Latest USA Headlines

All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Texas Insurance Wholesalers Wary of Retail Agent Association MGA

Feb 23 2015 // In mid-November 2014, Texas’ largest association of independent retail insurance agents took the unprecedented step of acquiring a managing general agency as a way of providing its members greater access to...

10 Things to Know About Boats & Marinas

Feb 23 2015 // Recreational boating in 2013 accounted for 4,062 accidents that involved 560 deaths; 2,620 injuries; and approximately $39 million dollars of property damage. —United States Coast Guard (USCG) Compared to 2012, the...

Commercial Lines Softening to Continue in U.S. in 2015: Marsh

Feb 23 2015 // Competition among property/casualty insurance carriers and the flow of capital into the industry are continuing to drive down rates in most U.S. commercial lines and conditions are particularly favorable for clients with...

Business Moves

Feb 23 2015 // Majesco, AgileInsurance technology firm Majesco has completed the acquisition of the insurance business of Agile Technologies, a technology consulting firm with revenues of more than $9 million. Terms of the deal were not...

Ex-Oppenheimer Exec Admits to Role in Sinking Oklahoma Insurer

Feb 22 2015 // A former Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. executive pleaded guilty to participating in a fraud that the U.S. says led to the collapse of an Oklahoma insurance company.Allen Reichman, 55, told a Manhattan judge that he and former...

Gas Vapor Possible Factor in West Virginia Oil Train Fireball

Feb 20 2015 // Federal investigators will examine whether pressurized gas played a role in the massive blast that followed the derailment of a train carrying crude oil through West Virginia this week, the U.S. Transportation Department...

Google to Face Same Obstacles Selling Insurance Online, Says Overstock’s Byrne

Feb 20 2015 // Those now running comparison insurance shopping websites believe that they could be helped if Google enters into the business because the giant search engine could draw more attention to buying insurance online.However,...

SEC Filing: Duke Energy Expects to Settle Criminal Charges from Spill for $100M

Feb 20 2015 // Duke Energy expects to pay $100 million to settle an ongoing federal criminal investigation that began after a massive coal ash spill at a North Carolina plant.The details are contained in an earnings report filed with the...

FEMA in Talks to Settle Sandy Flood Insurance Claims

Feb 19 2015 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency is working to settle lawsuits by hundreds of Hurricane Sandy victims who challenged denials or alleged underpayments of flood insurance claims.Brad Kieserman, deputy associate...

Businesses Find Costs of Affordable Care Act No Big Deal

Feb 19 2015 // The biggest entitlement legislation in a generation is causing barely a ripple in corporate America.The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — otherwise known as Obamacare — is putting such a small dent...

Large Product Liability Awards Made Comeback in 2014

Feb 19 2015 // Huge jury verdicts against companies over fatal flaws in their products made a comeback last year, which may foretell more bad news for carmakers with defective parts.Absent for a decade, billion-dollar verdicts returned...

Report Challenges Eliminating Deductibility of Foreign Reinsurance Premiums

Feb 19 2015 // A report from the Tax Foundation challenges recent tax proposals including the White House’s 2015 budget that call for provisions to limit deductions of “legitimate business costs for tax purposes.”The...

Swiss Re Plans $1.1 Billion Share Buyback; Q4 Net Income Hit

Feb 19 2015 // Swiss Re AG, swimming in excess capital after several years of lower-than-expected disaster claims, plans to shift to share buybacks to return cash to investors after three years of paying a special dividend.The...

Fatal Work Injuries in N.Y. Metro Area Declined in 2013: BLS

Feb 18 2015 // Work-related fatal injuries in the New York metropolitan area (the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. Metropolitan Statistical Area) totaled 152 in 2013, according to preliminary data from the U.S....

Hilton Closes $1.95B Waldorf Astoria Sale to Anbang Insurance

Feb 18 2015 // Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. announced last week that it has closed its previously-announced sale of the Waldorf Astoria New York hotel to Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd. for $1.95 billion.As part of its...

Duke in Talks with U.S. on 2014 North Carolina Coal Ash Spill

Feb 18 2015 // Duke Energy Corp., the largest U.S. utility owner, is in settlement talks with the U.S. government over a coal ash spill in North Carolina’s Dan River. The company expects a proposed agreement could be reached in the...

Treasury Troubled by Smaller Firms Not Buying Cyber Insurance

Feb 18 2015 // While the overall cyber risk insurance market is growing tremendously, larger corporate clients have driven much of the expansion. Smaller companies, on the other hand, have not followed suit, Deputy U.S. Treasury...

Calls for Safety Upgrades Follow West Virginia Oil Train Crash

Feb 18 2015 // A fiery oil train derailment in West Virginia this week exposes lax safety standards and strengthens the case for tougher U.S. rules governing such shipments, safety advocates said on Tuesday.A 109-car delivery of crude...

US Assure Earns Industry Honors

Feb 18 2015 // Jacksonville, FL, February 18, 2015 – US Assure, a leading program administrator and insurance services provider with four decades of insurance success, recently won two prestigious industry honors—Zurich’s...

Court Rules BP Not Covered by Transocean’s $750M Insurance

Feb 17 2015 // BP Plc isn’t covered under Transocean Ltd.’s insurance policies for the undersea well blowout that caused the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the Texas Supreme Court said, blocking the oil company’s access...