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The largest U.S. mortgage-finance company, Fannie Mae, sliced its dividend after posting a fourth straight quarterly loss and said the worst housing slump since the Great Depression is deepening.    Fannie decreased 12 percent in early New York Stock Exchange trading after reporting a second-quarter loss of $2.51 a share. The common-stock dividend will be… Continue reading Fannie Mae Cuts Dividend, Says Housing Slump Worsening

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood announced that he has settled with State Farm over a lawsuit he filed against the insurer.    State Farm fulfilled obligations from a January 2007 agreement with the attorney general in state court which required State Farm to re-evaluate some claims following Hurricane Katrina and make new offers for no… Continue reading State Farm Settles with Mississippi Attorney General over Katrina Lawsuit

New York’s insurance regulator, Eric Dinallo, is telling auto insurers looking for state approval for rate increases to first consider that Americans are driving less for the first time since 1980, making the roads safer.     In response to the order, Geico, which collects about 20 percent of the state’s $10 billion in annual… Continue reading NY Regulator to Insurers: Before Hiking Raise Rates, Consider High Gas Prices, Americans Driving Less

The second-largest U.S. mortgage insurer, PMI Group Inc., posted a fourth consecutive quarterly loss as claims surged amid rising homeowner defaults.    The second-quarter net loss was $246.3 million, or $3.03 a share, compared with profit of $83.8 million, or 95 cents, a year earlier, the Walnut Creek, California-based insurer said today in a statement.… Continue reading PMI Posts Another Loss in Second Quarter

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. and AIX Holdings, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement through which The Hanover will purchase all of the stock of AIX Holdings.    The Windsor, Conn.-based AIX Holdings is a specialty property and casualty insurance carrier that focuses on underwriting and managing program business, utilizing… Continue reading Hanover Announces Purchase of AIX Holdings

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) commended Reps. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., and Paul Ryan, R-Wis., for their long-standing support of small insurance companies by introducing legislation that would improve their financial stability and allow them to better serve their policyholders.    A bill introduced in the House last week would increase the alternative… Continue reading NAMIC Commends Proposed Legislation to Support Small Insurers

As Congress rushed to adjourn for its August recess, an effort to push the Insurance Information Act (H.R. 5840) through the House fell short. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) went to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and registered her objection to the bill, asking that action on it be delayed. Rep. Speier is concerned that the… Continue reading As IIO Bill Is Delayed Until September, PIA Underscores Its Opposition

According to a recent survey by Dallas-based insurance exchange, MarketScout, insurance rates continue to decrease, indicating that rates were down 11% in July. MarketScout, which has more than 35,000 members, reported that nearly every coverage category associated with commercial insurance registered moderate rate decreases in July, compared with rates in July 2007. For the month… Continue reading MarketScout Survey Shows Falling Insurance Rates Continue

Executives at Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. said Wednesday that the company plans to cut 900 additional positions within its Marsh Inc. brokerage unit; this is in addition to more than 500 positions eliminated in the first half of 2008.     The layoff plan was announced on the heels of Marsh’s report of a… Continue reading Marsh to Cut More Jobs this Year

Colorado State University hurricane forecasters are now reporting that nine hurricanes will occur in this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, upping their count from what they predicted in June.     In a forecast released on Tuesday, the team also increased its estimate of intense hurricanes—those packing sustained winds of at least 111 miles per hour—to… Continue reading CO University Ups its Hurricane Prediction to Nine