Latest USA Headlines

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

XL Insurance Adds to Aviation Team, Expands West

Jan 13 2010 // New York-based XL Insurance, the global insurance operations of XL Capital Ltd., has expanded its U.S. Aviation underwriting team with an aviation branch office in San Francisco and by adding to its New York-based...

Tens of Thousands Feared Dead, Capital in Ruins From Haiti’s Catastrophic Quake

Jan 13 2010 // Traumatized Haitians slept out in parks and streets Thursday, fearing aftershocks to the catastrophic earthquake that flattened homes and government buildings and buried countless people. Tens of thousands of people were...

Companies Offer Aid for Haitians; Caribbean Risk Pool Pays $8M

Jan 13 2010 // Companies pledged millions of dollars in aid Wednesday to help victims of a powerful earthquake in Haiti that devastated much of the impoverished country’s capital and killed thousands. Digicel Group, a top mobile...

Greenberg Urges U.S. Stake in AIG Below 20% to Attract Capital

Jan 12 2010 // Former AIG chief Maurice “Hank” Greenberg is campaigning for the U.S. government to cut its stake in the insurer to less than 20 percent, saying this would attract new capital to AIG and help taxpayers fully...

SEC Order Keeps Some AIG Bailout Terms Sealed Until 2018

Jan 12 2010 // It could take until November 2018 to get the full story behind the U.S. bailout of insurance giant American International Group because of an action taken last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In May, the...

U.S. Senator Urges SEC to Probe N.Y. Fed Over AIG E-mails

Jan 12 2010 // U.S. regulators should investigate whether laws were violated when the New York Federal Reserve Bank urged insurer American International Group Inc. to limit discussions about payments to banks, a Republican member of the...

Ratings Recap: Berkshire H. (Notes), AXA US, Chartis PR, AGCS Marine

Jan 12 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its ‘AAA’ senior debt rating to Berkshire Hathaway Finance Corp.’s (BHFC) $1.0 billion senior notes. The notes will have various maturity dates....

Inadequate Warning Claims Against Generic Drugs OK Under State Law

Jan 11 2010 // A federal appeals court said Friday that patients may sue generic drugmakers under state law for failing to provide adequate warnings about their drugs’ potential side effects, extending a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court...

Most Property Reinsurance Rates Down at January Renewal As Capital Rebounds

Jan 10 2010 // Reinsurance rates across most lines of property catastrophe business declined at the Jan. 1, 2010 renewal, according to a briefing by Guy Carpenter & Co. LLC. Guy Carpenter’s World Catastrophe Rate on Line (ROL)...

Negotiations Falter at UN’s Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change

Jan 10 2010 // The United Nations’ Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change strained mightily and produced — a note. Co-authored by the United States and China as a last minute face saver, only five nations signed it. This...

N.Y. Fed Sought to Limit AIG Disclosures of Bank Payments

Jan 8 2010 // The New York Federal Reserve Bank under Timothy Geithner urged insurer AIG in late 2008 to limit disclosures about its payments to banks after getting a $180 billion government bailout, emails released Thursday showed. The...

Lockton Re Adds Executives in Kansas City and New York

Jan 8 2010 // Privately owned, independent reinsurance brokerage Lockton Re has expanded its presence in the United States with the appointments of three new executives – Larry Hunter-Blank, Joe Zuk and Scott D. Polkinghorne at...

Denton to Lead Argo Group’s U.S. Specialty Property Initiative

Jan 8 2010 // Argo Group International Holdings Ltd. announced that its San Antonio-based Excess and Surplus Lines (E&S) business segment has appointed Michael Denton as senior vice president of its specialty property...

Court Upholds $500 Million Award Against U.S. Life Insurance Co.

Jan 7 2010 // The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an arbitration award requiring U.S. Life Insurance Co. to pay reinsurance of more than $500 million to Superior National Insurance Companies, workers’ compensation...

Most Property Reinsurance Rates Down at January Renewal As Capital Rebounds

Jan 5 2010 // Reinsurance rates across most lines of property catastrophe business declined at the Jan. 1, 2010 renewal, according to a briefing by Guy Carpenter & Co., LLC. Guy Carpenter’s World Catastrophe Rate on Line...

Willis Completes Change in Country of Incorporation to Ireland

Jan 4 2010 // Willis Group Holdings announced that its reorganization has been completed and the new parent company of the Willis Group – known as Willis Group Holdings Public Limited Company (PLC) – is incorporated in...

U.S. Mine Deaths At Record Low

Jan 4 2010 // The number of miners killed on the job in the United States fell for a second straight year to 34, the fewest since officials began keeping records nearly a century ago. That was down from the previous low of 52 in...

Willis Re January Renewal Report Finds ‘Disciplined Softening’ in Market

Dec 31 2009 // “Orderly Softening” is the title of the latest edition of Willis Re’s “1st View.” The reinsurance division of Willis Group Holdings publishes the market review three times each year, examining...

U.S. Risk Opens New Reinsurance Broker Goss Re

Dec 31 2009 // U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, has expanded into the specialty reinsurance brokerage marketplace. Goss Reinsurance Brokers Inc. will operate as a specialty reinsurance broker for medium to small...

Captives Fuel Growth and Income for Agency Owners

Dec 30 2009 // In times like these, where the insurance industry is now in its fifth year of a soft market, the use of an agency captive insurance company can spark both revenue and profits to improve an agency’s overall financial...