National News

Expect Direct Online to Gain in Small Commercial Insurance Market Share: Novarica

Changes in small business owners’ online habits and new market entrants are driving market demand for online purchasing of insurance, according to a report from advisory firm Novarica, which sees direct online sales capturing as much as 15 percent of …

J&J Talc Supplier Files for Bankruptcy Over Lawsuits

A key supplier of talc used in Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday in the wake of multibillion-dollar lawsuits alleging its products caused ovarian cancer and asbestos-related mesothelioma. Imerys Talc America, the U.S. unit …

AIG Reports Q4 Loss on Catastrophes, Lower Investment Returns

American International Group Inc. on Wednesday reported a quarterly loss as the insurer was hit with catastrophe losses and made a lower return on investments in a volatile market. Excluding realized investment gains and losses and some other items, AIG …

FEMA Chief Long to Leave Agency

Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long is leaving the agency he led through a record period of natural disasters — including a widely panned response to a storm that devastated Puerto Rico. “While this has been the opportunity of …

Whew! Human Beats IBM’s AI Machine in Debate

International Business Machines Corp. fell short in its latest attempt to prove machines can triumph over man. But it came close. The tech giant’s six-year-old artificial intelligence debating system, affectionately dubbed “Miss Debater,” went head-to-head with one of the world’s …

Allstate Buys Smartphone Repairer iCracked, Expanding Its Consumer Services

The Allstate Corp. said it has acquired iCracked, a provider of on-site, on-demand repair services for smartphones and tablets in North America. The privately held San Francisco-based company will join SquareTrade, a company Allstate purchased in 2019 for $1.4 billion …

Traffic Fatalities Again Top 40,000; Few Cars on Roads Have Latest Technology

Traffic fatalities on U.S. roads reached an estimated 40,000 in 2018, the third year in a row in which at least that many people died in vehicle crashes, according to new figures from the National Safety Council. The 2018 total …

InsurTechs Take Note: Chubb’s Digital Marketplace Serves 1,000 Agents a Day

Giant global insurer Chubb is on a mission to transform itself into a digital enterprise. The company is making substantial investments in digital technologies including cloud, mobile, APIs, security, chatbots, analytics and data. The effort includes using digital capabilities to …

Nationwide Invests in Core Systems Insurtech Start-Up Socotra

Nationwide’s latest venture capital investment is in a core technology start-up that promises to help insurers create new insurance products and get them to market faster and integrate more easily with future technologies. The San Francisco start-up, Socotra, is a …

Venture Programs to Offer Cyber Coverage through ProWriters Insurance

ProWriters Insurance has been selected as the exclusive cyber insurance provider for Venture Insurance Programs. The new strategic partnership allows Venture’s business owners in select niche industries, including golf clubs, hotels, and fitness studios, to access ProWriters’ coverage and services …

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