Continued Progressive Growth Set to Hire 10,000+ in Claims, IT, Other Roles  April 30th 2024

Progressive Insurance® Continued Growth Leads to More Than 10,000 Open Roles in 2024

The insurance provider is deepening its commitment to flexible workplace offerings to support company growth

To help support several years of continued year-over-year growth, today, Progressive Insurance announced plans to hire thousands of job seekers for numerous roles across the country in 2024. Available positions will be a mix of in-office, remote and hybrid workplace roles across claims, customer care, IT and analyst, legal, and corporate functions.

Over the past decade, the organization has produced year-over-year increases in the number of policies in force and total revenue—with the latter seeing an increase of 25% in 2023 versus the prior year. The company has maintained this growth into the new calendar year; at the end of March, the company reported year-over-year increases in policies in force across all parts of the business compared to the same date last year. With these continued positive trends, the company is actively seeking qualified candidates to fill a multitude of roles to help support its growing customer base.

Progressive offers an award-winning, purpose-driven, and forward-thinking company culture. Its inclusive environment, core values, and the dedication of its people make the company one of the best places to work. In 2024, Progressive was named one of FORTUNE's 100 Best Companies to Work For®.

"Our talented group of more than 60,000 employees across the country are at the forefront of what we do, and we're committed to meeting the needs of our current employees as well as job seekers through a reimagined workforce," said Bill Clawson, Progressive Chief Human Resources Officer. "Building upon our inclusive culture, in this post-Covid era we offer a flexible workplace approach and will continue to grow nationally with our expansive in-office, remote, and hybrid workplace options."

How American Modern is attracting the next generation of insurance

By 2026, the insurance labor force could lose around 400,000 workers according to The Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Attracting and retaining new talent to the industry has become a top priority for carriers, and many are centering digital innovation and offering educational opportunities in their talent acquisition efforts.

American Modern Insurance Group, a Munich Re subsidiary that provides specialty property and casualty coverage, has gone through a multi-million-dollar digital transformation. Its updated tech systems and digital tools are now integrated across product lines, and its claims department incorporates insurtech solutions that streamline its processes.

American Modern is also boosting its talent development program, American Modern University. The program, conducted at a real training campus, prepares workers for the industry by improving data literacy and also enables adjusters to conduct real-world simulations.

Digital Insurance conducted an email interview with Mike Williams, global HR learning and development expert at Munich Re, who oversees American Modern University, to learn more about the program.full interview

Allstate says it is considering return to California homeowners’ insurance market

But there is one major caveat…

Allstate says it is considering return to California homeowners’ insurance market Catastrophe & Flood

Like those in a number of other catastrophe hit states, California’s policyholders are watching their pool of available carriers shrinking at a concerning rate.

Victoria Roach, president of the California FAIR plan confirmed yesterday that the state fire insurer of last resort is now one of the largest insurers of residential property in the state, despite the insurer’s aim to divest itself of as many policies as possible to private sector carriers.

But in what could be good news for the state, two years after halting the issuance of new homeowners policies in California, Allstate has said it is considering a return to the market. The company's reentry hinges on the California Department of Insurance's approval to incorporate catastrophic modeling in their rate increase proposals.

The insurer paused new policy offerings in 2022 due to increased wildfire risks, the escalating costs of home reconstruction, and rising reinsurance prices, though it maintained renewals for existing customers.

Allstate expressed in a statement, "Once home insurance rates fully reflect the cost of providing protection to consumers, we’ll be able to offer home insurance policies to more Californians with timely rate approvals, the use of our advanced wildfire modeling and reinsurance costs."

30% of Business Leaders Say Global Political Risk Is Their Biggest Threat

Sixty-five percent of North American business leaders fear this election year will impact their ability to trade internationally, with 32% of U.S. leaders saying political risk is their number one threat.

In January, Beazley surveyed over 3,500 business leaders in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Singapore, France, Germany and Spain.

The results, published in Beazley’s Risk & Resilience Report: Geopolitical Risk Snapshot 2024, found that 30% of international business leaders believe that political risk is the biggest threat they face this year, with 36% believing they are operating in a high-risk environment.full article

Claims Journal

Global Real-Time Payments Growth “Sustainable” As New Use Cases Push Transactions to Record Highs

Global real-time payments growth has reached sustainable levels with 266.2 billion real-time payments transactions recorded in 2023—a year-over-year (YoY) growth of 42.2%—according to the 2024 Prime Time for Real-Time report, published by ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a global leader in mission-critical, real-time payments software, in partnership with GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

North America is a major growth market to watch—primarily due to the launch of the FedNow service in the U.S. in 2023—with a projected 2023-2028 CAGR of 27.1%.

Key Findings: - 266.2 billion real-time payments transactions were recorded globally in 2023, a YoY growth of 42.2% - 49% of all real-time transactions worldwide were made in India, followed by Brazil (14%), Thailand (8%), China (7%) and South Korea (3%) - Report highlights lessons learned from five of the world’s most successful real-time payments markets: India, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia and Netherlands

All key facts and figures at a glance can be found in our Prime Time for Real-Time 2024 Infographic

ACI Worldwide Report

Surging auto insurance rates squeeze drivers, fuel inflation

Relentlessly rising auto insurance rates are squeezing car owners and stoking inflation.

Auto insurance rates rose 2.6% in March and are up 22% from a year ago. Premium costs have been marching steadily higher since 2022, even as inflation at the consumer level steadily cooled from its 9.1% peak in the middle of that year. Consumers have had some relief as the rate of cost increases for food and energy, two key components of most budgets, has eased greatly.

But auto insurance and car ownership costs have become a sticking point for consumers and the Federal Reserve in its battle to rein inflation back to its goal of 2%.

Typically, individuals would see a noticeable increase in their premiums because of speeding tickets and other moving violations. Adding new drivers or a general increase in claims in the area were other reasons.

But the persistent rise in rates over the last two years has been far more sweeping. New vehicle prices starting spiking during the pandemic, mainly because of a worldwide shortage of computer chips amid production cuts and supply chain bottlenecks. Dealers spent much of 2021 with few or no cars in stock.

COMPLETE ARTICLE

DAMIAN J. TROISE