The need for independent agents to encrypt e-mail transmissions is not only important for compliance with privacy laws but can also be used as a marketing tool by agents, a technology expert said.

The chairman of a key subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee today said he intends to move quickly to impose direct federal oversight of insurance, starting with a system to regulate systemic risk.

The Treasury Department said last night it had approved Allstate Corporation and five other insurers to get taxpayer rescue money under its multibillion-dollar Capital Purchase Program.

The Surety & Fidelity Association of America said Thomas Kunkel, Travelers Bond chief executive officer and president, has been elected SFAA board chairman for 2009-2010.

The bidding war between Max Capital Group and Validus Holdings over Bermuda-based property-catastrophe reinsurer IPC Re continued this week, with Max announcing its deal has regulators' approvals.

Fitch Ratings announced it has dropped American International Group property-casualty subsidiaries' insurer financial strength a ratings notch based on the stress of its continuing financial problems.

A modeling firm which has been projecting pandemic flu impact for the past three years says the current outbreak while growing is unlikely to cause big insurance losses.

Insurance prices are not likely to begin rising until early 2010, but federal government actions before then could mean abrupt price spikes rather than gradual shifts, an economist suggested yesterday.