E&S/Specialty

Pursuing directors and officers claims against investment advisors in connection with the Madoff pyramid scheme could be difficult as multiple Securities and Exchange Commission investigations failed to uncover his fraud, an attorney advised recently.

While recent comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggest the nearly two-year-long recession may be nearing an end, the economic downturn is likely to remain a force behind additional and potentially uninsured risks for a long time.

Insurance executives polled at a conference see their companies performing above general market expectations in 2010, but their overall industry view for the near future is less positive.

Business and personal lines insurers who did not contribute to the financial crisis should not be the target of new consumer protection regulations, an insurance trade group representative told a House committee.

The global recession has demonstrated that insurers' reliance on the capital markets to fund catastrophe risk can put them at financial risk, said the president of the Insurance Information Institute.

American International Group has paid back about $62 billion of its $183 billion debt to the government, but whether it can repay the full amount is unclear, a government study said yesterday.

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee this week could add specific provisions curbing the cost of medical malpractice lawsuits when it acts on broader health reform legislation this week.

Federal and state activity to create rules and laws for the insurance industry has surged this year increasing demands on carrier resources, a consulting firm said.