Latest USA Headlines

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

PLUS Conference: Global Risks, Governance and Hypocrisy

Nov 5 2013 // America’s European allies are being hypocritical in their complaints about the U.S. spying on them because they all have their own surveillance programs, according to two former top officials in the Clinton...

U.S. Regulator Unveils New Insurance Fee Guidelines

Nov 5 2013 // A U.S. housing regulator said on Tuesday that it would ban some fees and commissions that borrowers are compelled to pay when their own home insurance coverage lapses. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it was aiming...

Morgan Stanley Says AIG May Sue Over Mortgage Investments

Nov 5 2013 // Morgan Stanley, the sixth-largest U.S. bank by assets, said it may be sued by American International Group Inc. over mortgage-backed securities that the insurer bought before the financial crisis. AIG purchased $3.7...

A Wary Supreme Court Allows Facebook’s $9.5M Privacy Settlement

Nov 5 2013 // The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand Facebook Inc.’s $9.5 million class action settlement over allegations the social networking company’s defunct “Beacon” service violated its members’...

Judge Dismisses Suit Against Bank of America For Not Disclosing AIG Claims

Nov 4 2013 // Bank of America Corp. has won the dismissal of an unusual lawsuit in which shareholders accused it of concealing a $10 billion fraud case brought by American International Group Inc. In a decision made public on Monday,...

IICF Northeast Announces Featured Speakers for Year-End Fundraising Dinner

Nov 4 2013 // The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) Northeast division announced three featured speakers who will be accepting grants for charities at its fundraising dinner on Wednesday Dec. 11, 2013 in New York City. The...

BP Oil Spill Settlement Opponents Ask Court to Rescind Approval

Nov 4 2013 // Opponents of BP Plc’s $9.2 billion partial settlement of private-party claims from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill are set to ask a U.S. appeals court to reverse a judge’s approval of the agreement. The...

Courts Split Over Health Care Law Birth Control Coverage Mandate

Nov 4 2013 // A requirement of President Barack Obama’s health care law that group insurance plans cover contraceptives may violate religious freedom, a U.S. appeals court said, widening a split among the circuits and making it...

U.S. Says Japan Signing Liability Pact Would Aid Nuclear Cleanup

Nov 4 2013 // Japan will receive international help with the cleanup at the Fukushima atomic station once it joins an existing treaty that defines liability for accidents at nuclear plants, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. The...

Third Quarter Activity Picks Up Pace

Nov 4 2013 // After a sluggish start to the year, merger and acquisition (M&A) activity gained some momentum in the third quarter. With 55 transactions announced from July to September, the third quarter comprised 42 percent of the...

10 Things to Know About Habitational and Dwelling Risks

Nov 4 2013 // Sales of new single-family houses reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 421,000 in August, 7.9 percent above the revised July 2013 estimate of 390,000. (U.S. Census Bureau) There were roughly 24,400 completions of...

Business Moves

Nov 4 2013 // Aspen Re Bermuda-based Aspen Reinsurance, the reinsurance segment of Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd., has formed Rock Re, a new dedicated brokered property facultative unit within its U.S. operation. Rock Re will build on...

Aon Benfield: U.S. Homeowners Market Offers Opportunities

Nov 4 2013 // U.S. homeowners insurance is showing significant growth opportunities, says a new report from Aon Benfield, a reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon plc. The report, titled “Homeowners ROE Outlook: 2013...

Two Legacy Network Executives in Idaho Sentenced

Nov 4 2013 // The former founder and chairman of the board of The Legacy Network, an insurance brokerage agency in Rexburg, Idaho, and his son were sentenced in October in United States District Court in Pocatello. The sentencing was...

AIG’s Q3 Profit Advances 17% to $2.17B; Property/Casualty Sales Decline

Nov 1 2013 // American International Group Inc., the insurer that repaid a U.S. rescue last year, said third- quarter profit climbed 17 percent as underwriting margins improved at the property-casualty business. Net income rose to $2.17...

U.S. Weighs Scanning Social Media to Prevent Risky Hires

Nov 1 2013 // The U.S. government is studying whether it can scour social media websites for clues about potential risks from workers such as Edward Snowden and the Washington Navy Yard shooter. Snowden, a former National Security...

Insurer Alleges Robotic Surgery Firm Lied About Claims

Nov 1 2013 // Intuitive Surgical Inc., the maker of robotic surgery devices targeted by patient lawsuits, was sued by an insurer alleging the company hid the number of legal claims it might face when buying product liability...

Lost Pheasants, Disappearing Grasslands: Is Crop Insurance to Blame?

Nov 1 2013 // The hunters tramp through neck-high prairie grass with a pair of golden retrievers named Moe and Buck, flushing out birds in a freezing autumn drizzle. When one flutters from the South Dakota grassland, Dick Schmith, 58,...

ThinkRisk, Aspen Launch New Private, Non-Profit Management Liability Program

Oct 31 2013 // ThinkRisk Underwriting Agency, a division of RSG Underwriting Managers, LLC, and Aspen US Insurance have launched a new national management liability package program. The product is available on an admitted basis in most...

Hyperion Insurance Head David Howden on U.S. Expansion by MGA DUAL

Oct 31 2013 // David Howden, the chief executive of the London-based Hyperion Insurance Group, founded the company in 1994, “as a business to take on wholesale products in the international market,” he explained in a...