Published: July 2017

How to Attract and Keep Millennials

A Global Conversation: Participants in an A.M. Best TV presentation, "Industry Roundtable: how Insurers Can Close the Talent Gap," discuss how to recruit and retain millennials.

An Eye on Market Drivers: Favorable large-scale demographic shifts in its core life insurance markets along with significant regulatory and political uncertainties are key factors for Prudential plc as the U.K-based life group continues to make inroads into Asia, according to the group's chief executive officer.

Change of Venue: A report issued by the Bipartisan Policy Center task force in April raises serious concerns about a long-term reduction in resources provided to state insurance departments and concludes that, should this continue, the states could (and probably should) lose their primary role in regulating the business of insurance.

Editor's Desk: Today's talent gap has a few paradoxes. Many baby boomers are delaying retirement, remaining in the workforce into their 70s and beyond.

Insight: Déjà Vu ... Again: Remember the classic Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day, the story of a weatherman trapped in a small Pennsylvania town, forced to relive the titular day over and over and over?

Insight: Experience Needed: With the insurance industry becoming increasingly focused on innovation and the talent gap continuing to widen, agents and carriers alike are recruiting early-in-career employees in record numbers.

Insight: Keeping Out of the Storm: As climate change accelerates and weather becomes more violent, insurers are increasingly using catastrophe reinsurance to hedge their bets. Catastrophe reinsurance, however, has become more complex, making modern technology a necessity for carriers needing to get the most value from their premiums.

Insight: Plugging the Leak: As money pits go, the kind that auto insurers face may be even deeper and costlier than a gigantic sinkhole capable of swallowing houses, cars and parts of highways.

Invisible Workforce: As insurers struggle to attract and retain tomorrow's leaders, a bastion of young talent often sits unnoticed in their very own organizations. They are the headset-wearing, composure-keeping millenials who staff insurance call centers. And they say they are an untapped resource.

Last Word: The Philadelphia Story : The City of Brotherly Love is the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Marine Corps, the nation's library system, and in 1752--the successful insurance industry in North America.

Looking for the New Kids: When asked during a job interview why she wanted to work at Acuity Insurance, a recent college graduate slowly reached into her purse and pulled out a brightly-colored T-shirt with the company's name on it.

Spotlights:

• Spotlight on Cyber - UK Terrorism Raises Cyber Profile With Pool Re
• Spotlight on Workers' Compensation - Insurance Groups Oppose Illinois Workers' Comp Reform Bills

Standing the Test of Time: A life insurer that was founded by a Galveston, Texas businessman at the turn of the 20th century has not only gained size and sustainable momentum over the years, the carrier also has joined the ranks of companies that have stood the test of time by maintaining their Best's Financial Strength Rating of A or higher for 75 consecutive years.

Survival of The Techest: Matt Junge had a choice. Accounting or insurance. Embrace a life of financial record keeping or a "breadth of opportunities" many do not even realize is there.

Taking on Risk: A financial vehicle spurred by the decade-old mortgage crisis is increasingly attracting investors, including insurance companies, willing to take on some of the risk of U.S. home lending.

The Threat Is Real: The crisis is hidden in plain sight. Ed Levy sees it at every trade show and every gathering of insurance professionals as president of the American Association of Managing General Agents.

Top Global Insurance Brokers: Best's Review presents its annual ranking of global insurance brokers, based on 2016 total revenue. The top 20 brokers are presented according to ranking, some of the other brokers that participated follow in alphabetical order.

Top 200 U.S. Property/Casualty Writers: Industry's net premiums written increased 2.6%.

Top 200 U.S. Life/Annuity Insurers: Industry's admitted assets increased 4.5%.

Top 75 North American Public Insurers: Ranked by 2016 assets.

Top 75 North American Public Insurers: Ranked by 2016 revenue.

World's Largest Insurance Companies: Based on 2015 net non-banking assets.

World's Largest Insurance Companies: Based on 2015 net premiums written.

Top 25 U.S. Holding Companies, 2016: Ranked by assets.

Top 25 U.S. Holding Companies, 2016: Ranked by revenue.

What. A.M. Best Says: Best's Briefing examines the implications of the WannaCry Ransomware attack.

Young and Happy: Tia Harris Wilson has grown accustomed to stunned expressions. She gets them every time people hear her age and career history. Not only is Wilson a millennial, but she also has worked for the same insurance broker since graduating college 10 years ago.