Insurance Weekly News back issues from September 2008:
Olympic Athletes Require World Class Safeguards.
Sep 05, 2008 ... An injured star in the 2008 Olympics may cost his country a chance at the gold, but his injury may cost his pro team millions. Many athletes in the Beijing Olympics play professionally for teams around the world. These professional teams insure athletes for injuries not only for ...
Fitch Withdraws the Q-IFS Rating on Lincoln Memorial Life Insurance Company.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Fitch Ratings has withdrawn its quantitative insurer financial strength (Q-IFS) rating on Lincoln Memorial Life Insurance Company. The rating has been withdrawn as the company no longer meets Fitch's criteria to be eligible to receive a Q-IFS rating. For more information on ...
MetLife Declares Third Quarter 2008 Preferred Stock Dividends.
Sep 05, 2008 ... MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) announced that it has declared third quarter 2008 dividends of $0.2555555 per share on the company's floating rate non-cumulative preferred stock, Series A (NYSE: METPrA) and $0.4062500 per share on the company's 6.50% non-cumulative preferred stock, Series B ...
CNA's Risk Control Creates PureSafety CD To Minimize Clients Risks, Educate Employees.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Approximately 45% of construction-related injuries occur to workers with one year or less of construction experience. To help new construction workers better understand their work environments and prevent construction-related hazards, CNA has partnered with PureSafety - a leading provider ...
CAA Grows to 36 Members With Garrett Insurance.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Combined Agents of America, LLC (CAA) announced it has welcomed Garrett Insurance Agency, Inc. as its 36th member agency. CAA is a managing general agency (MGA) committed to strengthening the independent insurance agency system through profitable growth, quality and service for its member ...
HomeInsurance.com Study Shows: Homeowners Left in the Dark.
Sep 05, 2008 ... In a recent study performed by HomeInsurance.com, it was found that 54 percent of all homeowners surveyed admitted to know, "not much at all" about their home insurance policies. "The reason people need to understand their homeowners insurance is because it's the only way to ...
Donnie Wahlberg Says Life Insurance is a No-Brainer, Encourages Americans to Assess Their Needs.
Sep 05, 2008 ... This September, singer, actor and producer Donnie Wahlberg will urge millions of Americans to make sure their financial plans have the "right stuff." When he's not touring the country with the reunited New Kids on the Block, Wahlberg will serve as the front man for national Life Insurance ...
XL Insurance Names David J. Molitano to New Tech E&O Underwriting Position.
Sep 05, 2008 ... XL Insurance, XL Capital Ltd's (NYSE:XL) global insurance operations, announced the appointment of David J. Molitano to the new position of Technology Errors & Omissions (E&O) manager in its Select Professional underwriting group. Mr. Molitano reports to Donald Allard, XL Insurance's Chief ...
Insurance Consultancy TNC Management Group Appoints Two New Directors, Opens Chicago Office.
Sep 05, 2008 ... TNC Management Group, the strategy, project management, and analytics consulting firm focused on the insurance industry, announced the opening of its Chicago office and the hiring of Aamer Mumtaz as Director of the Midwest Region. The office, under Mr. Mumtaz's supervision, will be used as ...
CIGNA Named "Best Managed Health Care Organization" and "Best Employee Assistance Program" in Business Insurance Magazine's 2008 Readers Choice Awards.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Readers of Business Insurance Magazine have chosen CIGNA as offering the nation's best health plans and employee assistance program in 2008. Now in its fourth year, the Business Insurance Readers Choice Awards recognize the companies that the magazine's subscribers believe offer the best ...
American Farmers and Ranchers Insurance Delegation Tours Idaho Operations/Meets with AFR Agents.
Sep 05, 2008 ... American Farmers and Ranchers CEO and President Ray L. Wulf and members of the AFR Board of Directors are meeting with Idaho insurance agents, Insurance Department officials and other Idaho business leaders this week. "The Board and I are excited about the future of AFR in the ...
Walter Bell to Join Swiss Re as Chairman of Swiss Re America Holding Corporation.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Swiss Re announced the appointment of Walter A. Bell as Chairman of Swiss Re America Holding Corporation. Bell, whose appointment with Swiss Re is effective September 2, is currently Insurance Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Insurance, a position he has held since 2003. ...
Foremost and Bristol West Insurance Ready to Respond to Tropical Storm Fay; Claim Teams Mobilizing to Assist Customers.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Foremost Insurance Company is mobilizing their claim teams to be ready for Tropical Storm Fay as it heads toward the Florida Keys today. Thirty claim representatives are on standby and ready to be sent to the Florida Peninsula to assist customers with claims as necessary. Fay is ...
Emerging Insurance Analytics Leader EagleEye Analytics Announces Launch of Verisight.
Sep 05, 2008 ... EagleEye Analytics, an insurance solutions company that provides predictive analytics and information services to the property and casualty insurance industry, announced that it has launched Verisight, a new and innovative residential property underwriting solution. "Verisight ...
Integrity Capital Partners Ranked 2nd Fastest Growing Insurance Related Company in US by Inc. Magazine.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Integrity Capital Partners, leader in the secondary life insurance market, announced that it has been ranked the 2nd fastest growing insurance related company in the US by Inc. magazine. The company was also ranked 156 on the 2008 Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in America, ...
A.M. Best to Feature Best's Directory of Recommended Insurance Attorneys at DRI Conference.(Conference news)(Directory)
Sep 05, 2008 ... A.M. Best Co. will exhibit at booth #206 at the Defense Research Institute Annual Meeting, set for October 22-26 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, LA. Visitors to A.M. Best's booth can speak with company representatives about the benefits of listing in Best's Directory of ...
ASI Lloyds Offers Louisiana Investors and Seasonal Residents Property Insurance Coverage.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Today, ASI Lloyds (ASI), an admitted Louisiana insurer, launched an Investor, Rental, and Seasonal Dwelling policy for Louisiana properties in addition to its current Homeowners offering. ASI, who opened for business in Louisiana on April 30, 2008, now has two personal property products ...
Allied World Announces New Executive Vice President of U.S. Operations.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, Ltd (NYSE:AWH) announced that Michael Nuenke has joined Allied World as Executive Vice President of U.S. Operations. Mr. Nuenke will be responsible for compliance, controls, procedures and financial management for existing programs and related ...
FEMA Encourages Rhode Island Residents to Get Protected During an Already Historic Year of Flooding.
Sep 05, 2008 ... As peak hurricane season (August - October) begins, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stresses the importance, availability and affordability of flood insurance protection for residents of the Northeast. Floods are the most common natural disaster in the United States, and ...
Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc. CEO to Present at Investor Conference in New York on Wednesday, September 3, 2008.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:MIG) announced that the Company will be participating in the Keefe, Bruyette & Woods 2008 Investor Conference, to be held on September 3 and 4, 2008. The conference will be held at The Waldorf=Astoria in New York, located on Park Avenue between 49th ...
Aon Corporation Named Industry's Best Retail Broker, Reinsurance Broker, Employee Benefits Consultant by Business Insurance Readers.
Sep 05, 2008 ... In the categories of best retail brokerage, best employee benefits consulting firm and best reinsurance intermediary, readers of Business Insurance have named Aon Corporation (NYSE:AOC) the industry leader in service, value, quality and innovation. This is the third consecutive year in ...
Hagerty Announces the Results of its National Youth Model-Building Contest at the Famed Pebble Beach Classic Car Weekend.(Financial report)
Sep 05, 2008 ... Last night, McKeel Hagerty announced the winners of Hagerty's inaugural National Youth Model-Building Contest. The final judging took place during the company's annual cocktail party at The Lodge at Pebble Beach. The VIP judging panel consisted of McKeel Hagerty CEO of Hagerty Insurance, ...
In Preparation for Fay, Chubb Readies Its Property Manager Service.
Sep 05, 2008 ... As Tropical Storm Fay continues to make its way toward Southwestern Florida, the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies is preparing to activate its post-catastrophe inspection service for customers who have secondary or seasonal residences and may not be able to visit their homes immediately ...
Delphi Financial CEO to Present at KBW Insurance Conference.(Conference news)
Sep 05, 2008 ... Delphi Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:DFG) announced that Robert Rosenkranz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will present at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' 2008 Insurance Conference in New York on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 at 3:40 pm Eastern time. Investors may access a live ...
Get Streetwise About Your Auto Insurance.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Don't wait until you have an accident to find what the language in your auto insurance policy means, says Frank N. Darras, America's top insurance lawyer. Liability, comprehensive, collision, uninsured motorist coverage, deductibles, it's worse than learning a foreign language ....
North Carolina High School Athletic Association and Nationwide Insurance Continue Partnership to Highlight Teen Safety.
Sep 05, 2008 ... The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) and Nationwide Mutual Insurance announced that they are joining forces once again to promote smart teen driving through the Buckle Up for a Successful Season campaign. "Nationwide Insurance should be applauded for ...
OneShield Announces Plans for Office Expansion.
Sep 05, 2008 ... OneShield Inc, a leading policy administration system provider supporting all personal, commercial and specialty lines, announced the expansion of their US operations to include an office in Glastonbury Connecticut. In the past 18 months, OneShield has undergone exponential ...
GEICO Puts CAT Teams on Standby for Tropical Storm Fay.
Sep 05, 2008 ... GEICO's Catastrophe Response Teams (CAT) are on standby, ready to assist as Tropical Storm Fay makes its way through the Florida area and vehicles are damaged. George Rogers, GEICO's regional vice president for Florida operations, says that catastrophe information is available ...
This Report Examines Innovations in a Wide Array of Insurance Products in the Marketplace in the United States, 2008.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/c55417/innovations_in_the) has announced the addition of the "Innovations in the Insurance Marketplace in the United States 2008" report to their offering. This report examines innovations in a wide array of ...
Lockton Enhances Connecticut Commerical Insurance Staff.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Lockton Companies, the world's largest independently owned insurance broker, has expanded the capabilities of its Connecticut-based Commercial Insurance team with the addition of Orlando Rodriguez as Vice President, Unit Manager. Rodriguez brings to Lockton 14 years of ...
Unum Group to Present at the Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Insurance Conference.(Conference news)
Sep 05, 2008 ... Unum Group (NYSE: UNM) announced that Thomas R. Watjen, president and chief executive officer, will be representing the company at the Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Insurance Conference on Sept. 4, 2008, in New York City. Watjen is scheduled to speak at 8:45 a.m. (Eastern time) and ...
Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association TSSAA and Nationwide Insurance Continue Partnership to Highlight Teen Safety.
Sep 05, 2008 ... The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) and Nationwide Mutual Insurance announced that they are joining forces once again to promote smart teen driving through the Buckle Up for a Successful Season campaign. "On behalf of the Tennessee Secondary School ...
Video: Newest Esurance Customer Gets Animated.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Esurance, the direct-to-consumer personal auto insurance company, announced its second series of ads in the company's "Get Animated" campaign. Kate Kessler, of Palatine, Illinois, is the latest real customer to co-star with Esurance's animated icon, Erin Esurance. To view the ...
Allstate Selects Don Civgin as Chief Financial Officer.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Allstate (NYSE:ALL) announced it has selected Don Civgin, 47, as its senior vice president and chief financial officer. As CFO, Civgin will be responsible for aligning Allstate's finance and capital structures to the $24 billion corporation's business strategies. In addition, he will serve ...
FinCor Holdings Earns Place on Inc. Magazine's List of 5,000 Fastest-Growing Businesses in Nation for Second Consecutive Year.
Sep 05, 2008 ... FinCor Holdings Inc. (www.fincorholdings.com), a leader in the health care risk management and insurance industry, has made the Inc. 5,000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the United States for the second consecutive year. Inc. reported FinCor had an impressive three-year ...
MEGA Brands announces second quarter 2008 results, closing of CA$75 million financing and $9.3 million insurance recovery.(Financial report)
Sep 05, 2008 ... MEGA Brands Inc. (TSX: MB) (the "Corporation") announces its financial results for the second quarter and six-month periods ended June 30, 2008. Concurrently, the Corporation announces the closing of a private placement offering of senior unsecured convertible debentures for ...
Predator Contractors Roam Disaster Zones - Don't Become Their Prey.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Each year victims of natural disasters receive millions of dollars from their insurance companies to help them rebuild their homes and businesses. Unfortunately, those claim dollars often are the target of unscrupulous contractors who prey on these innocent victims. After a natural ...
Zogby Poll: New Jersey Wants To Dump Civil Unions for Marriage Equality.
Sep 05, 2008 ... A majority of New Jersey favors marriage for same-sex couples over civil unions -- and an even bigger majority is fine with public officials' changing the civil union law to marriage equality, according to a new statewide Zogby Poll commissioned by Garden State quality. By 59 ...
A.M. Best Special Report: Exposure to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Sizeable but Currently Manageable.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Concerns over the capital positions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that aid liquidity in the mortgage market, led in late July to a broad housing package in Congress. The law provides the Treasury Secretary with temporary authority to buy an ...
Karen Clark & Company Introduces KC Wind Damage Scale.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Karen Clark & Company, an independent provider of catastrophe risk management services, announced the introduction of the KC Wind Damage Scale(TM), a new tool for quickly assessing the likely insured damage from tropical cyclones. The scale is designed to give insurance ...
Zurich Integrated Products Begins Accepting New Business for Midwestern Businesses Generating Between $5 and $25 Million in Revenues.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Zurich North America Commercial announced that its new Zurich Integrated Products unit is accepting new business submissions from agents and brokers in several Midwestern states for commercial customers in the small-to-middle market segments. Zurich launched this new unit to fill a ...
OMG Announces Business Architecture Information Day.
Sep 05, 2008 ... The Object Management Group(TM) (OMG(TM)) announced that the Business Architecture Working Group at OMG will host a Business Architecture Information Day on September 23, 2008, co-located with the OMG Technical Meeting in Orlando, FL. For more information and to register, visit ...
RLI declares 129th consecutive dividend.
Sep 05, 2008 ... RLI Corp. (NYSE:RLI) - The RLI Corp. board of directors has declared a third quarter cash dividend of $0.25 per share, the same as the previous quarter. The dividend, which is payable on October 15, 2008 to shareholders of record as of September 30, 2008, will take RLI's cumulative return ...
United Steelworkers-Represented Mill Workers Ratify Five-Year Agreement With Packaging Corporation of America.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Members of the United Steelworkers Union (USW) ratified by an overwhelming margin a five-year master global agreement for economic and security with Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) that covers over 1,200 workers at paper mills in Valdosta, Ga., Counce, Tenn., Filer City, Mich., and ...
BenefitStreet Sells Subsidiary Schloss & Co.(Company overview)
Sep 05, 2008 ... BenefitStreet, Inc. announced it has completed the sale of its Westbury, NY-based subsidiary Schloss & Co. to the firm's founder and original owner, Eugene Schloss. Terms of the deal, which was finalized on August 15, were not disclosed. "The sale of Schloss & Co. is another key ...
Heritage Managing Agency plc Appoints New Chairman to Its Board of Directors.
Sep 05, 2008 ... The board of Heritage Managing Agency plc, a member of Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. (NasdaqGS: AGII), announced the appointment of David Spiller as its new chairman subject to receipt of Lloyd's and FSA approval. Mr. Spiller succeeds John Kavanaugh, whose term of ...
79 million US adults have medical bill problems or are paying off medical debt.(Survey)
Sep 05, 2008 ... The proportion of working-age Americans who have medical bill problems or who are paying off medical debt climbed from 34 percent to 41 percent between 2005 and 2007, bringing the total to 72 million, according to recent survey findings from The Commonwealth Fund. In addition, 7 million ...
New risk analysis data have been reported by scientists at Johns Hopkins University.
Sep 05, 2008 ... According to recent research from the United States, "A Bayesian forecasting model is developed to quantify uncertainty about the postflight state of a field-joint primary O-ring (not damaged or damaged), given the O-ring temperature at the time of launch of the space shuttle Challenger in ...
XL Insurance Names Harry E. Mahler to Head Global Product Management.
Sep 05, 2008 ... XL Insurance, XL Capital Ltd's (XL) global insurance operations, announced the appointment of Harry E. Mahler to a newly created post to direct Global Product Management. Mr. Mahler will be based in Hartford, reporting to XL Insurance's Chief Underwriting Officer John Glancy. ...
New risk analysis research from Bocconi University described.
Sep 05, 2008 ... "In this work, we study the effect of epistemic uncertainty in the ranking and categorization of elements of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) models. We show that, while in a deterministic setting a PSA element belongs to a given category univocally, in the presence of epistemic ...
Allstate Targets New and Higher Risk Roadies in Texas.
Sep 05, 2008 ... People drive 490 million miles on Texas roads every day. Up to a quarter of these drivers may have no insurance. Allstate is reaching out to this group of motorists with Allstate Blue, its seventh statewide product launch in 11 months. This new product provides what Allstate ...
Reports by C. Eitzinger and co-researchers describe recent advances in risk analysis.(Report)
Sep 05, 2008 ... According to recent research from Austria, "According to the asymmetry principle of trust, negative events decrease trust to a much higher extent than positive events increase trust. The study at hand intended to verify whether this notion of asymmetry holds true with respect to trust in ...
Research results from F. Mallor and co-authors update knowledge of risk analysis.
Sep 05, 2008 ... "In this article, we present a methodology to assess the risk incurred by a participant in an activity involving danger of injury. The lack of high-quality historical data for the case considered prevented us from constructing a sufficiently detailed statistical model," researchers in ...
Researchers from Technical University detail new studies and findings in the area of risk analysis.
Sep 05, 2008 ... "A critical aspect in establishing environmental policies lies in the proper assessment of the value of the resource being affected. Standard risk assessment analyses calculate the cost of pollution as consisting, solely, of the cost to remediate a site," scientists writing in the journal ...
Research from Ohio State University in the area of risk analysis published.
Sep 05, 2008 ... According to recent research from the United States, "Findings from previous studies of individual decision-making behavior predict that losses will loom larger than gains. It is less clear, however, if this loss aversion applies to the way in which individuals attribute value to the gains ...
Studies conducted at C.C. Jaeger et al on risk analysis recently published.
Sep 05, 2008 ... "The recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on the regulation of CO2 emissions from new motor vehicles((1)) shows the need for a robust methodology to evaluate the fraction of attributable risk from such emissions," researchers in Potsdam, Germany report. "The methodology ...
Studies from J.B. Chung and co-authors have provided new information about risk analysis.(Report)
Sep 05, 2008 ... "Like many other countries in the world, Korea has struggled to site a facility for radioactive waste for almost 30 years because of the strong opposition from local residents. Finally, in 2005, Gyeongju was established as the first Korean site for a radioactive waste facility," scientists ...
Researchers at Hasselt University publish new data on risk analysis.
Sep 05, 2008 ... "The alleviation of food-borne diseases caused by microbial pathogen remains a great concern in order to ensure the well-being of the general public. The relation between the ingested dose of organisms and the associated infection risk can be studied using dose-response models," scientists ...
Research in the area of risk analysis reported from R.L. Williams and colleagues.
Sep 05, 2008 ... According to recent research published in the journal Risk Analysis, "This article demonstrates statistical models to quantify the interaction between a carbamate insecticide and acetylcholinesterase. Carbamates are a class of chemicals that inhibit the activity of acetylcholinesterase in ...
Reports on risk analysis findings from University of North Carolina provide new insights.(Report)
Sep 05, 2008 ... "This article reports on a study to quantify expert beliefs about the explosion probability of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Some 1,976 sites at closed military bases in the United States are contaminated with UXO and are slated for cleanup, at an estimated cost of $15-140 billion," ...
New findings from L.A. Cox and co-researchers in the area of risk analysis described.
Sep 05, 2008 ... "Variance (or standard deviation) of return is widely used as a measure of risk in financial investment risk analysis applications, where mean-variance analysis is applied to calculate efficient frontiers and undominated portfolios," researchers in the United States report. ...
Simone Rejoins Aon Risk Services of Southern California.
Sep 05, 2008 ... Aon Risk Services of Southern California, a unit of Aon Corporation (NYSE:AOC), the world's leading provider of global risk management and consulting services, announced that Philip A. Simone, CPCU, has joined the firm as senior vice president for Aon Risk Services. He will be based in ...
Research results from University of South Carolina update understanding of risk analysis.
Sep 05, 2008 ... "The Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI), created by Cutter et al. (2003), examined the spatial patterns of social vulnerability to natural hazards at the county level in the United States in order to describe and understand the social burdens of risk. The purpose of this article is to ...
Nationwide Insurance Launches Switch and Save up to $500 Sweepstakes.
Sep 12, 2008 ... Nationwide Insurance announced the launch of the Switch and Save up to $500 Sweepstakes, a national promotion involving two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Kevin Harvick, which aims to help NASCAR fans save money on their car insurance by switching to Nationwide. "The ...
Defendant in Farmers Insurance Civil Lawsuit Sentenced in Parallel Criminal Case.
Sep 12, 2008 ... Farmers Insurance announced that in a plea agreement with the San Jose District Attorney's Office in a criminal prosecution on 17 counts of insurance fraud, Gia Van Tran, owner of Tommy's Auto Body, San Jose, was sentenced to three years prison time for violation of Penal Code section ...