Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
People
Oct 19 2009 // Unisource Program Administrators (UPA), a workers’ compensation wholesaler headquartered in Oklahoma City, has expanded services to all 50 states. In addition, the company named Barbara Drollinger, a 20-year...
Strong Earthquakes Abroad Could Weaken Geologic Faults in U.S.
Oct 19 2009 // Powerful earthquakes may be a trigger for weakening geologic faults a half a world away, U.S. researchers said this week in a study that points to new ways to predict earthquakes. “Earthquakes are caused when a fault...
Manulife Buys Pottruff & Smith; Now Canada’s No. 2 Travel Insurer
Oct 16 2009 // Manulife Financial, Canada’s biggest life insurer, announced on Thursday that it has acquired Pottruff & Smith Travel Insurance Brokers Inc. in an all cash deal that will make it Canada’s No. 2 travel...
What ‘Plan B’ for Copenhagen Climate Change Conference Might Look Like
Oct 16 2009 // Negotiators are already talking about “plan B” for the Copenhagen climate talks in December, with uncertainty growing that nations will be able to agree in time on a tougher and broader U.N. climate pact. While...
Best Affirms Ratings for Northbridge (Fairfax) Operating Companies
Oct 16 2009 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength ratings (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a” of Markel Insurance Company of Canada, Federated Insurance Company of...
Ratings Recap: AMI, HDI-Gerling
Oct 15 2009 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A+’ (Superior) and issuer credit rating of “aa-” of New Zealand’s AMI Insurance Limited, both with stable outlooks. The ratings are...
Senate Panel Passes Healthcare Bill
Oct 14 2009 // A key U.S. Senate committee endorsed a sweeping healthcare overhaul Tuesday, gaining the support of an influential Republican and delivering President Barack Obama a victory on his top domestic priority. The...
U.S. Issues Rules to Protect Patients’ Genetic Information
Oct 14 2009 // Individuals’ genetic information should have greater protections through new regulations that have been issued by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and the Treasury. The rules–...
Insurers Happy About Quiet Atlantic Hurricane Season
Oct 14 2009 // Thanks to El Nino, the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season has been the quietest in more than a decade, offering a reprieve for residents in the danger zone and a chance for insurance firms to refill depleted coffers. With the...
Willis Re in Global Reorganization
Oct 14 2009 // Willis Re, the reinsurance arm of global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Limited, has announced a series of management changes and a new organizational structure “designed to respond to the evolving...
US Needs ‘Better Offers’ on Services from Doha Round Says Trade Rep
Oct 13 2009 // The United States cannot agree to a deal in the Doha round of world trade talks until other countries make better offers to open their markets to services trade, the top U.S. trade official said Tuesday. “We know...
Successful IPO by Insurance Firm Verisk Analytics Stirs Hopes for More
Oct 8 2009 // Verisk Analytics Inc., an insurance services firm that owns ISO and is partly owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, soared in its first day of trading Wednesday, and stirred hopes that the appetite for such...
U.S. RE Receives Brazil License
Oct 8 2009 // The U.S. RE Companies have been approved by the Brazilian regulatory authorities to launch the Company’s new subsidiary, U.S. RE Do Brasil Corretora de Resseguros, LTDA, as a reinsurance broker with offices in Sao...
U.S. RE in Alliance with Italy’s Sfrorni
Oct 8 2009 // New York-based U.S. RE Corporation, the international reinsurance brokerage firm, has formed a strategic alliance with Bruno Sforni S.p.A, an insurance and reinsurance broker located in Milan, Italy. The Company followed...
ISO Parent Verisk Analytics Raises $1.88 Billion in IPO
Oct 7 2009 // Insurance risk specialist Verisk Analytics Inc. raised $1.88 billion Tuesday in the biggest IPO by a U.S. company since March 2008 after pricing its shares at a higher-than-expected $22 each. The sale of the shares, which...
U.S. Supreme Court Justices Face High-Profile Cases As New Term Opens
Oct 6 2009 // Questions about securities fraud, Sarbanes-Oxley, financial executives’ compensation and football merchandise are among the high-profile cases that the Supreme Court will take up in its term that began this week:...
People
Oct 5 2009 // W. R. Berkley Corp. has appointed Carol J. LaPunzina as senior vice president of human resources. In her newly established position, she will oversee human resource operations and personnel development for the company....
People
Oct 5 2009 // Jim Newberry, assistant vice president and risk control manager of Island Insurance in Honolulu, has received the Risk Management/Insurance Practice Specialty Safety Professional of the Year Award. The award is from the...
Business Moves
Oct 5 2009 // Willis, Ireland Willis Group Holdings Limited wants to change the company’s place of incorporation from Bermuda to Ireland. Shareholders will vote on the measure at a meeting in three or four months. The change also...
Health Rates Rose Fast in West
Oct 5 2009 // Family health care premiums rose an estimated three to five times faster than earnings for workers in Western states from 2000 through 2009, according to a report issued by the consumer health organization Families USA. In...
