Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Regulators Reviewing Berkshire Hathaway for Systemic Risk
Jan 23 2014 // Regulators are starting to scrutinize Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to determine whether it is important enough to the financial system to require Federal Reserve supervision, according to two people with...
Reinsurance at Crossroads As New Factors Sweep Away Old Habits
Jan 23 2014 // Part I – The Market in the Developed Economies A significant number of reinsurance treaties were renewed this month, heavily concentrated in property catastrophe coverage. It’s become apparent, however, that this...
Officials Suspect 2 Nabbed in Texas Linked to Target Fraud Case
Jan 22 2014 // Two Mexican citizens who were arrested at the border used account information stolen during the Target security breach to buy tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise, according to a South Texas police...
Progressive Reports 20% Profit Gain in Q4
Jan 22 2014 // Progressive Corp., the fourth- largest U.S. auto insurer, said profit climbed 20 percent in the fourth quarter as margins improved a year after Superstorm Sandy. Fourth-quarter net income rose to $299.8 million, or 50...
West Virginia Politicians Call for State, Federal Regulation of Chemicals
Jan 22 2014 // West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin this week proposed tighter regulations for chemical storage facilities after a spill contaminated the water supply for 300,000 people. Tomblin, the Democratic...
Travelers More Than Triples Profit in Q4 on Lower Disaster Losses, Higher Prices
Jan 21 2014 // Travelers Cos., the property/casualty insurer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, said fourth-quarter profit more than tripled as claims costs from natural disasters fell a year after Superstorm Sandy. Net income rose to...
State Laws Provide Leeway For Businesses Reporting Data Breaches
Jan 20 2014 // A decade of lawmaking by U.S. states to ensure consumers are told when their data has been hacked still lets companies such as Target Corp. wait weeks or even months to disclose security breaches. Forty-six of 50 U.S....
Twenty Years Later Big Lesson From Northridge Quake Lost
Jan 17 2014 // Twenty years ago today a big one hit the Los Angeles area, killing several people and injuring thousands, damaging tens of thousands of properties, shutting down businesses, putting out of operation some of the...
Iglesias Succeeds Knight As President of Allied World North America
Jan 17 2014 // Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, AG has appointed Lou Iglesias as president for Allied World North America. Iglesias is currently president, U.S. Property & Casualty. He succeeds Gordon Knight who is retiring...
Commuter Train Crashes Prompt Call for Safety Improvements
Jan 17 2014 // Commuter rail accidents including a New York derailment last month that killed four prompted a U.S. investigative agency to name improving transit safety as its top priority for 2014. The National Transportation Safety...
Ex-Treasury Official Wolin Urges Federal, State Collaboration to Improve Regulation
Jan 17 2014 // To make continued improvements in the U.S. insurance regulatory system, it’s imperative for state and federal officials to work collaboratively and share information and perspectives, said former Deputy Treasury...
China, India, Brazil Join U.S. As Among Biggest Contributors to Global Warming
Jan 17 2014 // China, India and Brazil — three of the largest developing nations— joined the U.S. in a list of the biggest historical contributors to global warming, according to a study by researchers in Canada. Seven nations...
Senate Re-Election Politics Boosts Flood Insurance Delay Proposals
Jan 16 2014 // Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will do just about anything to help Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu. He arranged the chamber’s floor agenda this week so Landrieu could lead debate on a flood insurance rate reprieve...
Ironshore Launches Admitted Coverage for U.S. Companies Operating Overseas
Jan 15 2014 // Ironshore’s U.S. Specialty Casualty unit has launched a new coverage option for U.S.-based companies with overseas operational risk exposure. Ironshore International Connect will provide excess casualty coverage for...
Verisk Buying EagleView Technology for $650M to Add Images of U.S. Structures
Jan 15 2014 // Verisk Analytics Inc., the supplier of data to insurers and banks, agreed to buy EagleView Technology Corp. for $650 million in cash, adding an image library that encompasses about 90 percent of U.S. structures. The deal...
Cat Bond Coverage Reaches Record $20 Billion: Aon Benfield ILS study
Jan 14 2014 // In its latest report Aon Benfield Securities, the investment banking division of global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor Aon Benfield, noted that the fourth quarter of 2014 continued to see more...
Everest Re’s Special Purpose Reinsurer Reaches $370 Million of Capacity
Jan 14 2014 // Everest Re Group, Ltd.’s special purpose reinsurer, Mt. Logan Re, Ltd., has secured additional funding, which brings current committed capacity to $370 million, above its initial target funding of $250 million. Mt....
Calls for Tougher Chemical Regulation Follow West Virginia Spill
Jan 14 2014 // A chemical spill that left 300,000 people in West Virginia unable to drink their water is reviving calls for more stringent regulation of thousands of chemical storage sites in the U.S., especially those near water...
Top 10 Corporate Risks in 2014: Allianz Risk Barometer
Jan 14 2014 // Business interruption (BI) and supply chain, natural catastrophes and fire/explosion top the list of company risks in 2014, according to the third annual Allianz Risk Barometer, which surveyed over 400 corporate insurance...
Top 2013 Jury Awards: Price-Fixing, Nursing Home Liability, Defamation
Jan 14 2014 // U.S. juries awarded three verdicts of $1 billion or more for the third straight year in 2013, topped by a $1.2 billion award against Dow Chemical Co., the largest ever in a price-fixing case. Second was $1.1 billion...
