Insurers making steady climate change progress
The insurance industry is continuing to incorporate the risks of climate change into business activities according to a new report. The annual review of the industry’s ClimateWise network shows that insurers are making steady progress in areas such as leading on climate risk analysis and climate-resilient investment; improving customers’ climate awareness; and reducing their own carbon footprint.
"Members are increasingly beginning to consider their exposure to climate risk in investment portfolios and the need to move capital away from sectors inherently at risk as society transitions to a low carbon, climate-resilient future. Members are also developing their role as societies' risk manager by innovating in terms of product development and sustainable claims processes,” said Tom Herbstein, ClimateWise program manager.
UnitedHealth Group gets negative outlook from Fitch
America’s largest health insurer by revenues UnitedHealth Group, has been affirmed by Fitch Ratings with an 'A' Issuer Default Rating and 'A-' senior unsecured notes rating as well as the 'AA-' Insurer Financial Strength ratings of its insurance company subsidiaries. The ratings reflect the group’s leading market position and significant size and scale as well as continued strong operating performance from diverse sources. However Fitch has rated the group with a negative outlook due to uncertainty as to the group’s ability to reduce its financial leverage to levels more commensurate with the company's current ratings and, to a lesser extent, the potential operational and earnings disruptions that could arise during the CTRX integration.
Realtors warn of risk from outdated floodplain maps
A Canadian real estate body has warned that homeowners are at risk from a lack of access to updated floodplain maps. The British Columbia Real Estate Association says that only 21 per cent of BC communities and First Nations have access to a floodplain map that’s ten years old or less and nearly 31 per cent reported they have no access to floodplain maps at all. The association’s Floodplain Map Inventory Report results suggest that better information about floodplain maps, guidelines for their development, data standardization, and stronger funding mechanisms will all improve the state of floodplain mapping in BC. Better floodplain maps will make communities, First Nations and the entire province more resilient.
Report shows gap between insurance jobs, hires
Insurance sales agents are identified as one of the roles for which there are more job advertisements than hires. CareerBuilder’s annual Hottest Jobs report shows that there are an average of 40,909 job adverts for insurance agents in the US but only 22,075 hires. The report also shows that the growth in the role over the past five years has been 69,125 with a total of 635,431 insurance sales agents employed in 2015. Average hourly wages are $23.01.
