Latest USA Headlines

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

Business Moves

Jan 13 2014 // Brown & Brown, ICABrown & Brown Inc. has acquired certain assets of insurance claims adjusting firm ICA Inc., based in Charlotte, N.C. Terms were not disclosed. With annualized net revenues of approximately $13.2...

Construction Obstruction

Jan 13 2014 // For agents and brokers serving the contractors and subcontractors market that barely scraped by during the recession, the year 2013 brought some improvement and the new year 2014 promises more of the same – provided a...

People – Midwest

Jan 13 2014 // Waukesha, Wis.-based R&R Insurance Services Inc. has welcomed Josh Timm as account executive. Timm has more than 10 years of insurance industry experience.He has held multiple sales, marketing and service positions...

CGI Loses Obamacare Contract to Accenture: Report

Jan 10 2014 // CGI Group Inc., the company that built the federal Obamacare website, will be replaced next month when its contract with the U.S. government expires, a person familiar with the decision said.The Obama administration...

Bill Giving White House ‘Fast Track’ Trade Pact Authority Filed But Passage Uncertain

Jan 10 2014 // U.S. lawmakers on Thursday proposed a bill to give the White House power to fast-track international trade agreements as the United States gears up for a hectic year of trade negotiations.The bill would let the...

Pressure Mounts to Improve Oil-Rail Safety; Older Tank Cars in Canada Crash

Jan 10 2014 // Political pressure to quickly improve the safety of crude oil rail shipments intensified in Washington on Thursday, while Canadian officials said two of the cars involved in the latest fiery derailment were of an older...

China’s Fosun Buys 80% of Portugal’s Caixa Insurer for $1.36 Billion

Jan 10 2014 // China’s Fosun International Ltd. bought 80 percent of Portugal’s Caixa Geral de Depositos SA’s insurance unit for €1 billion ($1.36 billion), beating out U.S. buyout firm Apollo Management International...

Insurance M&A Trends That May Lead to ‘Perfect Storm’ in 2014

Jan 9 2014 // Encouraged by a vigorous period of insurance M&A activity in the second half of 2012, many in the industry had high expectations of robustness in 2013. It’s clear now that 2013 M&A activity did not reach the...

Senate Bill Seeks More Disclosure of Government Settlements with Firms

Jan 8 2014 // Two U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday unveiled a new bill that would force enforcement agencies to provide more details about deals to resolve corporate misconduct by U.S. companies.Senators Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts...

U.S. Crops Escaping Cold Snap with Little Damage

Jan 8 2014 // U.S. crops are escaping record- setting cold weather with little damage, while the arctic blast drove cattle prices to a record as animals struggle to gain weight.The coldest spots in Florida citrus groves were near...

Europe Hit by $2.25 B Economic Loss: Impact Forecasting December Cat Report

Jan 8 2014 // Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development center of excellence at Aon Benfield, has issued its monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report for December 2013. It highlights the impact on Europe of a series of...

India Refiners Delay Iran Oil Imports on Failure to Get Reinsurance

Jan 8 2014 // Indian Oil Corp. and two other state- run refiners said they will defer resuming purchases of Iranian crude by at least three months, having failed to get reinsurance for shipments after Europe said it would relax a...

Insurance Broker and Former Toms River, N.J., Mayor Get Prison Sentence

Jan 7 2014 // A New Jersey insurance broker and the former mayor of Toms River, N.J., were each sentenced Monday for separate schemes involving officials of Toms River and the former insurance broker for the Toms River regional school...

U.S. Sen. Schumer Seeks to Turn Up Heat on Railcar Safety

Jan 7 2014 // U.S. Senator Charles Schumer on Monday called for an overhaul of old rail tank cars used to carry crude oil after a spate of explosive derailments over the past year.The New York Democrat joined a growing number of...

Prudential Fraud Claims Against Goldman Sachs Over Securities Dismissed

Jan 7 2014 // Prudential Financial Inc. agreed to dismiss its claims that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. engaged in fraud and racketeering in selling $375 million of residential mortgage-backed securities, a court order shows.U.S. District...

Florida Oranges Dodge Bullet, Escape Damage From Freezing Temperatures

Jan 7 2014 // Orange groves in Florida, the world’s biggest grower after Brazil, escaped cold weather damage overnight as frigid air set records across the Midwest.The coldest spots in Florida citrus groves were near freezing, and...

Norwegian Air CEO to Meet Boeing over Dreamliner Problems

Jan 7 2014 // The Chief Executive of budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle, Bjoern Kjos, plans to meet Boeing management in the United States next week to discuss problems with its Dreamliner planes, Norwegian media reported on...

Munich Re’s Review of 2013 Cat Losses Focuses on Weather-Related Events

Jan 7 2014 // In its annual review of loss events in the past year, Munich Re emphasized the “exceptionally high losses from weather-related catastrophes in Europe and Supertyphoon Haiyan,” which, the report said,...

Appeals Court to Fast-Track BP’s Bid to Halt Gulf Oil Spill Payments

Jan 3 2014 // BP Plc’s bid to block economic-loss payments tied to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill unless the claims can be directly linked to the disaster won fast-track consideration by an appeals court.The London-based...

Doctors, Hospitals Expect Confusion as Obamacare Plans Begin

Jan 2 2014 // Hospitals and medical practices across the United States braced for confusion and administrative hassles as new insurance plans under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law took effect on Wednesday.More than 2...