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Cruise Liners Need Tighter Safety Rules Say Marine Insurers

Passenger ship operators should tighten up safety procedures and crew training standards to prevent a repeat of the Costa Concordia shipwreck, potentially the costliest marine insurance loss on record, shipping insurers said on Tuesday, “In the past, we have raised …

Best Sees No Ratings Change for QBE Despite Lowered Profit Estimates

A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited has commented that the ratings of Australia’s QBE Insurance Group Limited and its main insurance subsidiaries are unchanged following the market update issued by QBE on January 12, 2012, in which it revised …

Analysis of New EU Data Protection Laws Command the Tide but Not the Cost

New data-protection proposals from the European Union to help people regain control of personal information from sites like Facebook could prove as effective as commanding the tide, while hurting small firms and Web giants alike. The new legislation, which European …

Euro Zone Ministers Reject Private Bondholders’ Offer on Greek Bonds

Euro zone finance ministers on Monday rejected as insufficient an offer made by private bondholders to help restructure Greece’s debts, sending negotiators back to the drawing board and raising the threat of Greek default. At a meeting in Brussels, ministers …

WillisWire Bloggers Reveal Their Top Emerging Risks for 2012

A bulletin from Willis Group Holdings identifies 18 “emerging risks,” as causing increasing concern among the world’s insurance community. Willis compiled the list from its new website of intellectual capital, WillisWire. While “headline-grabbing events” – the euro zone crisis, the …

Ratings Roundup: Taiping Re, First Insurance

A.M. Best Co. has revised the outlook to stable from positive and affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating “a-” of Hong Kong-based Taiping Reinsurance Company Limited (TPRe). Best explained that the revision of its …

N.Y. Program Lets Uninsured Artists Exchange Art for Medical Services

A new program lets uninsured New York City artists exchange their art for medical services. Tony-Award winning actor Lin-Manuel Miranda and rapper and radio personality Roxanne Shante helped launch the “Lincoln Art Exchange” at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx on …

Fine Arts Consortium Increases Capacity for 2012

Ironshore’s Pembroke Consortium has increased capacity to $116 million for 2012 to meet new demand, an expansion over the $105 million it offered in 2011. The increase in capacity comes as the organization closes its first year offering specialty fine …

Del. Regulator Offers Advice on Healthcare Options for Early Retirees

Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart expressed concern for soon-to-retire Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964), many of whom will face the uncertain prospect of finding alternative health insurance coverage until they reach the age of 65 when …

Hailstorms, Heat and Wildfires Made 2011 a Rough Year in Texas

With weather forecasters issuing severe weather alerts for Texas as a slow moving cold front rolls across the state, many Texans may be reminded of the natural forces in 2011 that destroyed lives and property in all corners of the …

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