Today's Headline
The History of Labor Day: How and Why Did Holiday Come to Exist?
Peter McGuire and Matthew Maguire had much in common. Their last names are obviously similar. They were both passionate activists who fought for American labor rights in the 19th century. They both attended the first Labor Day parade in New York City in 1882. And, more controversially, both men have been described as the father of Labor Day.
A federal holiday since 1894, Labor Day is an annual recognition of the American labor movement and celebration of the economic and social achievements of American workers. Held the first Monday of each September, this year’s holiday is September 1.
Peter McGuire has long been credited with first proposing the idea of Labor Day as a federal holiday in 1882. But this claim has been contested for more than a century, and recently unearthed evidence suggests Maguire—that is, Matthew—is the true founder of the national holiday.
News
Arch Capital's Papadopoulo tops P&C insurer CEO pay list in 2024 | S&P Global
Arch Capital Group Ltd.'s Nicolas Papadopoulo was the highest-paid CEO among US-listed property and casualty or multiline insurers in 2024, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.
Papadopoulo received total adjusted compensation of $31.7 million in 2024, a 347% increase from $7.1 million in 2023 when he was the company's president and chief underwriting officer. His compensation package consisted of $1.4 million in cash, $9.6 million in stock, $17 million in options and $3.7 million in nonequity incentive compensation.
His compensation was approximately 212x the median Arch Capital employee salary of $149,222.
Papadopoulo was named CEO on Oct. 14, 2024, succeeding Marc Grandisson, who retired after holding the position since 2018. Papadopoulo had been Arch Capital's president and chief underwriting officer since 2021. Arch Capital declined to comment.
Financial Results
Q2'2025 P&C earnings recap: Personal auto drives EPS, income uptick | S&P Global
Major US insurers with personal auto lines reported improved underwriting results and lower combined ratios in the second quarter of 2025 as frequency and severity levels eased.
All 12 companies in an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis of leading US property and casualty (P&C) and multiline insurers reported increases in operating earnings per share and pre-tax net income.
Companies such as The Progressive Corp. and The Allstate Corp. reported solid results in their personal auto lines. Progressive booked $16.8 billion in net written premiums for vehicles, a 14.2% improvement rise from a year ago, while Allstate had a 2.7% rise to $9.53 billion for its auto lines.
"Personal auto underwriting profitability is strong, and that's a reflection of the earn-in of significant rate increases and benign overall loss trends," said Keefe, Bruyette and Woods analyst Meyer Shields. "That implies intensifying competition, with most car insurers very able to absorb higher claim costs stemming from tariffs applying to cars and/or car parts."
NA P&C re/insurers post strong operating results despite catastrophes: Fitch
Fitch Ratings’ review of GAAP financial results for 41 North American (NA) re/insurers showed strong operating returns, strong underwriting results, and higher investment income in the first half of 2025, despite elevated catastrophe activity.
Fitch reported that the overall operating return on common equity declined modestly year over year to 8.9% in H1’25, with nearly all sectors still exceeding double-digit levels.
Catastrophe losses rose 64% to $22 billion, driven by the January wildfires in Southern California. Natural catastrophes had the largest impact on the reinsurer segment, increasing the group’s combined ratio by 12.5% in H1’25, up from 2.7% in H1’24.
Despite this, the group still reported an underwriting profit with a 96.9% combined ratio.
Group common shareholders’ equity rose 5%, supported by positive net earnings and a modest improvement in unrealised bond positions. The increase was tempered by a 13.1% growth in capital returned to investors. The change in capital return included $2.9 million of share repurchases in the prior year period for Berkshire Hathaway Corporation (BRK) that were not repeated. Excluding BRK, the group’s capital return rose 36% in H1’25.
Commentary/Opinion
How data is rewiring the insurance value chain - Data Management Tech Forum
FinTech Global sat down with a pair of industry leaders in the form of Vikas Acharya, CEO of ChainThat, and Paulo Ferreira, CTO of KYND, to explore how data is transforming the insurance chain, what obstacles remain, and why the quality and reliability of data may matter more than the sheer quantity of it.
Overall, the global insurance market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 5.3% over the next decade, slightly outpacing global economic output. In absolute terms, that translates into an additional €5.3tn in premiums by 2034
Underpinning this projected growth is the aforementioned decisive shift from traditional methods to data-driven decision-making. Real-time data, predictive analytics and AI have moved from hype to the very cornerstones of modern insurance practice.
Vikas Acharya, CEO of ChainThat, opened up on this development, stating, “In the past year, we’ve moved decisively towards data as a strategic asset, designed into every stage of the policy lifecycle, from product configuration to claims, rather than captured as an afterthought,” he said.
For Paulo Ferreira, CTO of cyber-risk specialist KYND, the story is similar.
“High-quality, broad and timely data has always been at the core of our business. As a cyber-risk management provider, at KYND we use a combination of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), commercial datasets and a wide range of networking and infosec tools and protocols to identify as many digital assets as possible that are owned by, managed by or associated with an organisation,” he explains.
This approach allows KYND to move from raw data to actionable insights, surfacing only the factors that are directly relevant to underwriting decisions.
Both agree that data is no longer just an operational tool for insurers, instead capitalising on it is set to lead insurers into a brave new era.
Climate/Resilience/Sustainability
Twenty years since Katrina: A legacy of risk and resilience
Eighty percent of New Orleans, and 134,000 homes in the city, were inundated during Hurricane Katrina. Tracking north close to the east side of New Orleans, Katrina made two landfalls on Monday, August 29, 2005, both at Category 3 strength.
Recalling the events of 20 years ago, Katrina first made landfall on the southeast Florida coast on August 25, 2005, then moved northwest and rapidly intensified in the warm waters of the Gulf to reach Category 5 strength on August 28, with a distinct ‘eye’ and a minimum central pressure of 902 mb.
Along with winds reaching 125 miles per hour, and heavy rain of 8-10 inches across eastern Louisiana, Katrina’s large wind field with maximum winds extending 103 miles from its center, delivered storm surge along the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama Gulf coastline.
Storm surge peaked at a maximum of 30 feet at Biloxi, Mississippi, and had moved up to 12 miles inland. Lake Pontchartrain on New Orleans' northern shore experienced up to 19 feet of surge on its eastern side. Some 53 city levees were breached, including breaches along all the main canals.
Mitsui Sumitomo rolls out parametric weather insurance product to address climate risks - Artemis.bm
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, a subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, has unveiled its new parametric insurance product, “Weather Insurance Index”, a new offering designed to help insurers manage financial losses caused by severe or unusual weather.
As a parametric solution, the product has been designed to provide an automatic fixed payout whenever predefined weather conditions are met.
The product relies on an index built from key weather data points, including temperature, rainfall, wind, snow, and sunshine.
Once the data crosses the agreed threshold, claims are settled swiftly and efficiently, without the need for a physical damage assessment.
The Japanese insurer noted that the need for risk transfer is increasing, while also highlighting how traditional insurance continues to encounter obstacles, including the challenges associated with loss assessment, which places a significant strain on both clients and insurance providers.
This method also faces difficulties in delivering adequate compensation, except for risks related to property damage that are covered by fire insurance and similar policies.
“Index insurance’s features, such as “prompt payment of claims” and “high transparency in determining liability/non-liability,” are highly compatible with weather risks and are expected to contribute to eliminating protection gaps. Therefore, we developed it to address these challenges,” Mitsui Sumitomo explained.
AI in Insurance
OpenAI, Altman sued over ChatGPT’s alleged role in teen’s suicide - Business Insurance
The parents of a teen who died by suicide after ChatGPT coached him on methods of self harm sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman on Tuesday, saying the company knowingly put profit above safety when it launched the GPT-4o version of its artificial intelligence chatbot last year.
Adam Raine, 16, died on April 11 after discussing suicide with ChatGPT for months, according to the lawsuit that Raine’s parents filed in San Francisco state court.
The chatbot validated Raine’s suicidal thoughts, gave detailed information on lethal methods of self-harm, and instructed him on how to sneak alcohol from his parents’ liquor cabinet and hide evidence of a failed suicide attempt, they allege. ChatGPT even offered to draft a suicide note, the parents, Matthew and Maria Raine, said in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks to hold OpenAI liable for wrongful death and violations of product safety laws, and seeks unspecified monetary damages.
An OpenAI spokesperson said the company is saddened by Raine’s passing and that ChatGPT includes safeguards such as directing people to crisis helplines.
“While these safeguards work best in common, short exchanges, we’ve learned over time that they can sometimes become less reliable in long interactions where parts of the model’s safety training may degrade,” the spokesperson said, adding that OpenAI will continually improve on its safeguards.
Cyber Risk
Farmers Insurance data breach impacts 1.1M people after Salesforce attack
U.S. insurance giant Farmers Insurance has disclosed a data breach impacting 1.1 million customers, with BleepingComputer learning that the data was stolen in the widespread Salesforce attacks.
Farmers Insurance is a U.S.-based insurer that provides auto, home, life, and business insurance products. It operates through a network of agents and subsidiaries, serving more than 10 million households nationwide.
The company disclosed the data breach in an advisory on its website, saying that its database at a third-party vendor was breached on May 29, 2025.
The Salesforce data theft attacks
Since the beginning of the year, threat actors classified as 'UNC6040' or 'UNC6240' have been conducting social engineering attacks on Salesforce customers.
During these attacks, threat actors conduct voice phishing (vishing) to trick employees into linking a malicious OAuth app with their company's Salesforce instances.
Predict & Prevent
Can Insurtech Fix Homeowners Insurance? | Insurance Thought Leadership
Even a 20% gain in operational efficiency doesn't move the needle enough. The real opportunity is in "connect and protect."
A few weeks ago, this LinkedIn post about homeowner insurance, along with its comments, triggered my nerdy attitude to crunch numbers. So, below you find the results of my deep dive.
Now, let's talk about the economics of homeowner insurance in the U.S market.
The source of the figure used in that post is the “Analyses of U.S. Homeowners Insurance Markets, 2018-2022: Climate-Related Risks and Other Factors” published in January 2025. The comments range from the incumbents being inefficient and ripe for disruption, to homeowner insurance having complexities in underwriting and claims that structurally limit the efficiency that can be achieved, to it being all about acquisition costs.
Let’s start with a look at the profitability of this line of business over the past decade, based on the A few weeks ago, this LinkedIn post about homeowner insurance, along with its comments, triggered my nerdy attitude to crunch numbers. So, below you find the results of my deep dive.
Now, let's talk about the economics of homeowner insurance in the U.S market.
The source of the figure used in that post is the “Analyses of U.S. Homeowners Insurance Markets, 2018-2022: Climate-Related Risks and Other Factors” published in January 2025. The comments range from the incumbents being inefficient and ripe for disruption, to homeowner insurance having complexities in underwriting and claims that structurally limit the efficiency that can be achieved, to it being all about acquisition costs.
Let’s start with a look at the profitability of this line of business over the past decade, based on the NAIC data. At the industry level, the home insurance business has barely made any money. The underwriting profits have been on average at -1.6%, meaning that claims and expenses have been higher than the premiums collected. Thanks to investment gains, the sector has, on average, made 0.7% in profits.
NAIC data. At the industry level, the home insurance business has barely made any money. The underwriting profits have been on average at -1.6%, meaning that claims and expenses have been higher than the premiums collected. Thanks to investment gains, the sector has, on average, made 0.7% in profits.
Matteo Carbone is founder and director of the Connected Insurance Observatory and a global insurtech thought leader. He is an author and public speaker who is internationally recognized as an insurance industry strategist with a specialization in innovation.
Canada
Desjardins to acquire Guardian Capital in $1.67B take-private deal | Insurance Business Canada
The group previously bought its life insurance, mutual fund and investment distribution networks
Desjardins Group is acquiring global investment management company Guardian Capital Group Ltd. for around $1.67 billion or $68 per share, the co-operative financial group said on Thursday.
The publicly traded company will be taken private, the release said.
The deal, which is subject to court, shareholder and regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.
Desjardins says the deal will bring together the strengths of Desjardins Global Asset Management and Guardian to form an organization with $280 billion in assets.
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