Latest USA Headlines

All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Takata Discloses 11th Death Linked to Air Bag; Announces New 5 Million Vehicle Recall

Jan 27 2016 // U.S. auto safety regulators said Tuesday that air bag maker Takata Corp. declared 5.1 million U.S. vehicles defective, as the company disclosed an 11th death could be linked to a faulty airbag. Most of the vehicles...

‘Old’ ACE, Chubb Report Q4, Full Year 2015 Results

Jan 27 2016 // Just shy of two weeks after closing on their merger, ACE Ltd. and Chubb Corp. released financial results for their last quarter and year as separate entities. On January 14, 2016, ACE closed on its acquisition of Chubb...

Insurer Comings-and-Goings Show U.S. Crop Insurance a Field for Specialists

Jan 27 2016 // The U.S. crop insurance market has been abandoned by some of its largest companies as lower agricultural prices crimp revenue, and uncertainty about federal aid clouds the business’s future. Cargill Inc., the largest...

Franchises Ask Supreme Court to Hear Seattle Minimum Wage

Jan 27 2016 // A business group said on Monday it is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal of a lower-court ruling tossing out its challenge of part of Seattle’s law to increase the minimum wage. The International...

Firms Look at New Tools Designed to Foil Hackers as Firewalls Prove Inadequate

Jan 27 2016 // With firewalls no longer seen as enough of a defense against security breaches, companies are looking at new tools to foil hackers trying to enter a computer network. U.S. and Israeli startups are leading the way, with new...

Insurance Placement Difficulties Delay Iranian Crude Exports to Europe

Jan 27 2016 // Efforts by Iran to start exporting oil to Europe are being held up as foreign tanker owners are still struggling to secure insurance for cargoes, leading shipping players said on Tuesday. A nuclear deal between world...

Texas Stamping Office: Growth in U.S. Surplus Lines Continued in 2015

Jan 25 2016 // Collectively, the surplus lines insurance service/stamping offices across the country processed a record-breaking $25 billion in premium in 2015, exhibiting 3.6 percent growth over the $24.2 billion in premium processed...

California Gas Leak Follows Years of Lax Regulation of Aging Storage Wells

Jan 25 2016 // Long before a natural gas storage well sprung a disastrous leak near Los Angeles, Calif., utilities and national industry groups were raising alarms about the danger of aging underground storage infrastructure. The leaking...

Vullo Nomination Signals Shift at N.Y. Dept. of Financial Services

Jan 25 2016 // New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signaled a shift in New York’s oversight of Wall Street, tapping a longtime corporate lawyer to run the state banking regulator previously overseen by an aggressive career law...

Gene Creating Antibiotic-Resistant Superbug Detected in at Least 19 Countries

Jan 25 2016 // Just two months ago, researchers in China identified a gene that can make bacteria resistant to a last-resort antibiotic called colistin. It was a bombshell discovery for people who follow superbugs. Now that gene has been...

Global Insurers Explore Opportunities in Iran; Market Worth Premiums of $7.4B

Jan 25 2016 // Global insurance firms are circling Iran for business opportunities following the lifting of sanctions – and the first test of their appetite could come in March when some Iranian companies seek new cover. Insurers,...

People – South Central

Jan 25 2016 // Dallas-based risk management consulting and insurance agency, Dexter & Company, has promoted Royce DeRouen and David Rambie to executive roles. In his new role as senior vice president, DeRouen oversees the Risk...

Second ‘Hottest’ Year on Record in U.S. Included 10 Major Weather Events in 2015

Jan 25 2016 // Last year was the second hottest on record in the contiguous United States, and included 10 major weather and climate events, such as droughts and storms, that each led to over $1 billion in damages, the National Oceanic...

Deal Activity Still Booming

Jan 25 2016 // Deal count for the third quarter of 2015 continued its record breaking pace with 89 announced transactions. Although it was the slowest quarter in 2015 (107 in 1st quarter and 99 in 2nd quarter), it was the most active...

The Struggle Getting U.S. Regulators to Understand Insurance

Jan 25 2016 // The designation of MetLife as a systemically important financial institution by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) is a done deal. But exactly what that means in terms of higher regulatory standards is still...

P/C Execs Predict Cyber Growth, Democrat in the White House

Jan 25 2016 // Leaders of the property/casualty insurance industry expect 2016 to be a profitable year much like 2015 but do not see any increase in profitability this year for most lines of insurance, and they expect the economy to stay...

Outlook for U.S. Commercial P/C Insurance Still Negative

Jan 25 2016 // Rating agency A.M. Best said it is maintaining its negative outlook on the commercial lines segment of the U.S. property/casualty industry, despite relatively solid aggregate results over the past several years. The...

AIG Eyes Partial Spinoff of Mortgage Insurance Unit: Reuters

Jan 24 2016 // American International Group Inc. has decided to pursue a spin-off of its mortgage insurance business, according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that would come as the U.S. insurer fends off activist investor...

Blizzard Heads Toward U.S. East; Airlines Cancel Flights

Jan 22 2016 // A dangerous winter storm will bring snow by the foot to the U.S. mid-Atlantic, including Washington, threatening at least 50 million people in its path while canceling thousands of flights and closing schools and...

Bond Insurers’ Lawsuits Against Puerto Rico to Be Combined

Jan 22 2016 // A second lawsuit over Puerto Rico’s debt default will be joined with a similar suit in order to save time and money and avoid inconsistent rulings, a U.S. federal judge said on Thursday. Financial Guaranty Insurance...