Author: Farkas Laura

The New York Post reported today that insurance behemoth American International Group Inc. (AIG) is considering forming a separate company to hold risky credit assets that have caused the carrier record losses in the past three quarters. According to the Post, AIG is working with investment bank JPMorgan Chase to arrange the structure of the… Continue reading AIG Looking into Forming New Company to Park Risky Assets

Ike became a Category 4 hurricane in the open Atlantic yesterday as it gained strength rapidly, and Tropical Storm Hanna intensified to a lesser degree as it swirled over the Bahamas toward the southeast U.S. Coast.     Growing in the space of a few hours from a tropical storm to an intense Category 4… Continue reading Ike Gains Steam as Category 4 Hurricane; Hanna Heads for the U.S.

As Gustav faded, Hanna, the first of three new tropical storms, is making its way up the Atlantic and is expected to make landfall somewhere from Florida to North Carolina before Friday evening, forecasters said.     Hanna could come ashore as a Category 1 hurricane, with winds of 80 to 85 mph, according to… Continue reading Following Gustav a Trio of Storms to Hit

A group of 20 U.S. property/casualty reinsurers posted a $72.8 billion policyholder surplus for the first six months of 2008, compared with $77.3 billion posted by a similar group for the same period in 2007 according to the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA). The reinsurers wrote $12.7 billion of net premiums in the first half… Continue reading Reinsurer Policyholder Surplus Down from Same Period in ’07

Workplace homicides and assaults are continuing a downward trend according to a new study released by NCCI Holdings Inc. Homicides dropped 25% between 2000 and 2006, and are down 61% since 1992.    Workplace assaults have been more volatile on a year-to-year basis. Assaults that resulted in lost work time injuries declined 18% in 2005… Continue reading NCCI Study Shows Less Workplace Violence

A federal appeals court after years of litigation has squashed allegations that some of the nation’s biggest insurers discriminated against minority neighborhoods in Kansas City. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month upheld a lower court finding that the plaintiffs’ claims were pre-empted by the McCarran-Ferguson Act, a federal law that leaves regulation… Continue reading Kansas City Appeals Court Rejects Redlining Suit

With Hurricane Gustav slamming into the Gulf Coast on Monday, the Republican National Convention has undergone several changes and official events were canceled. But lobbying, even for the property insurance industry, is continuing.     “Obviously, the atmosphere here is much more subdued because of the landfall of the hurricane,” he said of St. Paul… Continue reading Property Insurers Lobbying at Republican Convention

Oakland, California-based modeler EQECAT Inc. has lowered its damage estimate for Hurricane Gustav after the storm was weaker than anticipated. On Tuesday, it cut its estimate of insured losses onshore to a range of $3 billion to $7 billion; previous loss estimates were between $6 billion and $10 billion.    Hurricane Gustav weakened from a… Continue reading EQECAT Lowers Gustav Damage Estimate

On Tuesday Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. stated that it had no plans to outbid rival Aon Corp. for London-based reinsurance brokerage Benfield Group as the media had reported. “We have no interest in making a counter bid for Benfield,” a spokeswoman for New York-based MMC said. Chicago-based Aon last month announced that it will… Continue reading Marsh Says It Has No Plans to Bid for the Benfield Group

In 32 states, drunken driving deaths fell in 2007, however the number of alcohol-related fatalities among motorcycle riders climbed in half the states last year according to the government.    Nearly 13,000 people were killed in crashes in which the driver had a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher, above the legal limit in… Continue reading Drunk Driving Deaths in ’07 Fell in Thirty-Two States