Houston-based insurance agency, Barhorst Insurance Group (BIG), announced it is beginning the new year with a new name: Iscential. The rebranding initiative includes a new name, logo and tagline that represent the company’s ongoing commitment to customer service. The tagline, …
State Auto Financial Corp. has received regulatory approval for proposed changes to the intercompany reinsurance pooling agreement for the State Auto Group, the company reports. With all necessary regulatory approvals from various departments of insurance having been secured, the pooling …
Indiana officials say a drug testing program that started in July for people seeking job training has led to about 2 percent of applicants failing. The state Department of Workforce Development says 13 people, or 1 percent, of the 1,240 …
The actress who played Elly May Clampett on the “The Beverly Hillbillies,” toymaker Mattel Inc. and CBS Consumer Products Inc. have settled a lawsuit in which Donna Douglas claimed the companies didn’t get her approval to use her name and …
When the Federal Emergency Management Agency mailed out 83,000 debt notices this year to victims of Hurricane Katrina and other 2005 storms, one of the letters showed up in David Bellinger’s mailbox. Bellinger, who is blind, needed a friend to …
An analysis from Willis Re, the reinsurance broking arm of Willis Group Holdings, notes that the majority of this year’s catastrophe losses arose “from un-modeled or inadequately modeled perils or territories.” As a result reinsurers “are being more forceful in …
The British arm of News Corp has increased the legal fund it will use to settle civil litigation cases brought by victims of phone hacking to £100 million ($155 million) from £20 million [$31 million], the Independent newspaper reported on …
Long before the latest global breast implant scare, American health officials were toying with the idea of building a registry that would track patients with implants. The registry would give a better idea of the number of complications over time, …
Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter has examined the past year’s natural catastrophes, which it describes as “an unusually eventful year for the (re)insurance sector.” In addition to the ongoing financial crisis, which has produced recessions, or near recessions, in developed countries, …
JLT Insurance Brokers (Ireland) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc, has acquired FBD Insurance Brokers Ltd, which is based in Ireland, from FBD Holdings plc. The bulletin also noted that as “part of this …
