Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Allied World U.S. Launches Construction Casualty Unit in New York
Jul 11 2012 // Switzerland-headquartered Allied World Assurance Company Holdings AG has expanded its U.S. casualty operations with the launch of a new construction casualty division. The new division will be run from Allied’s New...
Negative Rates and Currency Wars: Commentary by James Saft
Jul 11 2012 // It may be better to think of the outbreak of negative interest rates as simply another weapon in an ongoing and global low-grade currency war. It’s not that negative interest rates – under which investors pay...
Russian Lawmakers Ratify WTO Entry
Jul 11 2012 // Russian lawmakers voted on Tuesday to ratify accession to the World Trade Organization, bringing the world’s largest country into the club that sets global trade rules after a tortuous 18-year negotiating...
Many Renters Lack Insurance Despite Fear Over Fire Damage: Survey
Jul 11 2012 // As U.S. rental occupancy rates continue to rise, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a new Allstate survey has found that the number one concern for renters is fire damage. The survey also revealed that 54 percent of...
Policy Counts for States’ Property Insurers of Last Resort Grew 17% in 2011: III
Jul 10 2012 // A record-high 3.31 million residential and commercial policies were offered through state-run property insurers of last resort in the United States in 2011, a 17 percent increase over the previous record of 2.84 million in...
Guy Carp’s July 1 Renewals Report: ‘Plentiful Capacity;” Low Insured Losses
Jul 10 2012 // According to a report from Guy Carpenter the July first reinsurance renewals “took place against a backdrop of plentiful capacity,” as capital “has continued to strengthen through the second quarter of...
US Lawmaker Asks Tuvalu to Stop Reflagging Iran Oil Tankers
Jul 10 2012 // A prominent U.S. lawmaker has asked the small South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu to stop reflagging Iranian oil tankers and warned its government of the risks of running afoul of U.S. sanctions. The European Union...
Endurance Promotes Bigley to Senior VP, Head of U.S. Property Cat Reinsurance
Jul 10 2012 // Bermuda-based Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd has promoted David Bigley to senior vice president and head of U.S. Property Catastrophe Reinsurance. Endurance also announced that Rene Lamer and Stefan Beine, both senior...
June’s Severe Weather Losses Near $2 Billion in U.S.: Aon Benfield
Jul 10 2012 // U.S. severe weather insurance losses were close to $2 billion in June, according to Aon Benfield’s Global Catastrophe Report. Published by Aon’s Impact Forecasting, the report analyzes the natural disaster...
Midwest Heat Wave Eases But Drought Threatens Corn Crop
Jul 9 2012 // The withering U.S. corn crop is gaining some respite from a record heat wave this week but new weather forecasts offered scant signs of the rainfall it urgently needs to avoid the worst drought damage in nearly a quarter...
Corn Belt Fears Large Crop Loss from Heat Wave, Drought Conditions
Jul 9 2012 // Fears are rising that grain crops in the core of the U.S. Corn Belt – the top corn-producing region in the world – will suffer big losses that are already causing farmers to plow up fields in other regions of...
Ratings Recap: Kuwait Re, Ageas, Al Fajer Re, Generali (Notes)
Jul 6 2012 // A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of “a-” of Kuwait Reinsurance Company K.S.C. (Closed), but...
Storms Knock Out Power in East; Heat Threatens Corn Crop in Midwest
Jul 6 2012 // Six days after violent storms hit the eastern United States, the state of West Virginia was struggling to recover on Thursday, with nearly a third of electricity customers still without power and new storms putting more...
Judge Who Nixed Apple-Motorola Trial Questions Need for Software Patents
Jul 5 2012 // The U.S. judge who tossed out one of the biggest court cases in Apple Inc.’s smartphone technology battle is questioning whether patents should cover software or most other industries at all. Richard Posner, a...
Heat Wave Continues to Take Toll in Eastern States
Jul 5 2012 // About 1.3 million homes and businesses in the eastern United States remained without power amid a heat wave on Tuesday, and storm damage and high temperatures forced many Fourth of July celebrations to be canceled. Violent...
Kansas Governor, Insurance Chief at Odds on Health Care
Jul 2 2012 // Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said he wants to wait until after the presidential election to comply with a key provision of the federal health care overhaul upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, but the state’s Republican...
Republican Leaders Vow Healthcare Law Repeal
Jul 2 2012 // The two top Republicans in Congress vowed on Sunday to push ahead with efforts to repeal President Barack Obama’s healthcare law despite the Supreme Court upholding it, but the White House said it is time to stop...
P/C Industry Should Not Expect Traditional Hard Market Soon: Hartwig
Jul 2 2012 // Although insurance rates have been drifting upward in recent months, the property/casualty industry is unlikely to see a return to the traditional hard market this year or next, an insurance expert told reinsurance...
Declarations – South Central
Jul 2 2012 // He Owed Them ‘I owed it to each writer to consider them.” —U.S. District Judge David Hittner comments on the 350 letters he received from investors defrauded by former billionaire Allen Stanford that detailed...
Swiss Re Chief Economist Sees Stronger U.S. Economy by Year End
Jul 2 2012 // On the heels of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain the target fed funds rate at zero to 25 basis points Swiss Re’s Chief Economist, Kurt Karl, said: “The U.S. economy has been weak recently,...
