Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Explosion at Pennsylvania Coke Plant Under Investigation
Jul 16 2010 // Investigators were looking for clues Thursday into what caused an oven at a U.S. Steel plant near Pittsburgh to explode, injuring 20 workers and starting a fire that burned for hours. The powerful blast in the coke oven at...
Gale Force Winds Needed to Re-Inflate Insurance Share Prices
Jul 16 2010 // Nobody wishes for a natural disaster, but there’s nothing like a big U.S. hurricane to revitalize shares in property and casualty insurers, currently weighed down by persistently weak insurance prices. Nine analysts...
Reinsurance Tax Debate over HR 3424 Heats Up at Committee Hearing
Jul 15 2010 // Both sides presented their views at a hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, July 14. Compromise over whether or not to disallow deductions for premiums paid to purchase reinsurance from...
Toyota Says Drivers, Not Throttle, to Blame for Unintended Acceleration
Jul 14 2010 // Toyota Motor Corp. said on Wednesday its investigation of nearly 2,000 cases of unintended acceleration had found no problem with its electronic throttle system, and that driver error was to blame in some cases. The...
Marsh Names Insurance Editor Roberts as U.S. Media Director
Jul 14 2010 // Insurance broker Marsh has appointed Sally Roberts as director of U.S. Media Relations. Roberts joins Marsh from Business Insurance, a commercial insurance trade publication, where she most recently was a senior editor....
Citigroup Loses Bid to Have Suit Over ‘Toxic’ Mortgages Dismissed
Jul 13 2010 // A Manhattan federal judge Monday rejected Citigroup Inc.’s bid to dismiss a class-action lawsuit by bondholders who said the bank misled them about its exposure to “toxic” mortgages. U.S. District Judge...
U.S. P/C Industry Posts $11.5B Net Income in Q1
Jul 13 2010 // The U.S. property/casualty industry earned a net profit for the first quarter 2010, partly due to the continued recovery in the financial markets. The first quarter 2010 rebounded from a net loss in the first three months...
Hearing Scheduled Today on HR 3424, Reinsurance Tax Bill
Jul 13 2010 // HR 3424 will be the subject of a hearing House by the House Representatives Ways and Means Committee today at 10:00 a.m. The Bill, sponsored by Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-MA), has been the subject of a lengthy debate [See IJ...
AIG Board to Consider AIA’s Future; IPO Seen Most Likely Option
Jul 13 2010 // The board of American International Group is set to meet this week to consider the future of its AIA unit, with a public float seen as the most likely outcome, sources said on Tuesday. An initial public offering of AIA,...
BP Test of New Cap on Gulf Oil Well Could Be Turning Point
Jul 13 2010 // BP Plc prepared on Tuesday to test a new cap on its runaway well, arresting the flow of oil which has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for the last 12 weeks. [According to Reuters BP Plc will launch a test to gauge...
Marsh U.S. Consumer Names Shestack Benefits Sales Leader
Jul 12 2010 // Urbandale, Iowa-based Marsh U.S. Consumer, a broker and administrator of affinity insurance and membership product programs, announced the appointment of Rob Shestack as sales leader for Employer Benefits. Shestack brings...
Liberty Mutual Sues Goldman Sachs Over Fannie Mae Stock
Jul 12 2010 // Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was sued by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. for fraudulently misleading it into buying preferred stock of mortgage financier Fannie Mae that would become “virtually worthless.” In a...
The Growing Risks of Social Media
Jul 12 2010 // Asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton famously replied: “Because that’s where the money is.” Something similar can be said to explain why companies are paying more attention to social media these days...
Lloyd’s Won’t Insure or Reinsure Petroleum Shipments for Iran
Jul 9 2010 // Lloyd’s of London will not insure or reinsure petroleum shipments going into Iran, the insurance market said on Friday. U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law last week far-reaching new sanctions that aim to...
Health Records Firms Face Increasing Privacy Liability
Jul 9 2010 // U.S. companies that partner with hospitals and other health providers could face steep fines if they disclose private patient information under a new federal rule proposed Thursday. Billing companies, customer service...
Obama Administration Asks Health Insurers to Embrace Reforms Now
Jul 9 2010 // U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who has bashed insurers over rate increases, is seeking their help in making medical coverage accessible for more patients in the years before major reforms take effect. Sebelius,...
Lloyd’s Marine Underwriters Examine How to Comply with Iran Sanctions
Jul 6 2010 // Underwriters from London’s marine insurance market are looking at how to comply with fresh sanctions being imposed on Iran, a senior Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) official said on Friday. Iran, the...
Coastal Trends
Jul 5 2010 // As the hurricane season gains momentum, a new U.S. Census Bureau report, Coastline Population Trends in the United States: 1960 to 2008, helps put into perspective the number of Americans living along the coast who could...
USLI Expanding with Retail Agent Distribution; No Longer Exclusively Wholesale
Jul 5 2010 // After years of doing business exclusively though wholesale brokers, United States Liability Insurance Group (USLI) is expanding its distribution to work directly with retail insurance agencies. “We are expanding our...
Rough Road for Trucking in the New Economy
Jul 5 2010 // Rising Taxes, Inflation Will Force Insurance Market to a ‘Déjà vu All Over Again’ The insurance industry has a long history for cyclical price adjusting, featuring long periods of marginal to inadequate...
