Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Massachusetts Pharmacy to Pay $100M to Victims of Meningitis Outbreak
Dec 24 2013 // Owners and insurers of a now-bankrupt Massachusetts pharmacy linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak have agreed to pay more than $100 million to compensate victims, families of victims and creditors. The preliminary...
P/C Insurers Boost Bottom Line on Big Gain in Underwriting Through 9 Months
Dec 23 2013 // Private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income after taxes rose to $43 billion in nine-months 2013 from $27.8 billion in nine-months 2012, with insurers’ overall profitability as measured by their...
Federal Reserve Allows Ally Financial to Keep Insurance Unit
Dec 23 2013 // Ally Financial Inc., the auto lender majority owned by the U.S. government, won regulatory approval to change its holding-company status, allowing the firm to keep an insurance business and a vehicle-auction website. The...
Judge Rejects Catholic Church Challenge to Obamacare Birth Control Coverage
Dec 23 2013 // The Catholic Church isn’t harmed by the U.S. Affordable Care Act’s requirement for providing employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives, a judge ruled, throwing out most of a lawsuit challenging the...
Best Places Canopius US Insurance Under Review
Dec 23 2013 // A.M. Best Co. has placed under review with developing implications the financial strength rating of ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating of “a-” of Delaware-based Canopius US Insurance, Inc....
Best Downgrades Tower Group and Subs Ratings; Under Review/Negative
Dec 23 2013 // Last Friday, A.M. Best Co. downgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to B (Fair) from B++ (Good) of the pooled and reinsured members of the Tower U.S. Pool. A.M. Best said the downgrade and other related actions take...
Insurance Questions, Lawsuits Arise in Wake of Target’s Data Breach
Dec 22 2013 // U.S. retail giant Target Corp. is busy dealing with the aftermath of the massive data breach that exposed account details of some 40 million credit and debit cards. Already, at least two lawsuits seeking class-action...
Happy Holidays: Target’s Message May Put Scare Into Firms Without Cyber Coverage
Dec 20 2013 // Target Corp.’s data breach headache may be an opportunity for insurance carriers, insurance agents, risk managers and businesses to spread the word about cyber risk – although the message is bit of a scary one. The...
Target Credit Card Breach a Reminder U.S. Lags in Personal Data Security
Dec 20 2013 // The security breach of credit and debit card data at Target Corp. is evidence of the increasing threats retailers face and a reminder that the U.S. lags behind much of the world in securing personal financial...
Massachusetts Congressional Delegation Challenges FEMA’s New Flood Maps
Dec 20 2013 // Members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, led by Congressman Bill Keating, recently sent an open letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The lawmakers argued in their letter that when FEMA...
ABIR Applauds US-Bermuda Agreement to Share Tax Information
Dec 20 2013 // Bradley Kading, president and executive director of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR), has praised an intergovernmental agreement signed by US Consul General Robert Settje and Bermuda Minister of...
Surplus of Capital Continues to Temper Property Rates: Marsh
Dec 19 2013 // The surplus of capital among insurers and reinsurers continued to have an overall softening effect in the U.S. property insurance market through the third quarter of 2013, Marsh said in a report. For the first nine months...
Toyota Camry Improves in Insurance Safety Test
Dec 19 2013 // Toyota Motor Corp.’s Camry, headed for its 12th consecutive year as the best-selling car in the U.S., returned to Consumer Reports’ recommended list after showing improvement on an insurance-industry crash...
BP Seeks Halt to Oil Spill Payments to Seafood Firms, Alleges Attorney Fraud
Dec 18 2013 // BP Plc asked a U.S. judge to stop payments in the $2.3 billion seafood-industry portion of its settlement over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill pending an investigation of fraud claims against a plaintiffs’...
Nasdaq Denied Immunity for Some Investors’ Claims Over Facebook IPO
Dec 17 2013 // Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. must face some of the negligence and securities law claims by investors who alleged they suffered $500 million in damages from the exchange’s handling of Facebook Inc.’s May 2012 initial...
Ex-BP Engineer Destroyed Gulf Spill Evidence, Jury Told
Dec 17 2013 // A former BP Plc engineer deliberately destroyed evidence sought by the U.S. for a probe of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico well explosion and oil spill, a federal prosecutor said at the end of a trial in New Orleans. Prosecutors...
Torus Receives Lloyd’s Approval to Expand Syndicate 1301
Dec 17 2013 // Global specialty insurer Torus announced from its office in London that its Syndicate 1301 business plan for 2014 has been approved by Lloyd’s. “The plan increases the syndicate’s capacity to £180...
New York Catholic Groups Win Challenge to Obamacare Birth Control Mandate
Dec 16 2013 // A group of Catholic health and educational organizations doesn’t have to comply with federal Affordable Care Act requirements to ensure employees receive insurance coverage for contraceptives, a New York federal...
Ironshore’s U.S. Energy Unit Launches Endorsements for Upstream Risks
Dec 16 2013 // The Energy Unit of Ironshore’s U.S. Specialty Casualty unitis now offering enhanced insurance coverage endorsements for upstream energy risks as part of its ExcessProtect Plus Energy Commercial Excess Liability...
GEICO Passes Allstate to Become 2d Largest U.S. Auto Insurer: SNL
Dec 16 2013 // Based on third quarter reports, GEICO Corp. has surpassed Allstate Corp. to become the nation’s second-largest private auto insurer. According to data compiled by SNL, GEICO logged $4.89 billion in direct premiums...
