News
Organizations help build resilient communities by supporting Red Cross Disaster Relief
September is National Preparedness Month, and the American Red Cross is recognizing more than 170 corporations and organizations that help power preparedness, relief and recovery as members of the Mission Leader Program, Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and Disaster Responder Program
After months of severe storms, floods and wildfires, hundreds of Red Cross volunteers are currently providing help and hope to communities across the country. As extreme weather strikes more frequently and with more severity, families continue to count on the Red Cross. In turn, the organization relies on Mission Leader, ADGP and Disaster Responder Program members — along with their employees and customers — to help power its response to about 60,000 disasters big and small across the country each year.
Mission Leader, ADGP and Disaster Responder members contribute financial and in-kind donations year-round, enabling the Red Cross to prepare ahead and respond at a moment's notice when disasters strike. These investments help ensure the organization is equipped to act before crises occur — prepositioning supplies, training volunteers and more to meet immediate needs and support long-term recovery.
"In a year when communities continue to face one crisis after another, Mission Leader, ADGP and Disaster Responder members help make it possible for the Red Cross to be there from the very first moments," said Cliff Holtz, president and CEO of the American Red Cross. "Their commitment helps us deliver essential relief to people recovering from disasters whenever and wherever they oc
CARSTAR Parent Driven Brands Approves $100 Million Stock Buyback, Sets New Debt Target
Updated capital allocation plan follows the company's August rejection of an $18-per-share buyout bid from ADW Capital Management.
Driven Brands Holdings Inc., the parent company of collision repair franchise brand CARSTAR, laid out a new capital allocation plan on Sept. 15, including approval to buy back $100 million in stock and a new long-term debt target, according to a press release filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
$100 MILLION REPURCHASE AUTHORIZED
Driven Brands' board cleared the company to buy back as much as $100 million worth of its own shares, a sum equal to roughly 5% of its total market value, according to the filing. The repurchase authorization began Sept. 15, and Driven Brands built no time limit into it.
The company said it can buy shares on the open market, including through a structured trading plan allowed under federal securities rules, using cash on hand and cash generated by ongoing operations. Driven Brands said the repurchase plan is optional and can be stopped at any point, with no requirement to buy back a set amount.
AI in Insurance
AI In Insurance Survey: Governance, Data Readines | S&P Global Ratings
AI is increasingly transforming the insurance industry across multiple dimensions, with widespread deployment growing rapidly, driven by optimism that the technology can improve business performance. Although adoption has yet to directly affect S&P Global Ratings' views on credit quality--with no AI-related rating actions in the sector to date--the potential for operational and financial gains, and associated governance and technological risks, is increasingly relevant to our credit analysis.
Our survey of 121 entities globally, representing about 38% of the total assets of the insurers we rate, shows a transition from localized experimentation toward formal strategic integration, including at some of the largest multiline insurers and reinsurers. For this report, we use the term “insurers” to refer to both insurers and reinsurers.
While the survey suggests AI has not yet materially impacted profitability, the median insurer in our sample expects both efficiency gains, of 6% to 7% by 2028, and revenue improvements, of 4% to 5% by 2028. As implementation scales, the share of insurers expecting AI-related cost savings to exceed 3% rises to 80% by 2028, up from 16% in 2025. CONTINUES
Global AI spend will nearly double in 2026 due to infrastructure demand | CIO Dive
Dive Brief:
- Global AI spend is forecasted to total $2.7 trillion this year, representing a 49.5% increase year over year, as demand for AI infrastructure remains strong, according to a Gartner report published Wednesday.
- Tech providers represent the largest percentage of AI spend at 35% as they purchase AI-optimized servers, IaaS and chips that are needed to build, deploy and run AI models and agents, John-David Lovelock, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, told CIO Dive.
“The amount of money that is going into AI infrastructure — the chips that are being made, the servers that are being bought, the data centers that are being built, the power, utilities, cooling that are going along with it — represent the largest infrastructure project humanity has ever undertaken,” Lovelock said.
Commentary/Opinion
Building Trusted Insurance Brands: How Nationwide Delivers Tangible Value to Customers
Sarah Griffin, senior vice president, personal lines product and underwriting at Nationwide, recently fielded a lot of questions from her son when he bought his first home and wanted to know what to do when bad things happen. The answer was often maintenance and other preventative steps rather than insurance—a message that the 100-year-old insurer delivers to policyholders with practical tips and checklists, as well as free IoT devices that monitor risks to be avoided.
Next up, Nationwide is rolling out home warranties—another offering that will build customer trust by demonstrating tangible value and help to dissuade a customer focus on lowest-cost insurance coverage.
“While the home is the largest financial asset for most people, it is often managed reactively, through unexpected costs and fragmented decisions, rather than with foresight and strategy,” said a media statement for Hint, a platform co-founded by Martha Stewart that offers personalized proactive home care guidance via an app.
Telematics, Driving & Insurance
TruckerCloud Launches FleetFile, a Crash Risk Score Commercial Auto Insurers Can Apply Across Their Book
TruckerCloud, the leading commercial auto insurance telematics data platform,launched FleetFile, a predictive crash risk score for commercial lines, including heavy trucks. Insurers can apply it across their book using the telematics data fleets already generate, regardless of telematics system. TruckerCloud has begun filing FleetFile with state insurance regulators for use as a rating variable.
Fourteen years of losses, and the data that could change it
Commercial auto has posted an underwriting loss for 14 consecutive years, according to AM Best. The line lost about $4.9 billion in 2024 and more than $10 billion over the past two years, even though insurers raised rates in every one of those years. .
A different kind of score
FleetFile is a different kind of score. It reads the telematics data a fleet already produces, from whatever system the fleet runs, and it was built from the start to be filed. Delivered through TruckerCloud's platform, which connects to roughly 200 ELD, camera, and telematics systems and serves more than 70 insurers and MGAs, it gives an insurer one crash risk score, on one scale, at quote or renewal, with vehicle-level scores beneath it. FleetFile was built to serve heavy-duty lines and scores accounts whether they run one vehicle or thousands.
Research
Trucking Insurance Costs Rise as Legal System Abuse Takes a Toll - Triple-I®
Commercial trucking liability premiums have hit record highs even as crash rates fell, with rising claims severity and litigation driving the gap, according to research from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), reported the Triple-I Blog
The big picture:
Insurance costs for motor carriers are climbing largely due to factors outside their control, including medical cost inflation and legal system pressures rather than accident frequency.
The trend mirrors broader struggles in the commercial auto insurance segment, which has faced ongoing profitability challenges even as the wider property & casualty industry shows signs of stabilizing.
By the numbers:
- Liability premiums rose more than 18% from 2021 to 2024, reaching 10.2 cents per mile.
- Large-truck crashes fell 2.6% over the same period.
- Per-mile liability losses jumped 33% despite the crash decline.
- Legal system abuse drove more than $230 billion in added liability insurance losses from 2015 to 2024, per Triple-I and the Casualty Actuarial Society.
- Top-half payouts grew at an annual rate of 5.7% over the past decade, with case volume up 3.7% annually.
Announcements
Caliber Renews Mitchell Enterprise Licensing Agreement
Mitchell, a leader in the development of innovative auto physical damage technology solutions, and Caliber Collision, the nation’s largest auto collision repair provider, today announced the renewal of their multi-year enterprise licensing agreement. The new agreement extends Caliber's access to Mitchell Cloud Estimating across the organization's more than 1,850 locations nationwide while introducing new software applications including Mitchell MSO Suite to help simplify assignment management, accelerate estimate review and surface actionable insights.
“> Caliber's commitment to delivering safe, efficient and accurate repairs requires continuous investment in scalable technology," said Todd Dillender, Chief Operating Officer at Caliber Collision. "Mitchell's platform gives us the visibility and operational tools we need to maintain consistent service quality throughout the Caliber network while supporting our growth. This investment further reinforces Caliber’s commitment to providing unmatched service to our carrier partners across our expansive network of repair centers. By centralizing workflows and leveraging real-time data, we're better positioned to serve our customers and insurance partners with the speed, flexibility and reliability they expect."
NICB Announces Leadership Transition
The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the insurance industry's association dedicated to predicting, preventing, and prosecuting insurance crime and fraud, announces that David Glawe will step down as President and Chief Executive Officer in October after six years of service leading the nonprofit organization.
"On behalf of the Board of Governors, I want to thank David for his six years of service to NICB and his commitment to its important mission," said Nick Seminara, Chairman of the NICB Board of Governors. "We appreciate his contributions to the organization and wish him well as he prepares for his next chapter."
Glawe reflected on his time with NICB and the organization's mission:
"It has been a privilege to serve NICB and to work alongside such a talented and committed team. I have tremendous respect for the work they do every day and for the mission we share—bringing together the insurance industry, law enforcement, and our many partners to fight insurance fraud and crime and protect the public.
I am proud of what we have accomplished together over the past six years and grateful for the dedication, expertise, and commitment I have seen throughout the organization."
Glawe will work with the Board and NICB leadership team through his departure to support an orderly transition. The Board will announce its leadership transition plans at the appropriate time.
Fraud
‘Door Knocker’ Roofers Caught in Farm Bureau’s Sting Sentenced to Probation, Restitution
Two brothers caught in a sting operation orchestrated by North Carolina Farm Bureau Insurance and state regulators have been sentenced to restitution andTwo brothers caught in a sting operation orchestrated by North Carolina Farm Bureau Insurance and state regulators have been sentenced to restitution and community service after pleading guilty to deliberately damaging roofs in North Carolina.
Brett William Bentley, 28, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was ordered to pay some $27,678 in restitution to Farm Bureau, the NC Department of Insurance said in a bulletin. His brother, Robert Allen Bentley, 36, pleaded guilty to a felony charge. A judge in Wake County sentenced him to 24 months’ probation, 50 hours of community service, and a $50 fine. He could have faced as much as 63 months in prison, court records in Wake County show.
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