Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Automakers Race to Be First With Driverless Cars
Jul 17 2014 // Nissan Motor Co. will introduce cars that park themselves by 2016, Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said, as the Japanese carmaker rushes to be among the first to offer automated driving. The feature, along with...
Fitch Forecasts Shrinking P/C Insurer Profits
Jul 17 2014 // Fitch Ratings is forecasting that 2014 will end up as the second consecutive year of underwriting profits for the property/casualty industry with modest increase in the combined ratio. But the results for 2014 won’t...
Computers at Growing Risk of Hijack by Botnet Viruses, U.S. Says
Jul 17 2014 // The threat posed by criminal hackers who use networks of secretly hijacked computers has increased “dramatically” over the past several years, a top U.S. Justice Department prosecutor testified Tuesday. Leslie...
Integro Appoints New U.S. Leadership in Boston, New York
Jul 16 2014 // Ruth KilduffInsurance brokerage and risk management firm Integro appointed Ruth Kilduff as chairman, and Anne Anderson as president of its United States operations, Integro USA. Both Kilduff and Anderson are Integro...
NAIC Roadshow to Tout State Regulation to U.S., Foreign Policymakers
Jul 16 2014 // The nation’s organization of state insurance regulators is launching an educational program to sell U.S. and foreign leaders and the public on the virtues of the 150-year old state-based insurance regulatory...
S&P Affirms Argo Group US & Operating Companies Ratings; Outlook Stable
Jul 16 2014 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on U.S.-based intermediary holding company Argo Group US Inc. (AGUS) and its U.S. operating subsidiaries to stable from negative. S&P also affirmed...
Miami Judge Nixes Ban on Lender Suits Against Fontainebleau Officers
Jul 15 2014 // The Fontainebleau Las Vegas LLC bankruptcy trustee may never win court approval for an $83.3 million settlement of lawsuits against former officers, directors and managers. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol in Miami...
Iowa Agent Gets 41 Months in Prison for Defrauding Insurance Companies
Jul 15 2014 // A former Des Moines, Iowa, insurance agent was sentenced to 41 months in prison for insurance fraud, the Iowa Insurance Division announced. Melissa Ilene Williams, of Dike, Iowa, also was ordered to pay restitution for...
Oil, Rail Firms Propose Phasing Out Old Tank Cars
Jul 15 2014 // The oil industry and the railroads that haul its crude have offered U.S. regulators a joint plan to phase out a type of older tank car tied to a spate of fiery accidents, according to two people familiar with the...
$1 Billion Highway Guardrail Trial Underway This Week
Jul 14 2014 // Trinity Industries Inc. will have 13 hours this week to fight allegations its highway guardrail systems are a deadly hazard that spear cars on impact, with as much as $1 billion at stake for the company. U.S. District...
Uber and Lyft Accelerate Cash Battle to Recruit Drivers
Jul 14 2014 // Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. are racing to recruit drivers to spur the growth of their ride- sharing businesses. Stefanie Leifer recently found herself caught in the middle. Leifer has worked for San...
Generali to Sell BSI Unit to BTG Pactual for $1.7 Billion
Jul 14 2014 // Assicurazioni Generali SpA agreed to sell its Swiss private-banking unit BSI Group to Grupo BTG Pactual for CHF1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) as Italy’s biggest insurer seeks to boost capital. Generali will receive...
Progressive Insurance Profit Down as Investment Gains Narrow
Jul 11 2014 // Progressive Corp., the fourth- largest U.S. car insurer, said second-quarter profit fell 9.6 percent as investment gains narrowed. Net income dropped to $293.4 million, or 49 cents a share, from $324.6 million, or 54...
Judge Allows $1B Malpractice Claim Against PwC Over MF Global Collapse
Jul 11 2014 // A federal judge on Wednesday rejected PricewaterhouseCoopers’ request to dismiss a $1 billion lawsuit accusing the auditor of providing bad accounting advice that contributed to the October 2011 collapse of MF Global...
S&P Green Lighting Climate Risk Mitigation
Jul 10 2014 // How a company manages its risk in the face of a changing global climate is slated to become an ever-greater factor in a company’s worth. Today’s business leaders, whether or not they believe in climate change,...
U.S. Appeals Court Revives WTC Cleanup Workers’ Health Claims
Jul 10 2014 // A federal appeals court in New York has revived claims by 211 cleanup workers who sought compensation for their alleged exposure to toxic contaminants in buildings near the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11, 2001,...
Pinpointing Hurricane Risk Home by Home
Jul 10 2014 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. Analysis Shows More Than 6.5 Million U.S. Homes Valued at Nearly $1.5 Trillion at Risk of Hurricane Storm Surge Damage This year, we’re ushering in the 2014...
No El Nino Yet But Chances Remain High: U.S. Climate Center
Jul 10 2014 // A weather-changing El Nino has yet to develop in the Pacific Ocean, according to government forecasters are who maintaining a “watch” initiated in March. The chances that the warming of the equatorial Pacific...
6.5 Million Homes from Maine to Texas at Risk for Storm Surge: CoreLogic
Jul 10 2014 // More than 6.5 million homes along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts are at risk of storm surge inundation, representing nearly $1.5 trillion in total potential reconstruction costs. More than $986 billion of that risk is...
Judge Dismisses Ex-Broker’s Privacy Claim Against Regulatory Website
Jul 10 2014 // A U.S. judge threw out a lawsuit against the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) by a former broker who alleged that disclosures on the regulator’s public database violated his privacy rights. The former...
