Captive insurance executives from all over the world travel to Vermont for major conference

The Vermont Captive Insurance Association will be hosting the world’s largest captive insurance conference this week. The event will gather together insurance executives from all over the world in Burlington, Vermont. The conference aims to expand the knowledge of the industry as well as introduce new practices, standards and prospective legislations that could affect the worldwide industry. Executives will be met with a series of seminars and will participate in forums throughout the course of the event. Vermont is home to some of the most favorable laws in terms of…

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FEMA seeks to partially privatize National Flood Insurance

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has had a troubled history. The program is meant to provide affordable home insurance coverage to those that live in areas prone to flooding either from hurricanes or other storms. Thousands take advantage of the program, but it has suffered shortfalls in funding, putting NFIP $18 billion in debt. Congress has been debating solutions to this problem. Legislators have until September 30th to figure it out or the program will be abolished. FEMA administrator Craig Fugate may have a plan that could offset NFIP’s…

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Worldwide disasters push commercial insurance rates higher

In the past 16 months, natural disasters all over the world have cost the insurance industry more than $100 billion. The financial impact of these catastrophes is compounded by the worldwide recession which severely impaired the industry as a whole. Insurers are struggling to reassert themselves in the world as the economy improves, and the only way to do so is by offsetting the cost of natural disasters with higher insurance premiums. Some commercial companies have already begun the process, raising rates on commercial insurance for the first time in…

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State Farm receives A.M. Best top ratings scores

 State Farm General Insurance Company’s financial strength rating (FSR) and issuer credit rating (ICR) have been revised by A.M. Best Co., upgrading them from their previous “A-“ (Excellent) to a current “A” (Excellent), in both cases.   State Farm Group and State Farm Life Group and their members have also received an FSR and ICR of “A++” (Superior) by Best.  State Farm Fire and Casualty Company in Dallas, State Farm Indemnity Group, and State Farm International Life Insurance Company, Ltd, also had had their FSR and ICR affirmed by Best. All…

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Hackers access account info in Citibank network breach

Citigroup Inc. has announced that the information to connected to 200,000 North American cardholder accounts has been accessed by hackers when they breached the bank’s network in May.  According to Citigroup, the breach was detected in early May and allowed the hackers to view the names, contact information, and account numbers of customers.  However, it assures customers that other forms of personal information, such as social security numbers, birthdates, as well as the card security codes (CVV) and expiration dates of the cards were not revealed. This cyber attack is…

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