Monthly Archives: <span>April 2012</span>

Lockton to Open New Australian Operations in Perth and Sydney

Privately held insurance broker Lockton announced that it will open two new offices in Australia, establishing a new insurance brokerage, Lockton Australia Pty Ltd, with locations in Perth and Sydney. “Adding Lockton operations in Australia is another important step in …

Swiss Re Team Favored to Acquire Groupama’s Brokerage Unit – Sources

Swiss Re and its private equity partners Apax and PAI are in pole position to acquire Groupama’s GAN Eurocourtage [brokerage] unit for about €600 million ($793.2 million), people familiar with the situation said. The Swiss reinsurance group teamed up with …

Civil Unrest Leads Aon to Downgrade 37 Countries on Political Risk Map

Aon Risk Solutions, the global risk management business of Aon plc, has just issued its latest political risk map, which gauges the level of risk for international business in more than 200 countries. Aon said “37 countries were downgraded in …

S&P Lowers India’s Rating Outlook to Negative; Investment Rating in Peril

Standard & Poor’s cut India’s credit rating outlook on Wednesday to negative from stable, reflecting the toll that hefty fiscal and current account deficits and political paralysis are exacting on Asia’s third-largest economy. The negative outlook jeopardizes India’s long-term rating …

Suspect Air Packs Still Being Used at Coal Mines

Two years of testing have found a critical defect in a certain model of emergency breathing devices used in U.S. coal mines, but federal regulators have no immediate plans to remove the more than 70,000 air packs that could remain …

Brainard to Manage East Coast Brokerage for Beecher Carlson

Atlanta-based specialty insurance broker Beecher Carlson has promoted Sharon Brainard to senior managing director. Brainard will now manage the East Coast operations for the National Casualty Brokerage Practice, operating out of the Atlanta office and reporting to Scott Davis, executive …

Federal Lawsuit Targets MaineCare Cuts

A new federal lawsuit targets a rollback of MaineCare benefits supported by Maine Gov. Paul LePage that eliminated health care coverage for hundreds of legal immigrants living in the state. The lawsuit filed last week by Maine Equal Justice Partners …

Penn. Woman Gets 10-Years’ Probation for Foreclosure Notice Arson

A northwestern Pennsylvania woman will spend 10 years on probation for attempting suicide by setting fire to her home with a foreclosure notice. The Erie Times-News reported Monday that Erie County Judge John Garhart opted not to imprison 48-year-old Eve …

N.J. Stresses Importance of Financial Literacy to High School Students

Ken Kobylowski, acting commissioner for New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, is teaching teenagers about the importance of financial literacy. “Learning about financial literacy is just as important as learning about English, mathematics or science,” Kobylowski said during his …

N.Y. Gov. Cuomo Says Life Insurers Paid Over $262M After Probe

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week that a regulatory investigation into how insurers tracked life insurance policyholders resulted in 32,715 payments to consumers nationwide. The overall amount paid by insurers is $262.2 million, including 7,525 payments totaling $95.9 …