INSURANCE NEWS
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Acquires New Zealand’s First Capital Financial Services
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced the acquisition of New Zealand-based First Capital Financial Services and its affiliate First Capital Wealth Management. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. First Capital is a financial advisory firm providing wealth management, risk …
Severe Storms Take 4 Lives, Cause Power Outages, Close Roads in Pennsylvania
Officials and first responders in Pennsylvanians are assessing and cleaning up the damage caused after severe storms swept across western and central parts of the state Tuesday.. Officials reported four deaths linked to the severe weather. The National Weather Service …
Scientists Tally Oil Majors’ Climate Damage With Eye to Legal Liability
Over the last decade, scientists have rapidly developed the field of climate attribution research, teasing out the role played by global warming in individual natural disasters. Meanwhile, their ways of tracking a single emitter’s influence on temperature or sea-level rise …
Court Questions NJ Diocese’s Bid to Block Grand Jury on Clergy Sex Abuse
Members of New Jersey’s Supreme Court sounded skeptical at times Monday about the effort of a Catholic diocese to stop the state from empaneling a grand jury to investigate clergy sexual abuse allegations. The high court is considering the state …
Chinese Hacking Competitions Fuel the Country’s Broad Cyber Ambitions
Dustin Childs can still describe the best demonstration of a winning hack at an international tournament he’s ever seen. It happened almost a decade ago. The participants had to find a way to break into a Windows workstation that was …
Viewpoint: Regulatory Proposals in Australia, Malaysia Reshape Reinsurance Strategies
The regulatory landscape in the Asia-Pacific region is rapidly evolving, influencing insurers’ risk management and capital adequacy. Australia and Malaysia are two examples of markets where recent regulatory developments are likely to influence the use of reinsurance, in particular. Regulators …
Countries Shore Up Digital Defenses as Global Tensions Raise Cyberwarfare Threat
Hackers linked to Russia’s government launched a cyberattack last spring against municipal water plants in rural Texas. At one plant in Muleshoe, population 5,000, water began to overflow. Officials had to unplug the system and run the plant manually. The …
Buyer’s Remorse Hits Finance Bosses Who ‘Overhired’ for ESG
There’s a course-correction underway among financial firms that went all out on ESG hiring just a few years back, according to recruiters advising banks and money managers. Firms have had to acknowledge that the goal of generating the highest profits …
California Workers’ Comp Bureau Submits Higher 2025 Pure Premium Rate Filing
The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California submitted a September 1, 2025 pure premium rate filing, proposing advisory pure premium rates on average 11.2% above the average approved September 1, 2024 advisory pure premium rates. The average of the …
AM Best Revises Credit Rating Outlook to Negative for NJM Insurance Group
Ratings agency AM Best has revised the outlook to negative from stable for the members of the NJM Insurance Group (NJM) for the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A+ (Superior) and the Long-Term …
Allstate Q1 Income Drops 52% on Record $3.3B Gross Catastrophe Losses
Allstate Corp. first quarter 2025 net income applicable to common shareholders fell more than 52% to $566 million primarily due to a record $3.3 billion of gross catastrophe losses. The gross loss was partially offset by $1.1 billion of reinsurance …
LA County Approves $4B Payout to Settle Sexual Abuse Claims at Juvenile Facilities
Los Angeles County officials this week approved a $4 billion payout to settle nearly 7,000 claims of sexual abuse in juvenile facilities since 1959. The agreement reached on April 4 far surpasses a $2.6 billion settlement reached in 2022 with …