Barclay’s Capital, a worldwide investment bank based in the UK, has launched a new initiative that is aimed at providing the insurance industry with added protections against natural disasters. The financial institution will begin supplying insurance-linked securities that will embolden the insurance industry against catastrophes. The new service will help placate the concerns of investors who are growing leery of the insurance industry’s constant struggle with disastrous storms and other events. Barclay’s believed that the insurance-linked security products will help the industry cope with any financial turbulence it may experience…
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S&P’s downgrade could impact the nation’s insurance industry
Recently, Standard & Poor’s (S&P), a major financial research and analysis company based in the U.S., downgraded the U.S. government debt. The firm now classifies the nation’s finances as having a “negative” outlook. S&P’s actions have spurred the nation’s insurance and finance companies to take another look at their practices and portfolios, keen to spot any compliance violations spawned from the downgrade. The search for such violations has been slow going so far, as the U.S.’ long-term ratings have never before been downgraded. The downgrade has left many major insurance…
Read MoreGoldman Sachs sued by Liberty Mutual regarding losses from Freddie Mac investments
Investment banker Goldman Sachs & Co. was the target of a lawsuit by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. and a number of its subsidiaries, for “making materially misleading statements and omissions” in November 2007, for Freddie Mac preferred stock offerings. According to the lawsuit which was filed at a Massachusetts U. S. District Court, Liberty Mutual and its subsidiaries – Employers of Wausau, Safeco, Liberty Life, and Peerless – had made investments of $37.5 million within the Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp) Series Z offering, which was made up…
Read MoreAllstate loses over $2 Billion in period between April and May
Allstate Corp., has announced that in the two month span between April and May, its catastrophe losses were greater than $2 billion. According to Allstate, which is the biggest publically traded home and auto insurance company in the United States, the losses within these two months matched that of their losses for the entire 2010 year – which totaled $2.21 billion. This was primarily the result of massive devastation due to severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. In fact, April and May 2011 have now become one of the worst two-month periods…
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