Insurance Journal

QBE North America CEO Leaving; Wood Named Interim

QBE Insurance Group announced that Todd Jones, CEO of QBE North America, is leaving the organization at the end of this month. After nearly four years with QBE, Jones “has decided that now is the right time to leave QBE,” …

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Tile, Amazon Face Lawsuit From Stalking Victims Over Tracking Device Product

A tracking device called Tile may be effective in preventing its user from losing keys, a dog, or a purse, but it is also a tool used by stalkers, according to two women who have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit …

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

AXA’s Asset Management Unit to Cut as Many as 90 Roles in Revamp

AXA Investment Managers is eliminating as many as 90 roles as the French firm aims to streamline part of the organization. The layoffs at AXA SA’s asset management arm, which had 2,600 employees at the end of 2022, will be …

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Orion180, Headquartered in Florida, Now Approved to Do Business in the State

Another insurance firm is expanding into Florida, the state in which it has had its headquarters for several years. Orion180, founded in 2016, with corporate offices in Melbourne, Florida, has been approved by state regulators as a property and casua...

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

China Fines US Firm Mintz $1.5M for ‘Unapproved’ Work, After Raiding its Beijing Office

China fined U.S. firm Mintz Group about $1.5 million for doing “unapproved statistical work,” said a Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics notice, after a raid of its Beijing office sparked worries about China’s openness to foreign...

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Cryptoassets Increase Financial Risks in Developing Economies, Study Says

Cryptoassets, peddled as the future of finance, have not only failed to deliver on their promise but are themselves adding to financial risks in developing economies, according to a paper from the Bank for International Settlements. “Cryptoasse...

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

San Francisco Archdiocese Declares Bankruptcy Amid Hundreds of Sex Abuse Lawsuits

San Francisco’s Roman Catholic archdiocese filed for bankruptcy this week, saying the filing is necessary to manage more than 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by church officials. The Chapter 11 protection filing will stop all legal act...

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Munich Re Again Tops List of 50 Largest Reinsurers With Swiss Re Ranked No. 2: AM Best

Munich Re holds onto the top spot in AM Best’s annual ranking of the top 50 global reinsurance groups in 2022, with Swiss Re coming in as the second-largest reinsurer — for the third year in a row. These two …

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Munich Re Again Tops List of 50 Largest Reinsurers With Swiss Re at No. 2: AM Best

Munich Re holds onto the top spot in AM Best’s annual ranking of the top 50 global reinsurance groups for 2022, with Swiss Re coming in as the second-largest reinsurer — for the third year in a row. These two …

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Climate Change Doubled Odds of Eastern Canada’s Extreme Wildfire Weather: Research

This summer’s wildfires in eastern Canada have raged so intensely that smoke from them darkened skies as far away as Portugal. From the outset, scientists said that Canada’s historic wildfire season bore the hallmarks of climate change. N...

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

More Than One-Third of Desks Globally Sit Empty All Week Long: Report

More than one-third of desks in offices around the globe are unoccupied all week, according to a new report, raising questions about how well workplaces are currently designed as companies struggle to get employees back into them. The report, from &#...

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Insurers Raise Premiums for Black Sea Oil Tankers as Tensions Mount: Traders

Insurance companies have notified charterers of ships operating in Russia’s Black Sea ports of an increase in additional payments known as “war risk premiums,” four traders said. A war risk premium was added to the common insurance...

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Small Businesses Give Record-High Ratings to Commercial Insurers: JD Power

Small businesses across the U.S. are increasingly satisfied with the products and services they receive from their commercial insurance providers. According to the 11th annual JD Power 2023 U.S. Small Commercial Insurance Study, overall customer sati...

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Lawsuit Says Gannett Discriminates Against White Workers to Meet Diversity Goals

Gannett Co Inc., the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, is facing a lawsuit claiming its efforts to diversify newsrooms led to discrimination against white workers. The proposed class action was filed in Virginia federal court on Friday by five curren...

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Deepfake Imposter Scams Are Driving a New Wave of Fraud

Computer-generated children’s voices so realistic they fool their own parents. Masks created with photos from social media that can penetrate a system protected by face ID. They sound like the stuff of science fiction, but these techniques are...

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Virginia Judge Says Medical Malpractice Law Does Not Apply to Sexual Abuse Claims

Most of the claims of sexual abuse and other mistreatment made in a lawsuit by dozens of former patients of a Virginia children`s hospital can move forward, a judge has ruled, rejecting arguments that many of the allegations were time-limited …

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Grant Extended to Fire-Harden Homes, Businesses Damaged by Oregon Wildfires

The Oregon Building Codes Division has partnered with counties on a grant to help homeowners and businesses rebuild after the 2020 and 2021 Oregon wildfires. People who own a home or business damaged or destroyed by the 2020 or 2021 …

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Weather Service Confirms Five Tornadoes Hit New England Last Week

The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado touched down in Connecticut last Friday, joining a spate of four other twisters detected Friday in New England, including three in Massachusetts and another in Rhode Island. The Connecticut tornad...

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Cause Still Unknown in Pennsylvania House Explosion That Killed 6

Three houses at the center of a recent explosion near Pittsburgh that killed six people will need to be torn down and 10 others are not currently inhabitable, county officials said over the weekend. The Aug. 12 blast in Plum …

Posted: Aug 23, 2023

Activist Behind Affirmative Action Cases Sues Major Law Firms

A group founded by the conservative activist who led the successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge to the consideration of race in college admissions on Tuesday sued two major U.S. law firms over fellowships they offer to racial minorities and LGBT &#8...

Posted: Aug 22, 2023

Moody’s RMS Estimates $4B to $6B in Economic Losses from Hawaii Wildfires

Moody’s RMS issued estimates on Tuesday showing economic losses from the recent Lahaina Conflagration and Kula wildfires in Hawaii at $4 billion to $6 billion. The loss estimate reflects property damage, contents, and business interruption, acr...

Posted: Aug 22, 2023

People Moves: Shelter CEO Rawlins to Retire in 2024; Corbin Named Successor

Shelter Insurance Companies announced the retirement of current President & CEO Randa Rawlins effective April 30, 2024. Rawlins became President on January 1, 2021, and added the CEO title on July 1, 2021. Her retirement will bring an end to &#82...

Posted: Aug 22, 2023

Xcel Energy to Construct Underground Barrier to Prevent Radioactive Water from Reaching Mississippi...

MONTICELLO, Minn. (AP) – The energy company responsible for leaking radioactive material from its nuclear plant in Monticello, Minnesota, in recent months has announced that it will build an underground metal barrier to keep affected groundwater away...

Posted: Aug 22, 2023

Insured Losses From Natural Catastrophes Set to Top $100 Billion for 3rd Year in a Row

Claims for weather-related incidents are set to exceed $100 billion for the third year in a row, as floods, hail and wildfires linked to climate change become more frequent. Munich Re has put the total global insured costs of natural-catastrophe &#82...

Posted: Aug 22, 2023

Texas Pipe Company Faces Department of Labor Lawsuit for Violating Whistleblower Protections

A Department of Labor lawsuit claims a Tyler, Texas pipe manufacturer violated federal whistleblower protections after the company fired an employee because they requested to use a respirator to protect them from smoke and fumes in the work area. The...

Posted: Aug 22, 2023