American International Group Inc. (AIG) has announced a fourth quarter 2011 profit of $19.8 billion following a large tax benefit that it received after it submitted its predictions regarding its ability to maintain the generation of profits over the upcoming years. The bailed-out insurance company received tax benefits worth $17.7 billion within the last three months of last year. This was a sum that was significantly greater than the $1.6 billion operating income that it received from its insurance businesses and other branches throughout that same time. Equally, though, the…
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Connecticut Becomes First U.S. Insurance Regulator to Join International Information Exchange Agreement
Membership Strengthens International Supervisory Cooperation, Promotes Enhanced Consumer Protection Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas B. Leonardi and Peter Braumüller, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), today announced that Connecticut has joined an international supervisory cooperation and information exchange agreement, becoming the first U.S. regulator to gain membership. Connecticut becomes the 22nd signatory of the IAIS Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU), a framework that establishes a formal basis for global cooperation and information exchange among insurance supervisors. Commissioner Leonardi and Chairman Braumüller said Connecticut was…
Read MoreNew York regulators to investigate insurer’s rate proposals for accuracy
As complaints regarding insurance rate hikes begin to weigh on regulators in New York, the state’s Financial Services Superintendent, Benjamin Lawsky, has announced a new investigation into the matter. Regulators will be investigating the data submitted by insurance companies to justify their premium increases. The goal is to determine the accuracy of the data that these insurers use. These investigations will work alongside the regular rate review process and insurers will not know when they will be investigated. Lawsky notes that any errors made by insurers in their requests for…
Read MoreAmerican insurance industry feeling the pinch of weak investments and catastrophes
A new report released by A.M. Best Co. Inc., has stated that the unprecedented number of natural disasters, poor returns from investments, and an economy that continued to struggle in 2011, has made it exceptionally difficult for the American property and casualty insurance industry’s commercial insurance and reinsurance sectors to grow and has caused notable hurt to their operating performances. It’s estimated by the rating agency, based in Oldwick, New Jersey, that last year’s underwriting losses from underwriters in the commercial property and casualty sector were approximately $15.2 billion. This…
Read MoreSamsung Life Insurance to invest in distressed assets from U.S. and Europe
As the economies of Europe and America continue to struggle, Asian insurers are seeing great opportunity for investments. Samsung Life Insurance, the largest insurance group in South Korea, has taken a keen interest in distressed assets that banks in Europe and the U.S. have put up for sale. The company had stepped back from investments when the recession of 2008 made a major impact on the global economy. Now, however, the opportunities seem to great to ignore. Samsung has more than $130 billion in assets and is willing to invest…
Read MoreEstimates of combined ratio for Property and Casualty in 2011 at 107.5 percent
The American property and casualty (P/C) industry has released its estimates for the losses it experienced in 2011 – a year filled with catastrophe – and has reported the largest underwriting losses that it has seen since 2006. According to A.M. Best Co., the ratings agency, in 2011, insurance companies were impacted by a tremendous number of natural catastrophes, unlike the volumes that have ever been experienced either within the United States or internationally. As a result, the losses from catastrophe-related damages were more than twice the amount that had…
Read MoreFederal Insurance Office anticipated report on modernizing insurance regulations delayed
The Federal Insurance Office was supposed to submit its much anticipated report on the modernization of insurance regulation to Congress in January, but the agency has missed that deadline. The U.S. Treasury Department, which oversees the Federal Insurance Office, claims that there must be more work done on the report before it can be released. This delay could mean that the report will not be released for week or months; news that insurers were not happy to hear. The report is meant to show Congress how the country’s insurance regulations…
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