It figures

100 The number of federal lawmakers from both parties that asked the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to put a hold on the efforts of various U.S. companies, including Wal-Mart, to open banks.

Federal bank regulators halted for six months any new approvals of the sort of industrial banks that Wal-Mart, Home Depot and 12 other companies seek to own.

The imposed moratorium on approving the industrial loan corporations, or ILCs, will give lawmakers a chance to consider legislation that would block commercial companies from owning the corporations.

$1.21 billionNet income of Allstate Corp. for the second quarter of 2006. The company said that growth in premiums and stronger property-liability underwriting helped the insurer increase second-quarter profit by 5 percent.

The nation’s largest publicly traded home, car and life insurer reported net income of $1.21 billion or $1.89 per share, up from $1.15 billion, or $1.71 per share, in the year-ago period.

Allstate has been hard hit by catastrophes over the last several years and has been pulling back on on windstorm coverage in coastal areas nationwide.

$65 billionAmount in insured losses that could result from a hurricane hitting New York state, according to Lloyd’s America President Wendy Baker, speaking at the Insurance Information Institute’s Northeast Hurricane Conference.

“Today, we model for a $65 billion industry loss from a North-east hurricane making landfall in New York and a $100 billion loss from a hurricane hitting Miami,” Baker said.

She said Lloyd’s believes the vast majority of natural perils are insurable. Other insurers have called for taxpayer-funded emergency pools for natural catastrophes.

3Number of people arrested in an investigation by Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr. into patient deaths at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans. Dr. Anna Pou and nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budo are accused of being principals to second-degree murder in the deaths of four patients, ages 61 to 90, at the center three days after Hurricane Katrina hit last year. The Associated Press reported that many in the local medical community are outraged, saying the three, who were trapped with their patients in the center, are heroes.

Topics Catastrophe Legislation Hurricane