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Switzerland’s largest insurer, Zurich Financial Services Group, report that its third-quarter profit rose 12 percent, helped by lower taxes and rising premiums. In the first nine months, the company’s net income rose 25% to $4.2 billion.    Gross premiums in the Zurich, Switzerland-based insurance group’s general business segment moved up to $27.3 billion, a 4%… Continue reading Zurich Profits Rise in Third-Quarter

Eric Dinallo, New York’s Insurance Superintendent, has unveiled two proposals the past several weeks that has the industry a buzz. His first proposal involves a plan to reduce alien reinsurance collateral requirements; his other proposal is to overhaul the way insurance is regulated.       The Property Casualty Insurance Association of America opposes his collateral… Continue reading NY Insurance Regulator Faces Head-on Tough Industry Issues

French reinsurer Scor on Wednesday posted an increase in third-quarter net profit with earnings boosted by its takeover earlier this year of Swiss rival Converium. The increase had beat the average market forecast, with net profit more than doubling to 118 million euros ($172.5 million) from 53 million a year ago. Scor shares rose as… Continue reading Reinsurer Scor Posts Surge in Third-Quarter Profit

Franklin W. Nutter, president of the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA), criticized Congressional natural disaster legislation as raising false hopes about addressing the homeowner’s insurance market in areas prone to hurricanes, at the expense of U.S. taxpayers and disenfranchising the private marketplace.     In speaking out against proposals to create a federal catastrophe fund… Continue reading RAA Critical of Congressional Natural Disaster Leglislation

According to Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure-listing service, California, Ohio and Florida had more than two-thirds of the 25 cities with the nation’s highest foreclosure rates during the third quarter, as the credit crunch and falling home values hit homeowners. RealtyTrac’s chief executive James J. Saccacio said the number of filings at 77 of… Continue reading CA, OH, FL Lead Nation in Foreclosure Rates

Senators met on last night to discuss the federal terrorism insurance backstop extension, which set to expire at the end-year. The measure that was agreed upon last month by the Senate Banking Committee had become mired in budgetary concerns after the Congressional Budget Office estimated that tit would cost the federal government $5.1 billion over… Continue reading Senate Meets on TRIA Extension

Willis Group Holdings, the global insurance broker, has released an alert from the Company’s Financial Institutions (FI) practice, which looks at an issue that has dramatically impacted individuals and financial institutions around the world: the meltdown in the U.S. subprime mortgage marketplace. The Alert gives background on the situation, an explanation of what went wrong,… Continue reading Willis Group Publishes Subprime Report on Repercussions in the Insurance Market and Beyond

Wells Fargo announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rogers & Belding Insurance Agency, Inc., a single-office agency in El Paso, Texas, and its subsidiaries.     Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.    Rogers & Belding has served customers throughout the Texas region since 1933. The agency’s professional staff will… Continue reading Wells Fargo to Buy Rogers & Belding Insurance Agency, Inc

According to a spokesperson for the container ship that collided Nov. 7 with San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, spilling 58,000 gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay, the clean-up is fully insured for the cleanup through its insurer, Steamship Mutual Underwriters Association. The spokesman for Regal Stone Ltd. of Hong Kong, the owner of the Cosco… Continue reading Oil Spill Clean-up in CA Insured

The subprime-mortgage mess has affected another aspect of the financial industry as on-line brokerage firm E*Trade Financial Corp.’s shares fell 59% over concerns about shaky securities on its books. Although E*Trade’s main business is online investing, the company also runs a bank that makes and buys mortgage loans and invests in securities backed by mortgages.… Continue reading Subprime Debacle Contribute to E-Trade’s Losses