Latest USA Headlines

All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Viewpoint: How the Northeastern U.S. Private Flood Market Can Close the Coverage Gap

Dec 22 2020 // The northeastern U.S. is one of the key areas of the country at risk for flooding, as evidenced by the billions in losses from Superstorm Sandy, which saw more than $8.1 billion in 144,000 NFIP (National Flood Insurance...

Lloyd’s Syndicate Dale and DUAL Launch MGU with Focus on U.S. Property Insurance

Dec 21 2020 // Dale Underwriting Partners and DUAL announced a new joint venture, Dale DUAL MGU Ltd. (DDML), in collaboration with Aviva with immediate effect. This partnership has been brought together by Howden Reinsurance Broking led...

Cyber Experts Race to Secure Networks Following Broad Cyber Attack on U.S.

Dec 21 2020 // Russian hackers who broke into U.S. government agencies also spied on less high-profile organizations, including groups in Britain, a U.S. internet provider and a county government in Arizona, according to web records and...

Suspected Russian Hack of U.S. Government: Espionage or Act of War?

Dec 21 2020 // The suspected Russian hack of U.S. government agencies has led to heated rhetoric from lawmakers, with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin calling it “virtually a declaration of war” and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio saying...

U.S. Commercial Insurance Rates Rise Again Q3; Showing Signs of Stability

Dec 21 2020 // For the second quarter in a row, U.S. commercial lines insurers enjoyed average rate hikes that neared 10% but the rocket ship rate hike trend might be moderating. “While commercial insurance prices continued to rise...

RMS Estimates that Total Insured Losses from the 2020 Western U.S. Wildfires Will Be Between US$7bn – US$13bn

Dec 17 2020 // Latest RMS estimate includes loss from new fires that started and spread following the previous RMS loss estimate in September Newark, CA – December 15, 2020 – RMS, the world’s leading catastrophe risk solutions...

How Dominance of One Management Software Became Cyber Liability for U.S.

Dec 16 2020 // On an earnings call two months ago, SolarWinds Chief Executive Kevin Thompson touted how far the company had gone during his 11 years at the helm. There was not a database or an IT deployment model out there to which his...

Global Natural and Manmade Disasters Cost Insurers US$83B in 2020: Swiss Re

Dec 16 2020 // Insurance industry losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters across the globe amounted to US$83 billion in 2020, making it the fifth-costliest year for the industry since 1970, according to the Swiss Re...

RMS Says Insured Losses from 2020 Western U.S. Wildfires $7-$13B

Dec 15 2020 // RMS estimates insured losses from the record-breaking western U.S. wildfires this season will be between $7 and $13 billion. These losses reflect estimates as of Dec. 1. The ignition of the highly damaging Glass Fire and...

Suspected Russian Cyber Espionage Has U.S. Government, Businesses Scrambling

Dec 15 2020 // The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and thousands of businesses scrambled Monday to investigate and respond to a sweeping hacking campaign that officials suspect was directed by the Russian government. Emails sent by...

Impact of Coronavirus on U.S. Economy Could Be $3-$5 Trillion Over 2 Years: USC Study

Dec 14 2020 // The COVID-19 pandemic could result in net losses from $3.2 trillion and up to $4.8 trillion in U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) over the course of two years, a new University of Southern California (USC) study...

UK Insurtech Startup battleface Raises $12M in Funding from U.S. Venture Capital Firm

Dec 11 2020 // UK startup battleface Inc., a company that specializes in tech-enabled global travel insurance, announced a $12-million Series A financing round from Drive Capital, a Columbus, Ohio-based venture capital firm. The...

Zurich and Farmers Agree to Buy MetLife’s U.S. P/C Business for $3.94 Billion

Dec 11 2020 // Zurich Insurance and Farmers Exchanges have agreed to buy MetLife’s U.S. property and casualty business for $3.94 billion, the insurers said on Friday, after the COVID-19 pandemic made motor and home insurers more...

U.S. Drug Advisory Panel Meets Today on Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine

Dec 10 2020 // A panel of outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is meeting on Thursday to weigh whether to recommend that the agency authorize Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, one of the last...

LSU’s Immunity Claim in Frat Pledge’s Death Denied Review by U.S. Supreme Court

Dec 9 2020 // The U.S. Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from Louisiana State University, which spent years arguing that it should be immune from a lawsuit filed by the parents of a fraternity pledge from Georgia who died of acute...

New Sirius U.S. Excess & Surplus Unit Begins Writing Environmental Business

Dec 9 2020 // Sirius International Insurance Group Ltd. announced its new U.S.-based excess & surplus lines (E&S) platform, called Sirius Specialty Insurance Co. (SSIC), will begin underwriting business produced by the...

2020 Western U.S. Wildfire Season Gave Us Gigafire, Several Massive Blazes

Dec 8 2020 // Want more proof that 2020 will go down as a year we should all try hard to forget about? With some 9 million acres burned in wildfires across Western U.S. this year, and the introduction of a new and terrifying term...

U.S. Commercial Insurance Rates Rise Again in Q3 But Show Signs of Stabilizing

Dec 8 2020 // For the second quarter in a row, U.S. commercial lines insurers enjoyed average rate hikes that neared 10 percent but the rocket ship rate hike trend might be moderating “While commercial insurance prices continued...

China Signals It Remains Committed to Phase 1 Trade Deal With U.S.

Dec 8 2020 // Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi assured U.S. executives during a videoconference on Sunday that Beijing remained committed to the Phase 1 trade deal with the United States, the head of the US-China Business Council...

EU Privacy Agency Does Not Expect New EU-US Data Privacy Accord Any Time Soon

Dec 7 2020 // Companies hoping the EU and the new U.S. administration will soon strike a new transatlantic data transfer pact to replace one struck down by a court will probably have to wait months for any result, the head of the EU...