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Oil Slick Off Texas Coast Tied to Abandoned Platform in Gulf

Insurance Journal

Federal and state officials are developing plans to respond to an oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico tied to an abandoned platform at least eight miles off the Texas coast. State officials were notified about the apparent spill on …

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

People Moves: Venbrook’s Student Insurance Adds MacDonald; Conner Strong & Buckelew Names Leung

Insurance Journal

Student Insurance, a Venbrook subsidiary and part of Venbrook Benefits, headquartered in Los Angeles, named Jessica MacDonald vice president of sales. Based in Boston, MacDonald has over 20 years of experience specifically in student health. She most...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

ASU completes majority acquisition of Argo’s remaining surety business

Reinsurance News

Applied Surety Underwriters (ASU), a subsidiary of Applied Underwriters’ United Risk Division, has completed its acquisition of the majority of Argo’s remaining surety business. If you recall, back in April of 2024, it was confirmed th...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Trigger Warning: Cyber Policy Wordings to Impact Coverage for Tech Outage

Insurance Journal

Industry stakeholders continue to try to get a grasp of the implications from last week’s massive technology outage affecting motley industries around the world, but the theme of policy language is reoccurring for a cyber insurance industry not...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

CrowdStrike outage an opportunity for re/insurance market to react and improve: Aon

Reinsurance News

The July 19 global IT outage is an opportunity for the re/insurance market “to react by improving granularity on codifying policy information important for understanding portfolio accumulation risks stemming from certain coverage grants,” Aon anal...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Sompo’s Joe Gilliland joins Gallagher’s US crisis management team

Reinsurance News

Gallagher has appointed Sompo International’s Joe Gilliland as Executive Director within its US crisis management team. As Executive Director of the practice, Gilliland will work closely with Gallagher’s existing US team led by Bill Harrison...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

St. Pete Approves New Rays Ballpark and Redevelopment of Current Site

Insurance Journal

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays are on track to get a long-sought new ballpark following a city council vote Thursday on a major redevelopment project that also guarantees the team will stay where it is for …

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Treasury Warns That Anti-Woke Banking Laws Like Florida’s Are Security Risk

Insurance Journal

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department is warning that state laws that restrict banks from considering environmental, social and governance factors could harm efforts to address money laundering and terrorism financing. The Associated Press obtain...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

CrowdStrike event may impact product lines beyond cyber insurance: Guy Carpenter

Reinsurance News

Experts at the reinsurance broking arm of Marsh McLennan (MMC), Guy Carpenter, have said that while business interruption losses will be in scope for re/insurers, the magnitude of last week’s global IT outage suggests that lines of insurance...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Insurers Face Business Interruption Claims After Global Tech Outage

Carrier Management

Insurers Face Business Interruption Claims After Global Tech Outage Insurers could face a raft of bu...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Travelers Reverses Q2 Income Loss, Narrows Underwriting Loss

Carrier Management

Travelers Reverses Q2 Income Loss, Narr...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Study Urges Rethinking of Disaster Management in Era of Compounding Events

Carrier Management

Study Urges Rethinking of Disaster Management in Era of Compounding Events A new r...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Buffett’s PacifiCorp Suspected of Collusion by Wildfire Victims’ Law Firms

Insurance Journal

The law firms leading class-action litigation against PacifiCorp over the 2020 Labor Day weekend wildfires in Oregon want to examine whether the utility owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is colluding with other law firms to reach low...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Allstate, State Farm Sued Over $4 Billion Maui Fire Settlement

Insurance Journal

A half-dozen Maui wildfire victims sued a group of insurers, including State Farm and Allstate, accusing them of throwing a wrench into a tentative $4 billion deal to settle their claims. The lawsuit filed Friday in state court in Maui …

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

What Role Does Insurance Play in a Politically Charged Climate?

Insurance Journal

Law enforcement officials are continuing to investigate a July 13 shooting at a Butler, Pa. rally for former President Donald Trump’s 2024 election campaign. During the incident, the former president was injured, one spectator was killed, and t...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Rising medical costs and state competition challenges stability in US WC insurance: Swiss Re

Reinsurance News

Despite a decade of strong profitability, Laure Forgeron, Chief Underwriting Officer for Casualty at Swiss Re, a global reinsurance company, highlights emerging risks such as rising medical costs and intense competition in states like California,...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

People Moves: WTW’s Risk & Broking Unit Names Marsh’s Clarke as President, Garrard Appointed Chair;...

Insurance Journal

This edition of International People Moves details appointments at insurance broker WTW and the re/insurer Everest Group. A summary of these new hires follows here. WTW’s Risk & Broking Unit Names Marsh’s Clarke as President, as Garra...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Jesús Barbero named BHSI Head of Surety in Spain

Reinsurance News

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (BHSI), the insurance arm of Warren Buffett’s global re/insurance company, has entered the surety market in Spain. Jesús Barbero is to lead the new product line. Constanza Gállegos, Country Mana...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Allianz’s acquisition of Income Insurance unlikely to alter Singapore market, Fitch

Reinsurance News

Global insurer and asset manager Allianz’s proposed acquisition of Singapore’s Income Insurance Limited “should not materially change the competitive landscape in Singapore’s insurance market,” says Fitch Ratings. If you recall,...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Aspen Insurance names Tony Bishop Chief Data & Analytics Officer

Reinsurance News

Aspen Insurance has appointed Tony Bishop as Chief Data & Analytics Officer, where he will be responsible for the firm’s recently launched Data Labs and Architecture in addition to his current remit overseeing its Data and Analytics stra...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Somali Piracy Revives Sharply After Years of Quiet

Insurance Journal

Somali piracy — the scourge of merchant shipping more than a decade ago — has had a resurgence this year, the industry’s main observer of the crime said. There were eight acts of piracy and hijackings in the first half …

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Groupama issues €150 million Quercus Re DAC Cat bond

Reinsurance News

French mutual re/insurance company Groupama has issued a new Cat bond Aggregate to protect its climatic exposures in France, placed and structured by the Aon Securities team. The €150 million Quercus Re DAC Cat bond came into effect on July 19, it...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Without Backup Plans, Global IT Outages Will Happen Again

Insurance Journal

Elements of Friday’s global IT outage, which grounded planes and hit services from banking to healthcare, have occurred before and until more contingencies are built into networks, and organizations put better back-up plans in place, it will ha...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Mass IT outage to accelerate interest in cat-focused reinsurance: Howden Re

Reinsurance News

While the financial implications of last week’s significant IT outage, which was caused by an update to the CrowdStrike Falcon endpoint detection and response (EDR) tool, will take time to be understood, the event is expected to accelerate i...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Dark Fleet Caper Exposes Growing Risks in Crowded Malacca Strait

Insurance Journal

A collision that set two vessels ablaze off Singapore has underlined the growing risks in the crowded Straits of Malacca, as the dark fleet expands and lackluster Chinese demand leaves dozens of the tankers idling. The Ceres I, a 23-year-old …

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

CCRIF member payouts in Grenada reach $55.6m

Reinsurance News

In addition to the $44 million paid to the Government of Grenada by CCRIF SPC following damage from Hurricane Beryl, payouts to both the Grenada Electricity Services Limited and the National Water and Sewerage Authority under their policies have n...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Allianz Sees Damages Worth Tens of Millions for German Vineyards

Insurance Journal

Insurer Allianz SE expects to pay German winemakers tens of millions of euros in insurance claims this year after many vineyards lost their entire harvest to heavy frosts. While mild temperatures earlier in the year helped shoots to develop sooner, &...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Vulnerabilities in Non-Banks Leave Door Open to ‘Shocks’, G20 Watchdog Says

Insurance Journal

Patchy progress on implementing reforms to make money market funds and other types of “non banks” safer has left the global financial system vulnerable to more shocks, the G20’s risk watchdog said on Monday. The Financial Stability...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Global IT outage won’t have lasting impact on rated universe: Morningstar DBRS

Reinsurance News

Despite expecting the July 19 global IT outage to cause widespread disruption across a variety of corporate and financial sectors, including an influx of cyber business interruption claims, Morningstar DBRS does not anticipate a lasting impact on...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Fire-Hit Tanker Enters Malaysia Terminal Area After Being Detained by Coast Guard

Insurance Journal

A tanker that was involved in a collision near Singapore last week entered the area of Malaysia’s Bertam floating oil terminal on Monday morning after it was intercepted by local authorities on Sunday, shipping data from LSEG and Kpler showed....

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

WTW hires Marsh’s Lucy Clarke as President, Risk & Broking

Reinsurance News

WTW, the global insurance and reinsurance broker, has appointed industry veteran Lucy Clarke as president, Risk & Broking. Clarke joins the firm with 25 years of industry experience, which includes previous tenures working in leadership roles...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

AXA XL names Michelle Bailey as Head of Professional, Bermuda

Reinsurance News

AXA XL, the property & casualty (P&C) and specialty risk division of global insurer AXA, has appointed Michelle Bailey to the new role of Head of Professional, Bermuda. Bailey has more than two decades of industry experience, and will repo...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

US insured losses from a modern-day Carrington Event could reach $433bn, says WTW

Reinsurance News

If a solar storm similar to the “Carrington Event” were to occur today, US insurance industry losses could range anywhere between $71 billion to $433 billion, according to global insurance broker WTW. The Carrington Event, the most pow...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Artex completes integration of Bee Insurance Management team

Reinsurance News

Artex, Gallagher’s wholly-owned subsidiary for alternative risk and capital, has announced that the team from Malta-based Bee Insurance Management Ltd. has joined Artex EMEA. Bee Insurance has provided clients with a variety of services, inc...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

AM Best revises Kuwait Re’s outlook to positive

Reinsurance News

AM Best, the global credit rating agency, has revised the outlook to positive from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” (Excellent) of Kuwait Reinsurance Company K.S.C.P...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Microsoft: About 8.5M of Its Devices Affected by CrowdStrike-Related Outage

Insurance Journal

A global tech outage that was related to a software update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike affected nearly 8.5 million Microsoft devices, Microsoft said in a blog post on Saturday. “We currently estimate that CrowdStrike’s update affect...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Stellantis Recalls 24,000 Chrysler Minivans for Fire Risks, Urges Outdoor Parking

Insurance Journal

Stellantis on Thursday recalled about 24,000 ChryslerPacifica plug-in hybrid minivans worldwide because of fire risks, and urged owners to park outside, away from structures. and not to recharge the vehicles pending a software update. Stellantis said...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Two Russian Men Plead Guilty in LockBit Ransomware Attacks

Insurance Journal

Two Russian nationals pleaded guilty to their roles in ransomware attacks in the US, Asia, Europe and Africa for a notorious hacking gang known as LockBit. Ruslan Astamirov and Mikhail Vasiliev admitted they helped to deploy the ransomware variant, w...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Former Postal Worker Sentenced to Probation for Workers’ Compensation Fraud

Insurance Journal

\A former U.S. Postal Service employee in Delaware who defrauded taxpayers of almost $100,000 in workers’ compensation benefits has been sentenced to probation. Lakisha Hines was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in March to one count of...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024

Insurers Face Business Interruption Claims After Global Tech Outage

Insurance Journal

Insurers could face a raft of business interruption claims after a worldwide tech outage crippled industries from travel to finance on Friday, insurance industry experts said. A software update by global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike appeared to hav...

Posted: Jul 22, 2024