Financial Results
Progressive reports strong Q4 2025 results, announces CFO transition
On January 28, 2026, The Progressive Corporation reported its financial results for December and the quarter ended December 31, 2025, alongside announcing that long-time Chief Financial Officer John P. Sauerland intends to retire on July 3, 2026, with Chief Strategy Officer Andrew J. Quigg expected to assume the CFO role at that time.
For December 2025, Progressive posted year-over-year growth in net premiums written and earned of 6%, while net income rose 22% to $1.15 billion and earnings per share available to common shareholders increased 22% to $1.95, underpinned by a swing to $168 million in pretax net realized gains on securities and a combined ratio of 87.1.
For the fourth quarter, net premiums written grew 8% and net premiums earned 10% versus the prior year quarter, with - net income up 25% to $2.95 billion and per-share earnings rising 25% to $5.02, as policies in force climbed 10% to 38.6 million, led by -double-digit expansion in personal auto and special lines, signaling continued profitable growth and reinforcing the company’s competitive position in both personal and commercial insurance markets.
Marsh Reports Solid Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2025 Results
Marsh (NYSE: MRSH), a global leader in risk, reinsurance and capital, people and investments, and management consulting, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2025.
John Doyle, President and CEO, said: "Our fourth quarter results capped another solid year for Marsh. For the full year, we generated 10% revenue growth, 4% underlying revenue growth, double-digit adjusted NOI growth, 9% adjusted EPS growth and our 18th consecutive year of reported margin expansion. We also launched our new brand, successfully completed the integration of McGriff and announced our Thrive program."
"Our team performed well in a complex environment, and we are positioned for sustained momentum in 2026."
Consolidated Results
As a result of the Company's previously announced brand change, results that were previously reported under our Marsh business will now be reported as "Marsh Risk" and results that were previously reported as "Oliver Wyman Group" will now be reported as "Marsh Management Consulting." Mercer and Guy Carpenter will continue to be reported under their current brands through a transition period.
2026 Outlook/Predictions
Rising 2026 re/insurance M&A to fuel run-off market opportunities: PwC
With live M&A activity in the re/insurance sector expected to rise this year, PwC anticipates opportunities in the run-off market through the carve-out of non-core portfolios, both pre- and post-transaction.
In a new report, PwC forecasted that 2026’s M&A activity will be shaped by a challenging rates environment, alongside persistent pressure on growth and earnings across the re/insurance market.
The firm recorded 42 publicly announced non-life run-off insurance transactions in 2025, up from 33 in 2024 and 31 in 2023. According to PwC, this increase was driven by an especially active Q4 2025, during which 14 transactions were announced.
“Despite this increase in deal numbers, estimated liabilities transferred were $5.4 billion, below the $6 billion to $8 billion range that has characterised the market in recent years,” the firm noted.
Rather than signalling a slowdown in overall market activity, this reflects a shift in the transaction mix, with a greater proportion of smaller deals being disclosed.
PwC added, “Approximately 70% of all publicly announced transactions had disclosed deal values. Around 40% of these transactions were sub-$50 million liability deals, underlining the levels of activity seen at the smaller end of the market.
Commentary/Opinion
Dive into Consumer Watchdog's Investigative Series Examining How Large Insurance Companies Mistreat Wildfire Survivors
[Ed. Note: According to the CA, Dept. of Insurance, over $22B has been paid with some 42,000 wildfire claims filed. A Dec. 31,2025 DOI Consumer Alert outlines data indicating increased claim payouts, expert enforcement and consumer support. Yet the Watchdog perspective alleges widespread intentional insurance carrier underpayments through anecdote; intertwining smoke only claims, insufficient policy limits and toxin remediation denials.]
One year after the Los Angeles fires, Consumer Watchdog released the final report in a three-part series investigating how large insurance companies underpay wildfire survivors through a combination of industry-aligned subcontractors, black box technology, and outright illegal denials.
"We examined court records, contracts, interviewed experts, attorneys and fire survivors to cut through the corporate narrative and weave a compelling story from the perspective of policyholders," said Consumer Watchdog's Justin Kloczko.
These are the following reports:
How Technology Shapes Property Insurance
Reveals how hidden algorithms and artificial intelligence used by the nation's largest home insurance companies are leaving many homeowners underinsured, underpaid, or denied home insurance completely. And how one large technology company sells the products that shape policy limits, construction costs, a home's fire risk score, and how much insurers can charge for future disasters.
The Subcontracting Underworld
Uncovers a troubling system of supposed testers and cleaners hired by insurance companies, who often prioritize minimizing payouts over restoring fire survivors' homes to safe and livable conditions.
Lowball: What Fire Survivors Want You To Know About Insurance Claims
Listeners can also listen to Smoke & Mirrors, our ongoing investigative podcast series about fire survivors and the insurance industry. The series includes narrative storytelling, interviews with experts and attorneys, and draws on court records to paint an immersive picture of how many of the biggest insurance companies are not meeting their obligations to policyholders.
State News
Florida approves more auto insurance rate cuts
Florida Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky announced Wednesday that the state is approving more auto insurance rate cuts for the new year.
The commissioner said USAA filed an average 7% rate decrease that will take effect by May.
“Going into the new year, the Office of Insurance Regulation is not slowing down on approving rate decreases or 0% increases from insurance companies. USAA is just one of many auto insurance companies that OIR is having great conversations with to ensure reductions for policyholders,” Yaworsky said. “We are thrilled with the progress in the home and auto insurance market since the critical legislative reforms were passed. It is very clear that tort reform was the right thing to do, and we will continue to build on this success.”
Here is a look at other recent rate decreases from auto insurance companies:
- Florida Farm Bureau: average decrease of -8.7%.
- Progressive: average rate decrease of -8%. This is in addition to their recent announcement to refund policyholders over $1 billion.
- State Farm: average decrease of -10.1%. This is State Farm’s third rate reduction since 2024, reducing more than 20% in total and amounting to over $1 billion in savings statewide.
- AAA: Three separate rate reductions over the year, lowering premiums by -15%. Last fall, AAA filed a fourth round of rate reductions for auto policies that will take effect early 2026.
- Allstate: 13.1k drivers average decrease of -4%.
Lawmakers call for expanding California FAIR insurance plan
California lawmakers called Wednesday for the state’s “insurer of last resort,” the California FAIR Plan, to evolve to insure more properties throughout the state.
The remarks come after years of the number of FAIR Plan policyholders climbing because of many private insurance companies declining to renew existing policies or pulling out of doing business in the Golden State altogether. This has pushed more and more homeowners in the state to turn to the California FAIR Plan.
“I’ve kind of reached a point where I prefer to call the FAIR Plan ‘the California safety net’ than the ‘insurer of last resort,’” said Assemblymember Lisa Calderon, D-City of Industry and the chair of the Assembly Insurance Committee, during the panel’s meeting Wednesday. “I feel like the FAIR Plan is no longer the insurer of last resort. When the voluntary insurance market abandons our constituents, the FAIR Plan is there to pick up those policies.”
There is a growing need to make sure the FAIR Plan works for California’s homeowners who can’t get home insurance policies anywhere else, Calderon said.
“Until the numbers stabilize, preferably decrease, it is our obligation that the FAIR Plan serves its purpose, and possibly expand their purpose,” Calderon added.
AI in Insurance
How Enterprise AI in Insurance Will Evolve in 2026
The insurance industry has made tangible progress with AI over the past few years. Fraud detection models are running in production. Intelligent document processing has automated work that once took days. Risk scoring algorithms are supporting underwriters with faster, more consistent decision-making. Yet fewer than one in ten insurance carriers have successfully scaled AI across their organizations, according to BCG research.
As insurers head into 2026, the challenge is less about introducing new AI capabilities and more about coordinating existing ones across workflows, grounding them in insurance context, and operating within core systems rather than around them. Based on what is working today—and where teams are encountering limits—below are several ways enterprise AI in insurance is likely to evolve during 2026.
Enterprise AI Shifts from Single Agents to Coordinated Ecosystems
Early AI adoption in insurance has focused on narrow, isolated use cases. In 2026, successful deployments will increasingly be context-aware by design, operating with an explicit understanding of insurance constructs such as products, policy states, decision rules, and historical outcomes.
Why voice and agentic AI are quietly redefining claims and service
Carriers experimenting with this technology are learning that adoption is less about replacing systems and more about connecting them.
For all the technological progress the insurance industry has made from modern policy platforms, mobile apps, digital payments and analytics, the most fundamental part of the policyholder experience has remained stubbornly analog: The conversation.
When something goes wrong, people still pick up the phone. They still wait. They still repeat themselves. And they still rely on a human representative to guide them through tasks that, despite years of investment in digital transformation, can't quite be completed through a website or app.
That may now be changing. A new generation of voice-driven, conversational AI systems is allowing insurers to automate the earliest moments of a claim or service request in ways that were not technologically feasible even a few years ago. These tools are designed to understand natural speech, interpret intent, and carry a conversation through the branching logic required to capture loss details, verify coverages, or complete routine policy changes. Just as importantly, they can activate downstream workflows without handing the customer off to another channel.
This shift is significant because the "first mile" of service has historically been the least modernized. Many digital initiatives have assumed that customers will begin their journey online, yet the reality of a loss is often emotional, unpredictable, and time-sensitive. A late-night auto accident, damage from a hurricane, accident at the job site, fire in the restaurant, or flooding in the basement rarely begins with someone opening an app. It begins with a phone call. And much of the inefficiency in claims comes from what happens, or fails to happen, during that first interaction.
Amrish Singh is the Co‑Founder and CEO of Liberate
InsurTech/M&A/Finance💰/Collaboration
Aon to collaborate with DataRobot
Aon announced a collaboration with software company DataRobot that will explore ways to improve Aon client onboarding and servicing workflows using agentic AI.
Aon intends to leverage the DataRobot Agent Workforce Platform and its autonomous, reasoning-based agents across selected parts of the insurance lifecycle, including client onboarding and day-to-day servicing. This collaboration will help accelerate the firm’s use of agent-driven processes — where AI could execute routine decisions while colleagues remain in the loop for oversight and validation.
The initiative is initially focused on enhancing two key workflows. For onboarding, the goal is to consolidate historic documents, binders and policy information to accelerate new placements and renewals. For servicing, efforts will center on streamlining certificate generation, ensuring timely invoice processing and enabling auto ID card issuance.
“Aon is investing in AI-focused technology to create meaningful improvements in how our clients engage with our firm and make decisions about their risk and people issues. Our collaboration with DataRobot is an important part of that strategy. By thoughtfully introducing AI agents into onboarding and servicing workflows, we aim to help clients experience faster turnaround times, increased consistency and greater transparency — all while maintaining our personal relationships and deep industry expertise that define Aon.” – Mindy Simon, chief operating officer of Aon.
Claims
Sedgwick Launches new Tow and Storage Negotiation Service
Sedgwick, the world's leading risk and claims administration partner, launched its new Tow and Storage Negotiation Service within its suite of Auto Solutions offerings. The new service helps to reduce overall claims handling costs by lowering excessive charges and ensuring claim expenses remain fair, reasonable, and aligned with industry standards.
Sedgwick's new service offers licensed adjusters with extensive knowledge of state regulations to negotiate storage and tow fees with repair shops. Through the company's expert negotiations, tow and storage charges are reduced by 32% on average.
Using Sedgwick's proprietary technology portal, adjusters can efficiently initiate a tow request without having to search for providers and set up a request. They can also save time and money plus deliver a seamless experience for policyholders.
Benefits of the new Tow and Storage Negotiation Service also include:
- Reduced Claim Severity: By negotiating better rates on storage and towing fees, Sedgwick significantly lowers the total cost of claims and reduces expenses for insurance carriers
- Improved Cycle Time: Sedgwick's efficient handling, from claim assessment to vehicle disposal, ensures claims are closed faster and cycle time is decreased.
- Faster Vehicle Relocation: Quick vehicle release and transfer to the customer's preferred repair shop or salvage yard helps to expedite claim closures.
- Efficient Payment and Vehicle Pickup: Payment for negotiated fees and vehicle releases are managed within 24 hours, providing a streamlined process and hassle-free experience for customers.
"This service expands our team's ability to provide expert negotiation, prompt payment, and efficient transfers," said Chris Bakes, Managing Director – Auto Solutions, Sedgwick. "This comprehensive approach saves time and money, and positions Sedgwick as the leading choice for managing tow and storage fees nationwide."
Canada
P&C insurers' Top 3 priorities for 2026
Auto reforms, earthquake risk, and reducing red tape head the list of P&C insurers' priorities heading into 2026.
Shepherding auto reforms in Ontario and Alberta, advancing a national solution for earthquake risk, and reducing red tape are the Top 3 priorities for property and casualty insurers in 2026.
Auto reforms
“In 2026, the industry faces the unique challenge of implementing two major sets of auto insurance reforms – one in Alberta and one in Ontario,” IBC CEO Celyeste Power says in an IBC website post revealing the industry trade organization’s three areas of focus this year.
Alberta is transitioning to the Care First system effective Jan. 1, 2027. A core feature of the proposed new no-fault system is to pay out set amounts of accident benefits to injured drivers, while severely limiting claimants’ ability to sue other drivers to recover their health care costs.
“These reforms represent a significant win for Alberta drivers, and there is considerable pressure to get the transition right,” Power says. “The government still needs to finalize several details, and IBC will continue working closely with the province to help ensure the reforms deliver the results that Albertans deserve.
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