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Florida Ratings Crisis: Fannie and Freddie Agree to Accept Citizens-as-Backstop Plan

It took more than four months, but Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have now agreed to accept an innovative but temporary solution to Florida’s property insurer rating predicament. The mortgage-buying giants on Wednesday sent letters to primary mortgage lenders, notifying …

Judge Dismisses 1,000 Shingles Vaccine Claims Against Merck for Lack of Evidence

After four years of multidistrict litigation, a federal judge in Pennsylvania has dismissed 1,189 lawsuits claiming the Zostavax shingles vaccine by drugmaker Merck did not do what it was supposed to do and instead caused them to suffer from shingles …

AM Best: Commercial Lines ‘Stable’ With a Close Eye on Inflation

As a whole, the outlook for the U.S. commercial lines segment continues to be stable, according to AM Best, but the industry rating agency had some warnings in its latest report. Rate changes at renewal remained strong, catastrophe losses have …

Collapse of FTX Provides ‘Sobering Warning’ for Insurers About Governance Failings

The collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX demonstrates the dangers of failures of corporate governance, according to a commentary published by AM Best. While FTX is not an insurance company, the series of events leading to its collapse should provide …

Credit Suisse Clears 1st Hurdle Toward $440M Greensill Lawsuit Against SoftBank

Credit Suisse Group AG cleared the first hurdle toward kick-starting a long-awaited $440 million lawsuit against SoftBank Group Corp. stemming from the spectacular collapse of finance firm Greensill Capital. A London judge said Wednesday that the Swiss lender’s supply chain …

AM Best Revises Outlooks to Negative for Wisconsin’s Badger Mutual

AM Best has revised the outlooks to negative from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” (Excellent) of Badger Mutual Insurance Company (Badger) (Milwaukee, WI). The Credit Ratings (ratings) …

Coast Guard Blames Pilot for Cargo Ship Grounding in Chesapeake Bay in March

A Coast Guard investigation into the grounding in March of a cargo ship in the Chesapeake Bay faulted the pilot tasked with helping the ship navigate the waterway, saying he relied too much on one piece of equipment to navigate …

Cosby, NBC, Studio Face New Sex Abuse Lawsuit Under New York’s Filing Extension

Five women who have long accused Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting them early in their careers have filed the latest lawsuit against the 85-year-old comedian — and this one calls NBCUniversal, a studio and a production company complicit in the …

Court Weighs Novel Issue of Crypto Ownership in Bankruptcy

A U.S. judge this week is considering for the first time the question of who owns bitcoin and other tokens in frozen accounts at a bankrupt digital asset exchange in a case that could shape customer protections in the cryptocurrency …

G-7’s Price Ceiling on Russia Oil Isn’t Low Enough to Hit Putin’s War Budget: Economists

The Group of Seven’s price ceiling on Russian oil exports isn’t low enough to take a big bite out of the Kremlin’s revenues next year and economists say even if it does lead to a drop in crude production, Vladimir …

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