Latest USA Headlines

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

House Subcommittee Moves Key Federal Insurance Regulation Bills

Aug 21 2008 // By Andrea WellsIn a busy month for insurance issues on Capitol Hill, the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises marked up bills creating a federal...

Soft Market Hammers Commercial Carriers’ Stocks; M&As Active in Personal Lines Sector

Aug 21 2008 // Stock Prices: The soft market continues to have an effect on insurers’ stock prices. With the inability of insurers to grow in the current market, commercial insurers’ stocks are still falling, down 18 percent...

Ratings Roundup: Catlin (US), R.V.I., Companion, AmTrust

Aug 19 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its ‘A-‘ long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings to Catlin Speciality Insurance Co. (CSCI) and Catlin Insurance Co. Inc....

U.S. Doctors Say Lawsuits Help Guarantee Drug Safety

Aug 18 2008 // Top doctors who run one of the most influential U.S. medical journals are giving the U.S. Supreme Court some unsolicited legal advice about a major case.Lawsuits can serve as “a vital deterrent” and protect...

U.S. Insurers’ Exposure to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Manageable

Aug 18 2008 // The U.S. insurance industry’s exposure to securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that aid liquidity in the mortgage market, is substantial for a handful of...

‘Dramatic’ WTO Farm Deal Close If Talks ‘Can Be Revived’

Aug 14 2008 // A world trade deal that dramatically opens livestock markets in the European Union, Canada and Japan is within grasp, if talks that collapsed last month in Geneva can be revived.U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab...

PMI Group to Sell Australian Operations to QBE

Aug 14 2008 // The California-based PMI Group announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Australian mortgage insurance subsidiary and related Australian holding company to QBE Insurance Group Limited,...

S&P: ING Ratings, Outlook ‘Unchanged’ by Q2 Profit Decline

Aug 14 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that its ratings and outlooks on ING Groep N.V. (currently ‘AA-‘ – Stable – ‘A-1+’) and related entities are unchanged following...

Texas-based American National to Challenge Utah Jury Verdict

Aug 14 2008 // Galveston, Texas-based American National Insurance Company and its subsidiaries American National Property and Casualty Company and American National General Insurance Company plan to fight a jury verdict in a case related...

S&P: U.S. Commercial Lines Outlook Revised To Negative From Stable

Aug 14 2008 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services revised its outlook on the U.S. commercial lines property/casualty insurance sector to negative from stable.Standard & Poor’s credit analyst John Iten explained that...

RMS Launches Winter, Convective Storm Models for U.S., Canada

Aug 14 2008 // Newark, Calif.-based Risk Management Solutions (RMS) launched new Winterstorm and Severe Convective Storm Models to enhance its suite of catastrophe risk models for the U.S. and Canada. Built to satisfy the needs of both...

Swiss Re Launches U.S. Agency Umbrella E&O Coverage

Aug 13 2008 // Swiss Re’s Commercial Insurance group has introduced Errors and Omissions (E&O) agency umbrella coverage in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.“The insurance policy offering was developed in...

Harris County D.A. Considers Criminal Charges Against Bus Owner

Aug 13 2008 // Criminal charges were being considered against a Houston motorcoach owner and president whose bus crashed in north Texas killing 17 Vietnamese Catholics on their way to a religious festival in Missouri, according to a...

Catlin Posts 21% Decline in First Half Net Income; GPW Top $2 Billion

Aug 11 2008 // The Bermuda-based Catlin Group Limited posted mixed financial results for the first half of 2008. While gross written premiums were up four percent to $2.075 billion, net income before taxes for the period declined by 21...

Whittington Completes Sale of Americas Insurance to ISG Acquisition

Aug 11 2008 // The Singapore-based Whittington Group announced that it has completed the sale of Americas Insurance Company, its non-core US insurer in run-off, to ISG Acquisition II LLC, the specialist acquisition arm of Independent...

Argo Group Bucks the Trend as Q2, H1 Net Income Increases

Aug 11 2008 // The Bermuda-based Argo International Holdings, Ltd. (The successor to Argonaut Insurance) announced comparatively good financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2008. Net income for the second quarter...

Kingsway’s Q2 Net Income Rebounds from Q1 Loss to $6.3 Million

Aug 11 2008 // Kingsway Financial Services Inc. announced financial results (in U.S. dollars) for the second quarter ended June 30, 2008 that rebounded from a first quarter loss. The Company reported net income of $6.3 million or $0.11...

FM Global: Companies Exposed but Underprepared for Natural Disasters

Aug 8 2008 // Most of the largest corporations in North America are exposed to natural disasters, but many are not well-prepared for such catastrophes and are not overly concerned about the potential business impact, according to a new...

Credit Crunch Cripples European Insurers’ Profits

Aug 7 2008 // The global credit crisis tore a hole in the profits of some of Europe’s top insurers on Thursday, with AXA and Aegon both posting lower earnings.Share reactions were mixed across Europe. The DJ Stoxx European Banking...

Feds Charge 11 in Biggest-Ever Identity Theft Case

Aug 7 2008 // Authorities in Boston have cracked what is believed to be the largest federal hacking and identity theft case ever, involving the theft and sale of more than 41 million credit and debit card numbers.Eleven people,...