Donald Trump

What a great attention getting headline. Just use his name and, bingo, you get attention. I anticipate some brave entrepreneur seeking to franchise Trump Insurance or Trump Brokerage. Competitors might include Kardashian Risk Management or Jenner Reciprocal Underwriting – figure that out. The presidential campaign has become a Branding Battle. Agents and brokers fight that one every day in a world of gekkos and one slightly looney CSR. The latest ad for Trusted Choice is entertaining enough, but the easy one syllable moniker would make the argument easier to grasp and recall. The Trump Agency Network would work. He has a lot of friends in the business, maybe that idea will catch on. The recognizable helmet hair outline would rival anything out there. You heard it here first… The insurance business added nearly 9,000 jobs in June, according to the BLS. The trend is up for sure, ever since the industry peaked in December 2014 when 11,000 jobs were added. In May 2015, the Bureau reported the following number of employees by sector:

729,000 Agents and brokers 524,000 P/C Insurers 514,000 Health insurers 357,000 Life insurers 178,500 TPAs 76,000 Title Insurers 50,000 Adjustors 25,100 Reinsurers Average weekly earnings by sector: Agents and brokers: $1,125 P/C Insurers: $1,384 Life / Health insurers: $1,369 TPAs: $1,127 Title Insurers: $1,388 Adjustors: $1,260 Reinsurers: $2,458

On another front, according to SNL’s P&C industry projections just released in a new report, SNL expects the personal and commercial auto insurance lines to help spur “modest erosion” in underwriting profitability in 2015. Higher losses in the private-passenger auto business “threaten a two-year streak of underwriting profitability in the personal lines sector.” SNL projects a personal lines combined ratio of 100.2% for 2015. Personal lines combined ratios have been under 100% since 2013. The projected commercial lines combined ratio of 95.4% would mark an increase from the industry’s 93.3% result in 2014. The key measure of P&C underwriting profitability, a combined ratio represents incurred losses and expenses as a percentage of premiums. A combined ratio over 100% indicates underwriting losses, while a sub-100% combined ratio indicates profitability. Achieving strong underwriting results is particularly important for P&C insurers in the current environment as low interest rates continue to pressure yields on investment portfolios, SNL reminds us.