Catastrophic property damage has occurred in Indonesia due to a killer earthquake off the coast of Southern Sumatra, Indonesia, but one catastrophe modeling firm said insured losses are expected to be light.

Tsunamis from an 8.0 magnitude earthquake striking the Samoan islands killed 100 people and did significant property and casualty damage to villages and resorts, a catastrophe modeling firm said.

PartnerRe said it will expedite an estimated $2 billion stock-for-stock purchase of French-listed, Swiss-based reinsurer Paris Re.

Eighty percent of the Philippines capital city of Manila was left underwater after the storm Ketsana, now a typhoon, struck over the weekend, catastrophe modeler Risk Management Solutions said.

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.

Progressive's Pay As You Drive (PAYD) auto insurance product, called MyRate, has been approved in Nevada, the 16th state to approve the product.

Vice President Joe Biden told a meeting of insurance regulators that health care reform can be accomplished without harming the health insurance industry.

A reevaluation of insurance regulators' use of rating agencies is needed because their poor performance helped prompt the financial crisis, a regulator and consumer advocate testified.