To recap the issues raised during Wednesday’s conference call, here are some of the key media stories, and the messages we’re conveying.
New Jersey’s insurance commissioner says Prudential acted properly in widely-publicized case involving life insurer’s issuance of a retained asset account (RAA):
New Jersey insurance regulators, responding to a controversy over the life insurance benefits paid after the death of a soldier in Afghanistan in 2008, have found that Prudential Financial Inc. made proper payments, according to this prominently placed article in the Wednesday, August 11, edition of The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).NAIC to hold Sunday, August 15 public hearing on RAAs, and the consumer disclosures which are issued to life insurance policy beneficiaries:
The hearing, to be held as part of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) previously-scheduled summer meeting in Seattle, WA, was announced in this Friday, August 6, news release.Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner to join Obama administration effective Monday, August 30:
Commissioner Joel Ario, who has been Pennsylvania’s top insurance regulator since July 2007, is stepping down from that post to become the director of the Office of Insurance Exchanges of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. “This new position will be responsible for the state-based, health insurance exchanges that every state will establish by 2014,” according to a Monday, August 9, news release from Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell’s office. Robert L. Pratter has been named the state’s acting insurance commissioner.
Wall Street Journal looking at life insurer investments in Build America Bonds:
Dow Jones Newswires reporter Erik Holm, whose work appears regulatory in The Wall Street Journal, is investigating the extent to which life insurers ought to invest in Build America Bonds, due to their lack of liquidity.
Dow Jones’ Erik Holm moderating American Insurance Association roundtable discussion at the NAIC meeting:
Global Insurance Regulation—Assessing the New Frontier is the name of the AIA roundtable discussion being held as part of the NAIC’s meeting in Seattle, WA on Sunday, August 15. The session gets underway at 11 a.m. and will conclude at noon in the Washington State Convention Center, room 613. The panelists include the AIA’s Dave Snyder; Yoshihiro Kawai, secretary general of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS); George Brady, international counsel, NAIC; and Hannah Grant, policy advisor for international affairs and reinsurance, European Insurance and Reinsurance Federation. The AIA’s Thursday, August 12, news release on the event is here.
Congress receives preliminary report showing little evidence Toyota’s sudden acceleration problems stemmed from flawed electronics:
Government investigators said they found no evidence that the sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles was caused by flawed electronics in 58 vehicles that crashed, according to this front page story in the Wednesday, August 11, hard-copy version of The New York Times. The investigators found only one case involving an accelerator pedal trapped under a floor mat and none involving a pedal that became stuck, the article states. Toyota recalled nearly nine million Toyota and Lexus vehicles to correct problems related to floor mats and sticky pedals.Lowe’s announces it will set aside almost $9 million to settle class-action lawsuit related to claims that Lowe’s sold defective drywall:
Lowe’s Cos., the home improvement retailer, said that it received preliminary court approval of an agreement to provide $6.5 million in gift cards and pay as much as $2.2 million in plaintiffs’ attorney fees to settle a class-action lawsuit related to claims that Lowe’s sold defective drywall, according to this story in the Tuesday, August 10, Wall Street Journal (subscription required). The agreement would not require that Lowe’s admit wrongdoing. According to the agreement filed on Friday, July 30, in superior Court of Muscogee County, Georgia, the lawsuit contends that the drywall sold by Lowe’s contained high levels of sulfur or other organic components that caused disagreeable odors and other problemsI.I.I. quoted in USA Today story on the need to insure vacant homes, or secure a landlord’s policy:
The I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore was quoted in Sandy Block’s Tuesday, August 10, USA Today column on insuring vacant homes, or properties where the owner wanted to sell but is now renting out the residence until the real estate market improves. Michael McRaith, director of the Illinois Department of Insurance, told USA Today that standard homeowners policies are designed to cover occupied homes and that policies may not cover damages or losses if homes are left unoccupied for a month or longer.I.I.I.’s June 2010 Employment Trends analysis shows slight uptick in number of people employed by property/casualty insurers:
P/C carriers employed roughly 1,700 more people in June 2010 (up 0.37 percent from May). This holds the promise of reversing a trend that started in August 2009 of reducing employment every month. P/C carrier employment in June 2010 was close to the level it reached in March 2010, the I.I.I. found. Life insurers added 1,900 employees in June 2010 (up 0.55 percent). Health insurers shed 1,900 positions (down 0.44 percent), the fourth month in a row of declining employment in that industry sector. Meanwhile, U.S. reinsurer employment was essentially flat in June 2010 (and in the second quarter of 2010) at around 25,500, compared with the first quarter of 2010 when it was stable at about 25,200. The number of agents and brokers rose by 1,000 in June 2010 (up 0.16 percent), reversing a slide that began in the summer of 2007. There are now 51,400 fewer agents and brokers than there were three years ago. The full report can be accessed at www.iii.org/presentations/EmploymentTrends/.National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) financial condition is front-page news in Houston Chronicle:
The NFIP has paid out over $8 billion for more than 150,000 properties that have filed multiple claims over the past 15 years, according to this page one story in the Monday, August 9, Houston Chronicle. Repetitive claim properties account for only 1 percent of properties insured by the NFIP but account for between 25 and 30 percent of the claims it pays, the article notes.PCI submits comments to the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets regarding the future of terrorism insurance:
The Property Casualty Insurers (PCI) Association of America issued this Thursday, August 5, news release on the subject.U.S. Senate bill calls for giving Federal Trade Commission (FTC) greater power to regulate insurers:
U.S. Senator Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas) is one of the sponsors of the Insurance Competition and Transparency Act of 2010 (Senate Bill 3685), a measure that is the subject of a Monday, August 2, news release from his office. The legislation appears primarily aimed at health insurers.Florida’s insurance commissioner explains why state’s homeowners insurance premiums have increased since January 2009:
In a question and answer session this week with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s editorial board, Commissioner Kevin McCarty offered details on why the Office of Insurance Regulation’s approval of rate increases since January 2009 for certain insurers was warranted.Florida’s state-run property insurer of last resort is found to have awarded high-value contracts without having gone through the proper bidding process:
The 33 Citizens Property Insurance Corporation contracts in question are valued cumulatively at about $49 million, according to this Monday, August 2, South Florida Sun-Sentinel story.St. Petersburg Times’ PolitiFact columnist consults I.I.I. on whether Florida is “number one state in the country for automobile accident fraud”:
The assertion, made by a Republican candidate for Florida attorney general late last month, was deemed “mostly true” in this Thursday, August 5, St. Petersburg Times item.
Georgia’s Republicans nominate state Senator Ralph Hudgens to be their party’s insurance commissioner nominee:
Senator Hudgens defeated attorney Maria Sheffield, in a Tuesday, August 10, primary runoff, and he will now face Democrat Mary Squires in the general election on Tuesday, November 2. The winner will succeed outgoing Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who is leaving office at year-end 2010 after serving 16 years in that post. Former Congressman Nathan Deal prevailed in the GOP gubernatorial primary and will face former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes, a Democrat, in November.
Connecticut’s statewide primaries set stage for fall’s gubernatorial, U.S. Senate races:
Dan Malloy, a Democrat and the former mayor of Stamford, CT, was an upset winner in the state’s Tuesday, August 10, gubernatorial primary. Malloy will face Tom Foley, a former U.S. ambassador to Ireland and the GOP nominee, in November’s general election, with the victor succeeding incumbent Governor Jodi Rell, who did not seek re-election. Meanwhile, Linda McMahon won the Republican primary election for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Christopher Dodd. McMahon’s Democratic opponent is longtime Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal.Sam Caliguiri wins GOP primary in Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District:
Caliguiri, a state Senator from Waterbury, CT, is running for the seat held currently by Rep. Chris Murphy, a Democrat.
Former Oregon and Nevada insurance commissioner returns to Louisiana as a deputy commissioner:
Scott Kipper, who served as insurance commissioner in Oregon and Nevada over the past three years, was appointed deputy commissioner at the Louisiana Department of Insurance effective Monday, August 9, according to this Thursday, August 5, news release from Louisiana Insurance Commissioner James Donelon.Massachusetts ends the two-year exemption from the residual auto insurance market for new auto insurance market entrants:
Governor Deval Patrick signed the measure into law last week while also touting the arrival of 11 new auto insurers to the state since managed competition came to Massachusetts in April 2008. The governor’s office issued this news release on Thursday, August 5.
