The nascent cyberinsurance market is struggling to attract reinsurers due to pricing challenges and immature data, experts say. However, cyberinsurance is an attractive product, and insurers and reinsurance have access to tools that ascertain the risks, says Phil Edmundson, founder and CEO of Corvus Insurance.

The need for insurance protection is increasing as client needs evolve, cyberattacks continue and climate change creates long-term risks to the economy. "There is a clear recognition that claims' frequency and severity is rising, as demonstrated by recent natural catastrophes or cyberincidents," says Moses Ojeisekhoba, CEO of reinsurance at Swiss Re.

With forecasts showing Hurricane Ida would hit New Orleans directly in late August, the IASA staff had less than three days to react and transform IASA Xchange™ into a fully virtual event. "Fortunately, we had planned for a hybrid conference because of COVID, so we already had the technology and infrastructure in place," IASA CEO Kerry Crockett says. The pivot was successful, and "we're all looking forward to a much more normal IASA Xchange™ conference in 2022 in Baltimore," Crockett says.

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of risk management to organizational success, and the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant has emphasized a need to stay vigilant as circumstances evolve, says Claire Combes of Airmic. "The fact that there are variants of concern means that we need to keep reviewing what we have in place and plan for alternative outcomes," Combes says.

Earlier this summer, IASA and Plante Moran launched an industrywide benchmarking survey exploring increasing risk, staffing models, corporate culture, the "workplace of the future" and more. Explore how your company stands against your industry peers. Access the full report here, and then share your feedback on social with #IASAsurvey.

While putting the maximum into a 401(k) is good advice generally, in some situations it might not make sense, columnist Annie Logue writes. Focus on paying down high-interest debts first, think about the age at which you plan to retire, and consider the impact of required minimum distributions on your tax bill.

Personal auto insurance shopping rose 1.1% year over year in the second quarter, according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions. New policy growth rose 8% for the quarter as personal auto insurance shopping hit a record 41.5%.

Seventy percent of the 20 largest private auto insurers in the US saw their year-over-year loss ratios decline by double digits in the second quarter, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. "Auto severity increases persisted relative to the prior year quarter and pre-pandemic periods across coverages, largely driven by the shift in mix to more severe, higher-speed auto accidents and rising inflationary impacts in both used car values and replacement part costs," said Mario Rizzo, chief financial officer and executive vice president at Allstate.

Cassie Brown, most recently commissioner of workers' compensation in Texas, has been chosen by Gov. Greg Abbott to be insurance commissioner. Brown fills a post that has been vacant for a year, and her term runs until Feb. 1, 2023, pending Senate confirmation.

Employers in Oregon will see a decline in workers' compensation costs for the ninth straight year, with a drop of 5.8% expected in pure premium rates in 2022, according to the state Department of Consumer and Business Services. The decline comes partly because of a downtrend in medical costs and claims severity, the department says.