September 15, 2009
A former executive of reinsurer General Re Corp. was sentenced to two years probation and fined $10,000 after pleading guilty to helping American International Group cook its books. U.S. District Judge Christopher Droney said his sentence of Richard Napier, who …
September 15, 2009
A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a-” of Malaysia’s Lonpac Insurance Bhd, both with stable outlooks. “The ratings reflect Lonpac’s adequate capitalization and its ability to manage profitable …
September 15, 2009
A.M. Best Co. has assigned a financial strength rating of ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and an issuer credit rating of “a-” to Illinois-based Independent Mutual Fire Insurance Company, both with stable outlooks. “The ratings reflect Independent Mutual Fire’s modest underwriting leverage, recognized …
September 11, 2009
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its ‘BBB+’ senior debt rating on W.R. Berkley Corp.’s proposed issue of approximately $300 million senior unsecured notes, which are due in 2019. WRB will use the net proceeds of the issue to …
September 10, 2009
A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a” of the Bermuda-based XL Capital Group and its members. Best also affirmed the ICR of “bbb” and all debt ratings …
September 9, 2009
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its counterparty credit rating on Bermuda-based IPC Holdings Ltd. to ‘BBB-‘ from ‘BBB’ and removed it from CreditWatch, where it was placed on June 16, 2009, with negative implications. S&P then withdrew its …
September 8, 2009
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on Allianz Insurance JSC (Allianz Russia) to negative from stable and affirmed its ‘BBB-‘ long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on the Moscow-based insurer. S&P also affirmed the ‘ruAA+’ …
September 8, 2009
Challenging market conditions, the financial crisis and the recession drove profitability downward for the U.S. workers’ compensation market in 2008, and A.M. Best Co. expects the impact to linger through 2009 and well into 2010. Meanwhile, changing regulatory issues and …
September 8, 2009
Insurance companies providing medical malpractice coverage in Missouri returned a profit in 2008, marking the fifth consecutive year of positive earnings, Missouri Department of Insurance says. The department said its annual report on the industry shows increased profits are due …
September 7, 2009
Results Based on Insurers’ Growth June 30, 2009, versus June 30, 2008 As I write this article, the unemployment rate in the United States was reported to be 9.4 percent as of the end of July. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) …