Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Rating Agencies Lower AXA’s U.S. Reinsurance Companies on Restructuring Plans
Jan 14 2003 // Yesterday’s announcement by France’s AXA Group that it would significantly curtail reinsurance operations in the U.S. (See IJ Website Jan.13) – ceasing both its financial guaranty reinsurance activities...
N. C. Plane Crash Likely to Cost Tens of Millions
Jan 13 2003 // Experts say the crash of a US Airways commuter flight in North Carolina will likely cost the insurance industry tens of millions of dollars, according to the Charlotte Observer, but it will probably not affect...
AXA Restructures Reinsurance Activities, Will Reduce U.S. Business
Jan 13 2003 // Philippe Donnet, the head of AXA Corporate Solutions in Paris, announced some major changes in the division, including a retreat from the U.S. market for financial guarantees and curtailing U.S. reinsurance operations. AXA...
ACE INA to Support Philadelphia Dance Company
Jan 13 2003 // The Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO) announced that it has received financial support from the ACE Group of insurance and reinsurance companies through the ACE INA Foundation, which is based in the city. The...
A.M. Best to Close Toronto Office, Consolidate Canadian Operations in U.S.
Jan 13 2003 // A.M. Best Co. announced that it will consolidate all Canadian operations previously conducted by its Toronto office into its corporate headquarters in Oldwick, New Jersey in what it termed an effort to “streamline...
Swiss Re Says Continued Emphasis on Underwriting Essential in ’03
Jan 13 2003 // At Swiss Re’s Year-End Economic and Insurance Industry Review 2002 and Outlook 2003, held mid-December 2002 New York, various speakers discussed the precarious situation most of the world’s major economies and...
Oxley Forecasts Insurance Issues Awaiting the 108th Congress
Jan 13 2003 // For more than a year, the issue of federal backstop legislation for terrorism risk has dominated Congress’ attention when it comes to insurance industry issues. Now that the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act has been...
Best Assigns Ratings to Nationwide’s Shelf Registration
Jan 9 2003 // A.M. Best Co. announced that it has assigned indicative ratings of “a” senior debt, “a-” subordinated debt, “a-” preferred securities and “bbb+” preferred stock, to...
Munich Re Estimates 2002 Insured Losses from Catastrophes at $11.5 Billion
Dec 30 2002 // In a yearly review released today Munich Re calculates the overall economic losses from natural and man-made catastrophes in 2002 at a staggering $55 billion, compared to $35 billion last year. However, the world’s...
U.S.I. Holdings Promotes O’Neil and Jones
Dec 26 2002 // David L. Eslick, chairman, president and CEO of U.S.I. Holdings Corporation announced that the Board of Directors has named Thomas E. O’Neil senior vice president and COO and Jeffrey L. Jones senior vice resident and...
Class Action Settlements Need Finality, AIA Urges High Court
Dec 23 2002 // The American Insurance Association (AIA) today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that would allow settlements of class action lawsuits to be challenged even after appeals courts upheld the...
Skandia Agrees to Sell U.S. Operations to Prudential for $1.26 Billion
Dec 23 2002 // The Swedish-based Skandia Insurance Group has reached an agreement with Prudential Financial to sell its U.S. operations, American Skandia, for a total consideration of $1.265 billion, around 72 percent of its book value....
A.M. Best Affirms GCNA ‘A’ (Excellent) Rating, Upgrades U.S. Sub to ‘A-‘
Dec 20 2002 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of A (Excellent) of The Guarantee Company of North America, based in Montreal, and has upgraded the financial strength rating to A- (Excellent) from B+ (Very Good)...
Endurance Specialty Holdings Forms U.S. Subsidiary
Dec 20 2002 // Bermuda-based Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. announced the formation of a wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, Endurance Reinsurance Corporation of America (Endurance Re). The new company has been granted a license as a New...
Weak Investment Results Throw Curve at P/C Insurers’ Recovery at Nine-Month Mark
Dec 18 2002 // Thanks to strong premium growth and lower catastrophe losses, the U.S. property/casualty industry earned $9.3 billion in net income after taxes through nine-months 2002, in sharp contrast to the $2.6 billion net loss...
Fairfax to Restructure TIG Insurance
Dec 17 2002 // Canada’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. revealed plans on Monday to significantly restructure its Dallas-based subsidiary TIG Insurance. Plans call for a portion of the company’s business to be placed into...
NEW REPORT SAYS HAZARD PLANNING REDUCES INSURED LOSSES FROM DISASTERS
Dec 16 2002 // Communities that incorporate natural disasters in their land use planning experience fewer insured losses than those that do not, according to a new report presented at the Institute for Business & Home Safety’s...
ISSUES MAY IMPEDE OPEN BORDERS
Dec 16 2002 // According to the National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII), two key issues may create barriers at border crossings recently opened between the U.S. and Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement...
S&P’s SEES TROUBLE AHEAD
Dec 16 2002 // U.S. commercial-lines insurers are plagued by inadequate reserves, according to Standard & Poor’s just-published outlook for 2003, and bullish pricing cannot simply sweep the problem away. S&P’s...
Grabbing the Headlines in 2002
Dec 16 2002 // Who made the most “news” as opposed to the most “noise” in 2002? There were lots of candidates, but the ones we’ve selected usually made news because they faced problems or took initiatives...
