Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Reinsurers Get Down to Business in Baden-Baden; Willis Re Chairman Comments
Oct 21 2013 // “I don’t think there have been any big changes between Monte Carlo and Baden-Baden,” said James Vickers, chairman of Willis Re International. This isn’t that surprising, given that the two...
Insurer Plans IPO Despite Not Making Profit Yet
Oct 21 2013 // NMI Holdings Inc., the mortgage guarantor backed by Kyle Bass, Carlyle Group LP and BlueMountain Capital Management LLC, is seeking to be the first U.S. insurer since 2009 to file an initial public offering without posting...
West Fertilizer Plant Cited, Fined by OSHA
Oct 21 2013 // Further Investigation Delayed by Government Shutdown The partial government shutdown has delayed the federal investigation of the April 17 fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, and efforts to improve chemical safety,...
Decreasing Agency Balance Sheet Value: A Positive Impact?
Oct 21 2013 // Despite significant optimism about key market fundamentals, year-over-year agency valuation increases and agency performance metrics, ownership perpetuation continues to be the biggest long-term challenge to...
Chinese Drywall Maker Questions Product Liability Ruling
Oct 21 2013 // A Chinese drywall manufacturer asked a federal appeals court on Oct. 9 to overturn a judge’s ruling that U.S. courts have jurisdiction over claims that its defective product wrecked thousands of homes. A three-judge...
Prudential Drops Its Fight Against Systemic Risk Designation
Oct 20 2013 // Prudential Financial Inc., the second-largest U.S. life insurer, abandoned its challenge to a U.S. designation from a Treasury Department panel that subjects the company to increased regulatory oversight. The insurer opted...
High Crop Prices Turn More Midwest Grassland into Cropland
Oct 18 2013 // When cattle producer Jason Zahn aims his pickup across the gravel roads of North Dakota, he doesn’t see as many native grasses dancing along the prairie. Instead, he sees more and more black. He sees tilled dirt or...
Louisiana High Court Strikes Down Immigrant Driver Law
Oct 18 2013 // The Louisiana Supreme Court has struck down a state law that made it a crime for people who aren’t U.S. citizens to drive here without carrying proof of their immigration status. The divided court ruled that the...
XL Group’s Insurance Operations Grow in Dallas
Oct 17 2013 // XL Group announced an expansion of its insurance operations in Dallas. The company’s U.S. Risk Management business is setting up operations in Dallas and welcoming Gabriel Martinez as casualty underwriting director....
Health Cost Increases in 2013 Were Lowest in Decade: Aon Hewitt
Oct 17 2013 // There was some relatively good news in health care this year. U.S. employers and their employees saw the lowest health care premium rate increases in 2013 in more than a decade, according to global consultant Aon...
SEC Battles Industry Fund over Stanford Victims’ Claims
Oct 17 2013 // U.S. regulators sought to overturn a 2012 court ruling that prohibited victims of Allen Stanford’s $7 billion Ponzi scheme from seeking compensation, in an unprecedented legal battle between the government and an...
Bernanke Excused from Testifying in Greenberg’s Suit Over AIG Bailout for Now
Oct 16 2013 // Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke does not have to testify in the multibillion-dollar lawsuit by the former chief of American International Group Inc. against the United States over the insurer’s 2008 bailout, a...
AIG Launches Product Recall Estimate Service, Raises Contaminated Product Limits
Oct 16 2013 // In response to the growing financial impact and frequency of product recalls for food and beverage manufacturers, distributors and importers in the U.S. and Europe, American International Group (AIG) today launched NOVI, a...
Ex-Halliburton Manager Pleads Guilty in BP Case
Oct 16 2013 // A former Halliburton manager pleaded guilty on Oct. 15 to destroying evidence in the aftermath of the deadly rig explosion that spawned BP’s massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Anthony Badalamenti, 62, of...
Supreme Court Tackles Suits Against Firms for Human Rights Violations Abroad
Oct 16 2013 // A majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices raised doubts on Tuesday over whether Daimler AG can be sued in federal court for allegations that a subsidiary violated the human rights of workers at a plant in Argentina in the...
EQECAT President Paul Little on Cat Models – from the General to the Specific
Oct 11 2013 // EQECAT’s President Paul Little explains how cat models have evolved from the general to the specific and what’s now required to create good ones. He also foresees cellular technology – iPhones, Androids,...
Defective Drywall: Chinese Maker Questions Ruling
Oct 11 2013 // A Chinese drywall manufacturer asked a federal appeals court on Oct. 9 to overturn a judge’s ruling that U.S. courts have jurisdiction over claims that its defective product wrecked thousands of homes. A three-judge...
Tens of Thousands Flee Vast Cyclone Phailin Bearing Down on India
Oct 11 2013 // Tens of thousands fled their homes in coastal areas of eastern India and moved to shelters on Friday, bracing for the fiercest cyclone to threaten the country since a devastating storm killed 10,000 people 14 years...
Number of Homes at Risk of Wildfire in Western States Jumps 62%: CoreLogic
Oct 11 2013 // The number of homes at risk from wildfires in western U.S. states jumped 62 percent in the past year as more properties were developed in fire-prone areas, according to a report released on Thursday. About 1.2 million...
AIG Sued by Small Businesses Over Workers’ Compensation Reporting
Oct 10 2013 // Class action lawsuits in federal courts on both coasts have been initiated on behalf of small businesses in California, New York and New Jersey against American International Group (AIG) over workers’ compensation...
