Insurers News

P/C Insurers Can Handle Chinese Drywall Costs, Says Moody’s

Property/casualty insurers are expected to continue to handle costs for defective Chinese drywall claims in the normal course of business, according to a rating analyst with Moody’s Investors Service. Losses from Chinese drywall will probably be covered within insurers earnings, …

Wisconsin Regulator Seizes Some of Bond Insurer Ambac’s Assets

State regulators are taking control of some of U.S. bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc.’s worst assets, the company said Thursday, in an action affecting some $35 billion of assets. Regulators in Wisconsin, where Ambac’s main insurance unit is legally …

Florida Governor, Regulator Want Check on Insurer Payments to Affiliates

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said he would like to give the state insurance regulator authority to prevent excessive payments by home-based insurance companies to affiliated managing general agencies and other entities. “I’d like to be able to sign that,” Crist …

Insurer Refunds Nearly $1M to New York Policyholders

Auto insurer Clarendon National Insurance Co. has refunded $992,000 to 1,227 automobile insurance policyholders the company overcharged when it improperly imposed a 30 percent rate hike, the New York State Insurance Department said. The Insurance Department said Clarendon also paid …

Texas Insurer Group Awards Scholarships to Huston-Tillotson Students

The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) has honored three students participating in the insurance curriculum at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin with scholarships. The 2010 ICT scholarship recipients at Huston-Tillotson are Ashley Simpson, Brittany McMillan and Christopher Yuen. Each student was …

Florida CFO Sink Wants Data on Troubled Property Insurers

Florida insurance regulators have notified a Jacksonville-based insurer that it has until the end of the month to comply with solvency requirements to avoid suspension or losing its license. The warning to Southern Oak Insurance Co. is just the first …

Illinois Supreme Court Rules Against Insurer in Underinsured Motorist Case

The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that an appellate court was correct when it found that an insurance company cannot exclude occupants of an insured vehicle from underinsured motorists coverage (UIM). The high court’s decision stems from a pair of …

Pinnacol Assurance Offers Colorado $330 Million to Become Private Insurer

Pinnacol Assurance, Colorado’s quasi-governmental workers’ compensation insurer, has submitted a potential separation agreement to Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter that would establish Pinnacol as a domestic mutual insurance company owned by its policyholders in exchange for $330 million that could help …

Insurer Group Says Push to Abolish Louisiana Citizens Is Misguided

A representative from the insurer trade group, the American Insurance Association (AIA), testified before a Louisiana legislative panel that efforts to abolish Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) are misguided. A commission on streamlining state government in late December 2009 …

P/C Executives to Dodd: Don’t Shift Risky Firms’ Costs to Insurers

Property/casualty insurance companies, which already pay into state guaranty funds to backup claims of their insolvent peers, don’t want to have to also pay into a federal fund to cover failures of larger and riskier financial services firms. Leading p/c …