Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Auto Insurers Seek to Attract Latinos
Jun 16 2008 // Majority of Advertising Appearing in Spanish-Language Media Automobile insurers are hungering for the Hispanic market’s premium dollars, according to a report by Hispanic Market Weekly that analyzed marketing and...
Anti-Bias Laws Cover Retaliation Claims, U.S. Supreme Court Rules
Jun 16 2008 // Employees who complain of racial bias in the workplace and then face retaliation can sue under a post-Civil War-era law barring discrimination, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in late May. In a second similar decision, the...
Foreign Insurers Look at Potential Acquisitions in a Weakened U.S. and E.U.
Jun 16 2008 // Asian Insurers May Buy in U.S., E.U.; Bermuda Beefs Up Regulators; Zurich Favored for Acquisition Asian insurers may go on a buying spree. A number of companies, particularly China’s major players, are likely to...
S&P: U.S. Insurers Sitting with Excess Capital Face Rocky Road
Jun 16 2008 // U.S. insurers, in an industry awash in excess capital, face a stretch of turbulence that won’t soon abate, according to analysts at a recent Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services...
Fitch: U.S. P/C Industry Shifts To Modest Underwriting Loss In 2008
Jun 13 2008 // Fitch Ratings said that following a review of industry aggregate statutory financials for year-end 2007 and 1Q 2008, the rating agency has updated its full-year 2008 U.S. Property/Casualty industry forecast and now...
State Insurance Regulators Lend Conditional Support to Federal Office
Jun 13 2008 // State insurance commissioners told Congress that they could live with a proposed federal office of insurance information, particularly to target international issues, provided it does not preempt state consumer and...
U.S. Risk Promotes Schwartz, Hobbs
Jun 12 2008 // Dallas-based U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. named Richard T. Schwartz as general counsel of U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc., and J. Brian Hobbs as president of Professional Claims Managers Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of...
Regulator’s Speech Highlights Market Turmoil; Advantages of UK Regime
Jun 11 2008 // In a recent address Callum McCarthy, the Chairman of the UK’s Financial Services Authority, took stock of the current regulatory regime for financial services in the UK. “The turbulence in financial markets...
Food Safety Fears Rising in U.S. as Tomatoes Become Latest Scare
Jun 11 2008 // Whether it’s Salmonella in tomatoes or E. coli-tainted spinach, outbreaks of food-borne illness are scaring people away from some foods and shaking their confidence in U.S. food safety procedures. “Food in the...
U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Philip Morris $79M Damages Appeal
Jun 10 2008 // The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it would hear a Philip Morris USA appeal seeking to overturn a $79.5 million punitive damages award won by the widow of a longtime Oregon smoker. The justices agreed to review a...
Willis Sees Deal to Buy HRH Raising U.S. Revenue
Jun 9 2008 // Willis Group Holdings, the third largest global insurance broker, said Monday it sees its $2.1 billion deal for a rival broker boosting growth, especially in the United States. Willis said late Sunday it would buy...
U.S. Risk Relocates Lighthouse Programs; Mordarski Named Manager
Jun 6 2008 // U.S. Risk Underwriters, a subsidiary of U.S. Risk Insurance Group, Inc., will relocate four programs currently operated by the U.S. Risk subsidiary, Lighthouse Underwriters. The programs – ElderCare, StaffPak, PLPros...
U.S. Risk Names Siceloff a Senior Broker
Jun 6 2008 // U.S. Risk Insurance Group Inc. named Mark J. Siceloff as a senior broker with U.S Risk Brokers, the company’s wholesale excess and surplus lines insurance brokerage operations. He will be based in U.S. Risk’s...
Spain’s MAPFRE Completes Acquisition of U.S. Insurer Commerce
Jun 5 2008 // In a joint announcement Spain’s largest insurer, MAPFRE S.A. and The Massachusetts-based Commerce Group, Inc. announced that MAPFRE has completed its acquisition of Commerce. The parties reached agreement on a deal...
U.S. Lawmakers Question Regulators on Vehicle Roof Strength Rules
Jun 5 2008 // U.S. auto safety regulators Wednesday told lawmakers they need more time to develop a tougher standard for vehicle roofs to ensure that adding more weight and headroom would not cause more vehicles to roll over. Some...
Analysts: U.S. Insurers Sitting with Excess Capital Face Rocky Road
Jun 5 2008 // U.S. insurers, in an industry awash in excess capital, face a stretch of turbulence that won’t soon abate, according to analysts at a Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services conference this...
RMS Launches New U.S. Hurricane Loss Index
Jun 3 2008 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has launched a new index for assessing insured industry losses from U.S. hurricanes. Named the Paradex U.S. Hurricane, it combines actual wind speeds at...
U.S. Class Action King Weiss Sentenced to 30 Months in Jail
Jun 3 2008 // Melvyn Weiss, who built the New York law firm that turned class action litigation into a multibillion-dollar business, was sentenced Monday to 30 months in federal prison after admitting to paying secret kickbacks to...
U.S. Risk Names Stanislaw to Manage StaffPak Program
Jun 3 2008 // Managing general agency and surplus lines wholesaler U.S. Risk Insurance Group, Inc. has named Peter Stanislaw as program manager of StaffPak, an insurance package for the staffing industry. StaffPak is offered through...
Asian Insurers Expected to Seize on Credit Crunch as Opening to Buy in U.S. and Europe
Jun 3 2008 // Asian insurers, particularly China’s major players, are likely seize the credit crunch as an opportunity to snap up assets in Europe and the United States, senior insurance figures said on Tuesday. “Asian...
