National News

QBE North America Launches Business Unit for Financial Institutions

QBE North America has launched QBE Integrated Advantage for Financial Institutions—a new dedicated business unit specializing in the segment The new unit offers customers access to a single team organized under a one leader that comprises financial institutions professionals in …

Allstate Q4 Catastrophe Loss Tempered by Higher Premiums, Reduced Auto Claims

The Allstate Corp. lost $312 million in its 2018 fourth quarter, which was attributable to higher catastrophe losses, lower investment income and a pension settlement charge. Catastrophe losses hit $963 million, versus just under $600 million in Q4 2017. However, …

Affluent Market Rivals Not Making Much of a Dent in Chubb’s Business

Chubb’s high-net-worth personal lines insurance business may have some new competition, but Chairman and CEO Evan Greenberg and a key executive say those rivals haven’t made much of a dent. “From my point of view we don’t see a change …

How a ‘Sharing’ Workplace Can Undermine Leadership

Sharing personal information with friends and family has long been held by researchers as a way to build rapport and healthy relationships. But between coworkers, that’s not always true. That is at the center of new research conducted at Georgia …

Microsoft’s Home State’s Facial Recognition Privacy Bill Could Be Model for Others

Two months after calling for laws to regulate facial-recognition software, Microsoft Corp. is lobbying on behalf of a first-of-its-kind bill in its home state of Washington. The question is whether cross-town rival Amazon.com Inc. will support it. Amazon has asked …

Senators Pitch Baseball-Like Arbitration to End Unexpected Medical Bills

In most markets, when a buyer and a seller can’t settle on a price, they walk away. Medicine is different. Doctors and insurance companies often sort out who owes what only after a patient has been treated, especially in emergencies. …

SunTrust and BB&T Banks to Merge

SunTrust Banks and BB&T Corp. announced that both companies’ boards of directors have unanimously agreed to merge the two financial services firms in an all-stock merger of equals valued at approximately $66 billion. The combined company will be the sixth-largest …

Court Ruling Against ‘Law of Nature’ Patent Riles Biotech

A way to diagnose a severe neurological disorder can’t be patented as it covers a law of nature, a U.S. appeals court ruled Wednesday in a closely watched case that sought to clarify the patenting for medical diagnostic tests and …

Microsoft Targets Healthcare with Medical Records in the Cloud, Bots and More

Microsoft Corp. is releasing a service to help health-care companies move vast amounts of patient data to its cloud and connect with other related systems in a bid to offer clinicians, individuals and researchers a more comprehensive view of patient …

Insurer Offers Employee Benefit Deal: Student Loan Relief for Unused Vacation Time

Starting next year, U.S. employees at insurance company Unum Group will have a choice: The company will put money toward their student loans, if the worker gives up five paid vacation days. The new perk is a creative twist on …

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