Insurance Wire
Insurance industry news and analysis, published daily from the United States: carriers and reinsurance, claims, regulation, insurtech and professional employer organizations. Original reporting and analysis alongside a curated feed of the day's coverage from the wider trade press, each item linking to the publication that reported it.
Latest coverage
- Travelers Reports 57% Surge in Financial Fraud Claims as AI Reshapes Cyber Risk Claims
Business email compromise and financial fraud now make up roughly half of Travelers' cyber claims, with frequency up 57% in a year and severity up about 30% since 2023. Executives at a...
- Hospital price transparency rules tightened, but rate comparisons remain hard Regulation
CMS revisions that took effect in January 2026 push hospitals to publish negotiated rates as dollar figures rather than percentages or formulas, with enforcement starting in April. A Peterson-KFF...
- Cyber Risk Has Shifted From IT Problem to Core Business Threat, Liberty Mutual Says Insurtech
Ransomware, phishing, and AI-powered attacks are no longer just a headache for technology teams. They are now a direct threat to revenue, operations, and corporate reputation. Liberty Mutual's...
- FSA Deadlines Are Approaching: What Employers Should Do Before Year-End PEO
Employees risk forfeiting unused flexible spending account funds as year-end approaches, but deadlines depend on each employer's plan. Health FSAs may allow a carryover or grace period, while...
- VestGen Wealth Partners takes private credit from Willow Tree to fund acquisitions Insurtech
Chicago-based VestGen Wealth Partners has closed a growth capital deal with Willow Tree Credit Partners to back further acquisitions and its advisor succession program. The firm entered 2025...
- SEC moves to restore fixed-income cross trading for registered funds Regulation
The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed amendments to Rule 17a-7 under the Investment Company Act, which would let registered funds once again cross trade most fixed-income securities...
- AAI Adds AI Layer to Agency Analytics With Agency Gauge Launch Insurtech
Affordable American Insurance has launched Agency Gauge, an artificial intelligence tool built on top of its existing analytics platform for independent property and casualty agency owners. The...
- Chase brings Gusto-powered payroll into its business banking platform PEO
Chase for Business has added payroll processing to its business banking suite, partnering with Gusto to let eligible customers run payroll, file taxes, and track payments without leaving their...
- 2nd Circuit revives Lidl wage case over unpaid pre-shift wait time Claims
A federal appeals court has reinstated a wage lawsuit against grocery chain Lidl, ruling that a former employee plausibly stated a claim for unpaid time spent waiting outside locked stores before...
- Financial Wellness Programs Gain Ground as Employees Struggle to Turn Financial Confidence Into Action PEO
Voya Financial's America's Financial Confidence Index finds that employees with access to workplace financial education demonstrate stronger financial habits. Major payroll and PEO providers,...
- Hurricane Simon threatens $175M Mexico parametric cat bond as pressure nears trigger Carriers
Hurricane Simon is approaching the west-central Mexican coast as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of 155 mph and a central pressure that has come within striking distance of the threshold...
- Benefits Studio enters broker market with flat-rate AI benefits websites Insurtech
A new platform lets brokers and HR teams build branded employee benefits sites in minutes, with an AI assistant that pulls answers directly from plan documents. Pricing runs $49 to $199 per month...
- Open Enrollment Complexity Drives Demand for AI Tools and Outside Benefits Support PEO
Employers are increasingly using AI-assisted tools and year-round communication to simplify employee benefits administration and open enrollment. Employee Benefit News also reports that...
- Salary budgets stuck near 3% as labor supply, not inflation, sets the ceiling PEO
Salary increase budgets have historically averaged around 3%, according to a discussion between HRO Today and Willis Towers Watson compensation executive Lori Wisper. While inflation influences...
- Workers' Compensation Claims Are Declining, but Costs Are Rising PEO
Workers' compensation lost-time claim frequency fell 5.9% in 2024, while medical and indemnity costs per claim continued rising, according to NCCI. Research from WCRI also identifies longer...
- AI agents are about to reprice the effort cost of insurance shopping Insurtech
Coverager argues that AI agents are shifting the economics of insurance distribution by making the sixth price quote cost roughly the same effort as the first. The piece traces how convenience,...
- Small-Business Owners Want Benefits Help but Struggle With the Cost PEO
Roughly two-thirds of small-business owners are seeking outside help with employee benefits, according to Employee Benefit News. Rising premiums and limited budgets are driving demand for...
- Adobe survey: only 6% of firms have cracked AI at scale PEO
A survey of more than 5,600 senior executives finds that most organizations are stuck piloting AI rather than deploying it at any meaningful scale. The gap between leaders and the rest comes down...
- Goldman Sachs survey: share of workers boosting retirement savings fell 16% in a year PEO
A new Goldman Sachs Asset Management survey shows American workers are pulling back on retirement contributions as housing costs, daily expenses and debt take priority. The share of respondents...
- Aon Brings Vanguard Into Its Pooled Employer Plan as Assets Hit $7.7 Billion PEO
Aon has named Vanguard as recordkeeper and trustee for its Pooled Employer Plan, replacing the previous provider following a formal review. The plan now covers more than 103,000 participants...
- Arkansas appeals court orders AIG units and dozens of insurers to defend Walmart in opioid cases Claims
The Arkansas Court of Appeals has ruled that American International Group subsidiaries and a broad group of excess insurers must cover Walmart's defense costs across more than 2,400 opioid...
- Amwins enters E&S casualty underwriting with new MGA illumin Specialty Carriers
Amwins has launched illumin Specialty, a managing general agency writing primary and excess general liability on a nonadmitted basis for hard-to-place risks. The unit is led by Rebecca Gitig,...
- What Does "Co-Employment" Actually Mean? PEO
A PEO doesn’t replace you as the employer, but it can fundamentally change who is responsible when things go wrong
- SIAA buys Canopy Specialty Insurance to add MGA underwriting capability Carriers
SIAA has acquired Canopy Specialty Insurance, a managing general agent writing specialty commercial property and casualty business in the US and UK. The deal brings niche underwriting authority...
- Guidewire names Dan Brown chief product officer to lead its AI push Insurtech
Guidewire has appointed Dan Brown chief product officer, reporting to chief executive Mike Rosenbaum. He takes product strategy and market execution, alongside a second executive who keeps...
- Medicare Part D drug plan choices shrink again for 2027 as premiums diverge sharply Regulation
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released its 2027 Medicare Part D plan data, and a KFF analysis finds the number of stand-alone prescription drug plans available to the average...
- Fifteen states sue Corteva, alleging Vylor spinoff shields assets from PFAS claims Claims
A bipartisan coalition of fifteen state attorneys general and Guam filed suit in Indiana state court Thursday, accusing Corteva of structuring its spinoff of the seed business Vylor to put its...
- Bold Penguin CEO bets on parametric as the next embedded product for small commercial Insurtech
Peter Settel, president and chief executive of Bold Penguin, wants parametric insurance bundled into standard small commercial quotes before most agents or clients have heard of it. The Columbus,...
- HR's admin overload is an ownership gap, not a software gap PEO
A workflow automation executive at Nintex argues that HR teams are drowning in administrative work not because they lack tools, but because no one has claimed responsibility for the handoffs...
- SEC sues fund adviser Meyer Global Management over pre-IPO fraud schemes Regulation
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed suit against Meyer Global Management LLC and its chief executive, Owen E.H. Meyer, alleging a series of fraudulent schemes targeting retail...
- CMS and 37 States Pledge to Tie Medicaid Quality to Patient Outcomes Regulation
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is launching a voluntary initiative with 37 state partners to shift Medicaid and CHIP quality measurement away from process compliance and toward...
- State Farm to add 3,000 claims staff in 2027 as weather and vehicle complexity drive demand Claims
State Farm plans to grow its claims workforce by roughly 10 percent next year, adding 3,000 net employees to a team that already handles nearly 11 million claims annually. Both Claims Journal and...
- Census Bureau proposes dropping race data and shrinking immigrant count for 2030 Regulation
A September 2026 proposed rule would remove race and ethnicity questions from the decennial census for the first time since 1790 and redefine residency to exclude millions of noncitizen immigrants...
- Tower Insurance lifts first-event cat reinsurance limit to NZ $970m as costs fall again Carriers
Tower Insurance has expanded its catastrophe reinsurance cover for fiscal year 2027, securing a first-event limit of NZ $970 million at an estimated cost of 9.5% of gross written premium, down...
- Brown & Riding builds out agribusiness with new national practice Carriers
The Dallas-based wholesale brokerage has stood up a dedicated agribusiness unit covering the full agricultural supply chain, from custom farming and dairies to food processing and agricultural...
- Skilled Trades Face 2.1 Million Worker Shortfall by 2030, Putting More Pressure on Employers PEO
The U.S. could face a shortage of 2.1 million skilled trade workers by 2030, with manufacturing, energy and life sciences among the industries expected to feel the most pressure, according to HRO...
- PEO vs. ASO: What’s Actually Different? PEO
A PEO and an ASO can provide many of the same payroll, HR and technology services. The difference is co-employment. A PEO enters into a co-employment relationship with the client, while an ASO...
- Texas Supreme Court Takes Up Zurich Challenge Over BNSF Asbestos Defense Costs Claims
The Texas Supreme Court has agreed to hear Zurich American Insurance Co.'s challenge to a ruling that requires it to keep funding BNSF Railway's defense against hundreds of asbestos exposure...
- bolttech and Bold Penguin Combine Distribution Platforms in Global Alliance Insurtech
Singapore-based bolttech and Ohio-based Bold Penguin have announced a strategic alliance to offer a combined commercial and personal lines distribution platform to agents, carriers and embedded...
- PEO vs. Traditional Payroll: What's the Difference? PEO
Both can process payroll, but the structure behind the service is very different. A traditional payroll provider generally processes wages, taxes and filings while the employer maintains its own...