Articles by Katie Roof and Katherine Chiglinsky

Home Insurance Insurtech Hippo Raises $150M as It Readies for IPO in 2021

Hippo Enterprises Inc., hot on the heels of rival home insurance technology business Lemonade Inc. going public, has closed a $150 million financing round. The Palo Alto, California-based startup is valued in the investment at $1.5 billion, according to the …

Houston Rockets Becomes First NBA Team to Sue Insurer Over Denied Covid-19 Claims

The Houston Rockets and billionaire owner Tilman Fertitta are suing their insurer for denying the National Basketball Association team’s bid to tap its business-interruption insurance policy over revenue losses from the Covid-19 pandemic. Fertitta’s Rocket Ball Ltd. and Clutch City …

Companies Press Insurance Brokers for Workarounds to Rising D&O Costs

When Elon Musk said in April he was dropping the insurance policy that protects Tesla Inc.’s board from shareholder lawsuits, it got Skip McBride’s attention. To McBride, who used to manage law firm Bracewell LLP’s malpractice exposure, Musk’s decision to …

Global Insurers Pulled into Epicenter of COVID-19 Crisis, Firmly in Uncharted Territory

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal locked in spell-binding battle. Paul McCartney sharing a stage with Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift. The long-awaited 32nd Olympic Games. The list of canned crowd-thrillers that were planned for the coming weeks isn’t just bad …

Zaffino, AIG’s No. 2, Fights to Turn Around the House That Hank Greenberg Built

American International Group Inc.’s Peter Zaffino drew a clear line ahead of his jump to the insurer almost three years ago. “I didn’t want any advice,” Zaffino, AIG’s president, said in a rare sit-down interview. “I needed to see things …

Chubb CEO Greenberg Warns Retroactive Measures Would ‘Bankrupt’ Insurance Industry

Chubb Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Evan Greenberg has a stark warning for policy makers pushing insurers to pay out some uncovered business-interruption losses. “The insurance industry is a fundamental part of the economic plumbing of this country,” Greenberg said in …

Litigation Builds Against Insurers Over Coronavirus Business Interruption

Barbara Snowden dreamed of opening a wig shop to help women who’d lost their hair during chemotherapy feel better as they battled cancer. In November, she beamed at the grand opening of Hair Goals Club in the Houston suburb of …

Insurance Unlikely to Cushion Coronavirus Losses – But There Are Exceptions

Don’t look for much relief from insurers to cushion losses from canceled events, travel disruptions and potential medical claims from the deadly Covid-19 virus that’s sweeping across the globe. The world’s largest insurers have learned lessons from previous health crises, …

Ford to Help Customers Connect to Allstate Insurance Driver Tracking Program

Allstate Corp. struck a deal with Ford Motor Co. that will allow some of the automaker’s customers to share data with the insurer for its program that tracks mileage. The majority of Ford and Lincoln 2020 model-year vehicles with embedded …

Buffett Says Combs Likely to Head GEICO Only Temporarily

Warren Buffett doesn’t expect Todd Combs, one of his two key investing deputies, to be at auto insurer Geico long. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. tapped Combs in December to become chief executive officer of its Geico unit. He replaced Bill …