sophisticated risk transfer solutions. Ivan Gonzalez, CEO of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, said: “This acquisition marks an important milestone for Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. It allows us to expand our offering in this attractive segment by strengthening our global credit and surety platform with a well-managed, profitable portfolio...

0

More Snow Coming to California After Deadly Avalanche

Article 0 Comments A blast of mountain snow and flooding rain is falling over California, the last of a string of storms that brought much-needed moisture to the state yet triggered a deadly avalanche in the Sierras. Winter storm warnings stretch from the California-Oregon border to just outside Palm Springs in Southern California. Mountain peaks in the Sierra Nevada could see another two feet (0.6 meters) of snow into Friday, days after an avalanche killed eight people on a backcountry ski trip and left another presumed dead. The storm unleashing Thursday is “the last big flood of precipitation in a parade of systems that have moved through the state and brought all the snow,” said meteorologist Ashton Robinson Cook with the U.S. Weather Prediction Center. That snow has made travel treacherous: Interstate 80 has closed at the Nevada border due to spinouts over the Donner Summit, according to California Highway Patrol. The heavily-trafficked Grapevine pass that leads into the San Joaquin Valley north of Los Angeles County could see up to four inches of snow Thursday, with flooding rain possible in the Los Angeles metro area. Moderate to heavy snow is being observed across the mountains and foothills of interior...

AIG’s GenAI Deployment Sees Outcomes ‘Beyond Expectations’ 0

AIG’s GenAI Deployment Sees Outcomes ‘Beyond Expectations’

New York, NY (Feb. 12, 2026) – American International Group (AIG) has reported significant progress in its deployment of artificial intelligence over the last year, with CEO Peter Zaffino indicating AI has become integral to the company’s core infrastructure, with GenAI embedded across underwriting, portfolio management, and operations. “We’re seeing a massive shift in our ability to process a significant submission flow way beyond our expectations without additional human capital resources,” said Zaffino on a recent fourth-quarter earnings call. Referring to a 2025 Investor Day discussion slightly less than one year ago, he added, “What we had outlined in March was aspirational; and six to twelve months later, we see the capabilities are much greater.” Zaffino said AIG has made “significant progress embedding gen AI across our core underwriting and claims processes,” expanding the technology deployment across multiple lines of business. The Underwriting by AIG Assist tool, which has been rolled out to seven additional lines, is scheduled for broader deployment in 2026 across North America, the UK, and EMEA. AIG’s excess and surplus unit, Lexington Insurance, saw a 26% YOY increase in submission counts, and the company has already reached more than 370,000 submissions against its original goal of...

0

Business Moves: BayPine to Acquire Broker Relation From Aquiline

Article 0 Comments Private equity firm Aquiline Capital said it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell independent insurance broker Relation to investment firm BayPine. Chicago-based Relation was ranked No. 24 in Insurance Journal’s Top 100 Independent Property/Casualty Agencies report with about $259 million in property/casualty revenue. It has 90 offices nationwide. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 2007, Relation provides risk management and benefits consulting services to deliver insurance solutions across commercial P/C, employee benefits, personal lines, private client services, retirement solutions, and wealth management to clients of all sizes across a range on industries such as construction, transportation, agriculture, entertainment, healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality, and real estate. Since Aquiline’s initial investment in 2019, Relation has completed more than 100 acquisitions, executed a targeted broker recruitment strategy, diversified its product suite, and built differentiated specialty capabilities across several niche industries. Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Tim Hall, Relation has become one of the leading independent insurance brokers in the U.S., serving over 230,000 clients and more than 1,000 insurance markets with coast-to-coast coverage. Boston-based BayPine said Relation’s management team, including Hall, will continue to lead the company. “As clients face a complex and fast-moving...

Reshaping Personal Insurance Underwriting: Inside the MyChoice–Billyard Collaboration 0

Reshaping Personal Insurance Underwriting: Inside the MyChoice–Billyard Collaboration

By Dave Brooks, Director of Marketing, Billyard Insurance Group — While much of the insurance industry’s public discourse has centred on rate pressure, capacity constraints, and the growing complexity of personal lines risk management, some of the most consequential innovation has been happening quietly, far from conference stages and headline announcements. Over the past two years, MyChoice and Billyard Insurance Group (BIG) have been working in close partnership on a practical response to the underwriting challenges facing brokers and carriers alike. That collaboration led to PrecisionX, an underwriting and pre-risk assessment platform built to improve accuracy, reduce loss-ratio volatility, and increase operational efficiency at scale. Rather than positioning artificial intelligence as a future-state ambition, the collaboration has remained grounded in solving real-world problems underwriting teams and brokerages are confronting today. That practical focus was shaped early on by MyChoice’s participation in the Google for Startups Accelerator: Canada, where access to cloud infrastructure and early AI tooling helped form the foundation of what would later become its submission validation and evidence intelligence engine. From Growth to Underwriting Precision For fast-growing brokerages, scale can be a double-edged sword. Increased submission volume can introduce underwriting risk, manual bottlenecks, and subtle premium leakage. These...

0

Popcorn Machine Catches Fire at Oklahoma Basketball Game

Article 0 Comments Oklahoma men’s basketball’s offense wasn’t the only thing that caught fire in the Sooners’ game on Saturday, Feb. 14. A popcorn machine caught fire at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman during the first half of OU’s game against Georgia, sending fans sprinting and causing a delay to the action. No injuries were reported. The fire occurred in the upper concourse of the arena about four minutes into the game. Fans quickly cleared out from the adjacent sections. Some attendees exited the building altogether according to video shared on social media. Automated sprinklers extinguished the flames, according to News9. The Norman Fire Department responded as a precaution, the news station reported. The game resumed after a brief delay, and the Sooners went on to take down the Bulldogs by a score of 94-78. Photo credit: SEC Network via @AwfulAnnouncing / X Topics Oklahoma Was this article valuable? Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article. Submit No Thanks Thank you! % of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it. Submit No Thanks Here are more articles you may enjoy. The most important insurance news,in your inbox every...

Aon expands Data Center Lifecycle Insurance Program, strengthening resilience for AI-driving digital infrastructure 0

Aon expands Data Center Lifecycle Insurance Program, strengthening resilience for AI-driving digital infrastructure

Aon expands Data Center Lifecycle Insurance Program to $2.5 billion, strengthening resilience for AI-driving digital infrastructure Dublin, Ireland (Jan. 30, 2026) – Aon, a leading global professional services firm, has announced a $1 billion expansion of its proprietary Data Center Lifecycle Insurance Program (DCLP), increasing total capacity to $2.5 billion. The expansion responds to accelerating global investment in cloud computing, artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure and increasing complexity of risks across the data center lifecycle. First introduced in 2025, DCLP is a multi-line insurance solution designed to support data center projects from construction through ongoing operations. The program brings together traditionally fragmented risk classes into a single coordinated insurance solution. By integrating construction, cyber, cargo and operational risks, DCLP helps clients secure capacity at scale, reduce friction and execute projects more efficiently. “Managing risk throughout the data center lifecycle is a strategic imperative – these platforms drive innovation, connectivity and economic growth,” said Greg Case, president and CEO of Aon. “As these facilities become more critical and complex, building resilience into their infrastructure is essential for the broader business ecosystem. Aon is committed to helping clients anticipate risks, strengthen operational continuity and invest in the future of digital infrastructure with confidence.”...

Equisoft’s AI-native life insurance platform earns “Luminary” status and xCelent Award across multiple regions 0

Equisoft’s AI-native life insurance platform earns “Luminary” status and xCelent Award across multiple regions

The Equisoft/manage Policy Administration System achieved Celent’s highest “Luminary” recognition for excelling in both capabilities and market leadership, making it a strong choice for individual and group life insurance products Philadelphia, PA (Feb. 16, 2026) – Equisoft, a leading global digital solutions provider to the financial services industry, is pleased to announce that Equisoft/manage, an AI-native policy administration system, earned top tier “Luminary” status in Celent’s North American and LATAM Policy Administration Systems Editions. Recognized for its integration capabilities, agentic AI innovation, and comprehensive functionality spanning from illustrations through claims, Equisoft/manage also won xCelent Awards for Advanced Technology across North America and LATAM. “This third-party recognition validates our commitment to delivering the most advanced policy administration technology for life insurance carriers globally,” said Luis Romero, CEO of Equisoft. “Equisoft/manage combines our decades of life insurance expertise with next-generation AI capabilities that enable insurers to accelerate product innovation, enhance operational efficiency, and deliver superior customer experiences. Being recognized across multiple regions and for both individual and group life confirms that our platform meets the diverse needs of insurers worldwide.” Equisoft’s AI-powered capabilities include automated underwriting and claims support, intelligent document processing, real-time product changes without IT support and Agentic AI powered...

0

California Insurance Commissioner Unveils Intervenor Reform Regulations

Article 1 Comment California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is pushing a change to the state’s long-standing intervenor regulations, which enable groups to intervene in rate hearings. Lara on Friday released the amended text of proposed regulations for the intervenor and Administrative Hearing Bureau processes under Proposition 103, reforms he said will increase transparency, improve efficiency and ensure funds used in the rate review process serve the public interest. Related: California Bill Would Require Insurer Claims Handling Plans, and Double Penalties Lara has proposed several changes to state insurance laws to convince insurance carriers to return to writing homeowners insurance in riskier areas of the wildfire-prone state. One group that has taken part in intervenor hearings is Consumer Watchdog. The California Department of Insurance in January released data showing Consumer Watchdog earned $1.4 million in fees last year from a program that pays people and advocates to intervene in rate hearings. The intervenor program has come under scrutiny as carriers began pulling back from writing in the state. California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara last year proposed modernizing the program to diversify the recipients of intervenor funds, which is part of the state’s insurance law, Proposition 103. Related: ‘Structural Shift’ Occurring in...

0

Experian Launches Insurance Marketplace App on ChatGPT

Article 1 Comment Experian announced the launch of the Experian Insurance Marketplace app on ChatGPT, introducing its insurance comparison platform to OpenAI’s audience, to help consumers find auto insurance. In the Feb. 13 announcement, Experian said the move is “a significant advancement in Experian’s AI strategy, leveraging conversational technology to simplify everyday financial choices and create a more intuitive and helpful consumer experience.” “Consumers are increasingly using conversational AI to learn, ask questions, explore and solve meaningful financial challenges,” said Dacy Yee, president of Experian Consumer Services, in a statement. “Making our insurance marketplace available through ChatGPT allows people to evaluate their choices naturally and potentially save more than $1,000 annually on auto coverage.” The Experian Insurance Marketplace allows access to 37 leading insurers for rate comparisons, customized recommendations, and Experian’s data expertise. Within the app on ChatGPT, users can review coverage options, compare estimated rate, and ask follow-up questions in real time. Experian said over time it plans to introduce deeper personalization, ultimately leading to the ability for consumers to progress toward bindable coverage directly within ChatGPT. Topics New Markets Was this article valuable? Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article. Submit No...