The U.S. property-casualty insurance market would be able to handle another Katrina-like event this year, and there is capacity to issue catastrophe bonds post-event, representatives from Swiss Re said.  They voiced those views at an Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I)/Swiss Re webinar ... [full story]

Authorities issued a “Scam Alert” yesterday warning that imposters were posing as insurance department employees targeting agents and brokers in Nevada and California seeking confidential personal data. Nevada Insurance Commissioner Scott Kipper said in the announcement that his division received reports ... [full story]

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—A hard-pricing insurance market may not be arriving anytime soon, an analyst said at a conference earlier this week. Jay Cohen, a managing director in the equity research division of Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, gave his assessment during a session ... [full story]

NEW YORK—U.S. property/casualty insurance rates may begin to firm in the second half of 2009, but “adequate” levels of capital and the ongoing recession likely will keep any rate increases modest, analysts and industry executives say. Among primary commercial lines ... [full story]