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The world’s largest brokerage, Merrill Lynch, reported today a nearly $2 billion first-quarter loss and stated its plans to cut 4,000 jobs after suffering several billion dollars of write-downs for subprime mortgages and other risky assets.     The job cuts represent roughly 10 percent of Merrill Lynch’s staff, excluding financial advisers and investment associates.… Continue reading More Losses, Job Cuts Reported at Merrill Lynch

The European Commission is in discussions regarding whether the multi-trillion-euro insurance industry within the European Union should remain exempt from certain antitrust rules. The union’s current insurance block exemption (BER) will expire in just two years, and EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes is faced with deciding to extend the BER as the industry would like,… Continue reading European Commission Meets to Discuss Antitrust Rules

In California, two elderly women have been convicted of conspiracy to murder two homeless men, killed in staged hit-and-run accidents, to collect $2.8 million in insurance claims. Helen Golay, 77, was convicted of the first-degree murders of Kenneth McDavid, 50, in 2005 and Paul Vados, 73, in 1999. She was also convicted of the conspiracy… Continue reading Black Widows Found Guilty of Murder for Insurance Gain

The world’s second-largest reinsurer, Munich Re, announced higher claims will likely result in a drop in first-quarter profits. Chief Executive Officer Nikolaus von Bomhard says that while profits will be “not as good” as the amounts posted a year ago, he does forecasts a quarter he terms as “pleasing.” Munich Re posted net income of… Continue reading Munich Re Expects Drop in Profit

A key Congress member will today introduce legislation that calls for creating a federal office of insurance information. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, (D-PA), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, announced his plans during a hearing on insurance regulation before his panel yesterday. Before his announcement, Kanjorski… Continue reading More Insurance Legislation to Be Introduced on the Hill

New legislation entitled “Increasing Insurance Coverage Options for Consumers Act of 2008” has been introduced into Congress and will be discussed today in a series of hearings on insurance regulatory reform before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Insurance. The bill, aiming to revamp the federal Liability Risk Retention Act (LRRA) of… Continue reading Legislation Allowing RRGs to Write More Coverage Introduced into Congress

New York-based Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drugmaker, may find itself facing a class-action lawsuit levied by a number of health insurers charging that the company’s Warner-Lambert division improperly marketed the epilepsy drug Neurontin for unapproved uses, according to a U.S. district judge. The drug is sold generically under the name gabapentin by more than… Continue reading Drug Company May Be Facing Class Action Suit

According to an analysis released Tuesday by the Washington-based American Bankers Insurance Association. and Radnor, Pennsylvania-based consultant Michael White Associates, U.S. bank holding companies’ total insurance revenues increased to $43.7 billion in 2007, a 0.5% increase over 2006.    During 2007, 637 bank holding companies—68.1% of those reporting—earned some type of insurance-related revenue, compared with… Continue reading Bank ’07 Insurance Revenues Rise Slightly

Zurich Financial Services Group’s Schaumburg-based North American commercial property/casualty division announced that it will eliminate about 400 U.S. jobs in a move designed to cut costs.    The positions to be cut are primarily from the group that provides support services to the division and represent about 4 percent of the support staff, Zurich said.… Continue reading Zurich to Slash Jobs, Cut Costs

As people begin to look at what has caused the ongoing subprime mortgage crisis in the United States, they are also looking into the role of those at the corporate helm and their responsibility for the debacle, with the fallout possibly shocking the professional liability markets worldwide.     The global directors and officers market… Continue reading US Subprime Mess and the Worldwide Professional Liability Markets