I’m sure the phones were ringing in the offices of insurance carriers based in Illinois when the announcement came last week that secretary of the treasury Timothy Geithner had selected Michael McRaith to be the first director of the Federal Insurance Office.

Commercial property and casualty insurers could take the biggest hit both in losses and credit worthiness from the earthquake in Japan, according to a Moody’s report.

Troubled New York-based bond insurer Ambac Financial Group said its Wisconsin subsidiary, Ambac Assurance, will begin paying policy claims out of its segregated account in May.

We've got individual company loss estimates coming in on the Japan earthquake and tsunami, including those from AIG and Swiss Re; a Moody's review on Flagstone and accompanying response; a piece on foreign reinsurers and reduced collateral requirements in Florida; and a bid to make earthquake insurance more affordable.