Business

Vulture Culture: Dirty Deals, Unpaid Claims, and the Coming Collapse of the Insurance Industry

We all dutifully write out checks for insurance coverage each month, assuming that if the worst should occur, we'll be protected financially. But what we don't know about the insurance business could -- and most probably will -- hurt us. Vulture Culture is a hard-hitting exposé of the sorry state of the industry, from tales of rampant, widespread corruption to inconsistent state regulations and the inability - and often unwillingness - of the federal government to protect the rights of denied claimants.

The book takes readers into a world of bid-rigging, fraudulent commissions, and secret payoffs, revealing shocking abuses and ominous new trends. Readers will hear about a rogue's gallery of shady executives, including a CEO whose massive claim denial schemes eventually got him fired . . . at great cost to consumers. From the Hurricane Katrina fiasco of unpaid claims, to a revolving door in which former insurance executives regulate their own industry before returning to it themselves, this is a shocking account of an industry on the brink of collapse, and what must be done to fix it before it's too late.

We all dutifully write out checks for insurance coverage each month, assuming that if the worst should occur, we'll be protected financially. But what we don't know about the insurance business could—and most probably will—hurt us. Vulture Culture is a hard-hitting exposé of the sorry state of the industry, from tales of rampant, widespread corruption to inconsistent state regulations and the inability—and often unwillingness—of the federal government to protect the rights of denied claimants.

The book takes readers into a world of bid-rigging, fraudulent commissions, and secret payoffs, revealing shocking abuses and ominous new trends. Readers will hear about a rogue’s gallery of shady executives, including a CEO whose massive claim denial schemes eventually got him fired ... at great cost to consumers. From the Hurricane Katrina fiasco of unpaid claims, to a revolving door in which former insurance executives regulate their own industry before returning to it themselves, this is a shocking account of an industry on the brink of collapse, and what must be done to fix it before it’s too late.

Insurance: From Underwriting to Derivatives: Asset Liability Management in Insurance Companies (Wiley Finance)

An in-depth look at the increasingly significant convergence between the insurance industry and the capital markets.
This important publication, by two premier financial experts, explores the unique convergence of finance and insurance. The book covers the basics of property-casualty insurance, securitizing insurance risks, looks at life insurance in the United States and ALM in insurance. It addresses the questions and concerns of investment banks, brokerage firms and the insurance/reinsurance sector itself, examines ongoing trends and issues, and how current market pressures on insurance companies do not just create challenges but actually point the way to future promising developments.

Loss Reserving - An Actuarial Perspective (HUEBNER INTERNATIONAL SERIES ON RISK, INSURANCE AND) (Huebner International Series on Risk, Insurance and Economic Security)

All property and casualty insurers are required to carry out loss reserving as a statutory accounting function. Thus, loss reserving is an essential sphere of activity, and one with its own specialized body of knowledge. While few books have been devoted to the topic, the amount of published research literature on loss reserving has almost doubled in size during the last fifteen years.
Greg Taylor's book aims to provide a comprehensive, state-of-the-art treatment of loss reserving that reflects contemporary research advances to date. Divided into two parts, the book covers both the conventional techniques widely used in practice, and more specialized loss reserving techniques employing stochastic models. Part I, Deterministic Models, covers very practical issues through the abundant use of numerical examples that fully develop the techniques under consideration. Part II, Stochastic Models, begins with a chapter that sets up the additional theoretical material needed to illustrate stochastic modeling. The remaining chapters in Part II are self-contained, and thus can be approached independently of each other. A special feature of the book is the use throughout of a single real life data set to illustrate the numerical examples and new techniques presented. The data set illustrates most of the difficult situations presented in actuarial practice. This book will meet the needs for a reference work as well as for a textbook on loss reserving.

Dangerous Commerce: Insurance and the Management of International Risk

As businesses search increasingly for opportunities beyond their national borders, they face the risk that political change in other countries will jeopardize their efforts. Anything from minor shifts in regulations to sudden revolutions can threaten business investment, trade, and credit. Virginia Haufler shows that a crucial factor in the expansion of global markets has been the private sector's creation of a sophisticated insurance industry to redistribute the risks entailed in foreign commerce, a privately constructed safety net for international transactions. Haufler believes that the network of relationships and institutions established by the insurers constituted a privately led regime for the management of international risk. She analyzes political risks insurance during three periods of substantial uncertainty: the era from the turn of the century to the beginning of World War I, when British global power began to wane; the interwar years, leading up to the collapse of world trade and a second world war; and the "debt crisis" decade of the 1980s. Public and private involvement in supplying insurance against international risks has varied depending on demand, the availability of resources, and the norms of what can be insured. As the scale and complexity of risks have expanded, Haufler suggests, responsibility has shifted from commercial insurers first to the state and now to multilateral institutions.

The Buyer's Guide to Business Insurance (Psi Successful Business Library)

The Buyer's Guide to Business Insurance is full of step-by-step guidance, ideas, and tips on how to improve your business insurance costs, coverage, and service from both insurance agencies and companies. The authors bring more than 38 years of industry experience to this helpful, non-technical reference guide -- showing you how to get the best property and casualty insurance coverage at the lowest prices.

One of the simplest ways business owners can save money is by re-examining their policy assumptions - an immediate refund may be yours for the asking. Most business insurance policies and rates are based on payrolls, inventories, or sales volumes. Too often, premiums on current policies are based on high values from pre-recession days. Your premium payments can be reduced simply by furnishing your agent or broker with the current real numbers. The Buyer's Guide to Business Insurance will:
* Help you save money and time when purchasing business insurance
* Simplify insurance purchasing with clear directions in an easy-to-use format
* Empower you with inside information about insurance people and industry methods
* Demystify the insurance process
* Eliminate confusion and complexity
* Help you avoid poor service
You will learn:
* What to look for in a policy;
* What questions to ask the broker; and
* How to compare alternative quotes.
Checklists, comparison charts, prepared letters, and forms make this book especially easy to use. If you want to save time and money through a streamlined process, and gain an unbiased viewpoint of your business insurance situation, read The Buyer's Guide to Business Insurance.

Commercial Liability Insurance and Risk Management (Stock #0402)

Rate Regulation of Worker's Compensation Insurance: HOW PRICE CONTROLS INCREASE COST

The authors demonstrate how regulation intended to control costs can exacerbate cost growth by subsidizing high-risk activities and firms at the expense of low-risk activities and firms.

International Dictionary of Insurance and Finance

International Dictionary of Insurance and Finance is an efficient and useful book for business professionals, consumers, business students, insurance professionals, and corporate risk managers. All aspects of international insurance, including life, health, property, casualty, marine, disability, business interruption, copyright and trademark protection, and a host of other insurance topics, are covered. Arranged in an easy-to-use alphabetical format, the Dictionary provides definition, explanation, and illustration of each term. The Dictionary is also multi-disciplinary, covering a number of related terms in finance and investments.

Insurance Decision Making and Market Behavior (Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics)

Business Income Coverage (Dearborn Career Development)