Risk Management

In response to the New York insurance superintendent's inquiry into its derivatives activities prompted by its CEO's recent op-ed article, Allstate has provided an affidavit showing that it has been operating with full knowledge and approval of the state.

Eliot Spitzer's political rehabilitation is in full throttle, with the latest evidence being the sympathetic cover story in the April 27 edition of Newsweek, headlined: "How Could I?"

The major impact on insurers from an offshore tax avoidance crackdown announced today by the Obama administration appears to be a proposal restricting a deduction of costs for financing foreign operations, according to industry sources.

A first-quarter jump of 38 percent in securities cases is worrisome to insurers of directors and officers named as defendants in such cases, but the pace of filings could slow, a research firm said.

Independent agents face a major battle ahead over federal regulatory reform and what shape that will take, the chairman of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America said.

The Florida Legislature has given final passage to a bill reinstating an attorneys' fee cap in workers' compensation cases in response to a State Supreme Court ruling that an existing fee restriction was unenforceable.

A research firm's finding that closing a tax loophole for offshore insurers could cost U.S. insurance consumers more than $10 billion per year has been attacked as flawed by the Coalition for a Domestic Insurance Industry.

Eight industry trade groups supporting an optional federal insurance charter told key members of Congress in a letter last week that financial services reform should include a dedicated national regulator.