SYNOPSIS ALL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE CALL January 20, 2010

Within the past week, the I.I.I. issued news releases on Haiti’s membership in the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) and U.S. vulnerability to earthquakes, which generated interest from National Public Radio (see item below). The I.I.I.’s Terms + Conditions blog has featured numerous reports on Haiti, also. The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) awarded grants last year to two organizations that are now providing relief in Haiti. Large numbers of insurers and reinsurers have contributed to the effort as well.  The I.I.I. distributed the release on the IICF’s behalf.

National Public Radio’s (NPR) Marketplace looked at the insurance repercussions of the Haiti earthquake, and spoke with I.I.I. president Robert Hartwig and Swiss Re’s Nikhil da Victoria-Lobo. The segment was broadcast on Friday, January 15.

Wall Street Journal story offers historical perspective on ‘Rising from the Ruins’:

The author of The Culture of Calamity: Disaster and the Making of Modern America, an associate professor of American studies at Smith College, explained in a Wall Street Journal Weekend piece (January 16-17, 2010; subscription required) that throughout history natural disasters have spurred development and economic growth, but that Haiti may be an exception because of all the problems the country faced before the Tuesday, January 12, earthquake.

Non-profit groups such as Build Change, which helped communities construct earthquake-resistant housing after devastating quakes in India (2001), Indonesia (2004), and China (2008), are looking to do the same in Haiti in 2010, according to a Tuesday, January 19, 2010, New York Times article.

U.S.Senator-elect Scott Brown’s victory in the Tuesday, January 19, Massachusetts special election gave Republicans a 41^st vote in the U.S. Senate, thereby ending the Democrats’ filibuster-proof majority.

Companies owning insured depository institutions, a group that includes a handful of large U.S. insurers, would have to make significant annual payments to the government under the Financial Crisis Responsibility tax proposed by President Obama on Thursday, January 14, although most of these same insurance companies did not receive federal bailout funds, according to a Tuesday, January 19, Wall Street Journal story (subscription required). 

On Tuesday, January 19, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sent a letter to Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro in which Bernanke defended the Fed’s decision to rescue American International Group (AIG) and agreed that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) should review the Fed’s AIG-related actions, according to a story at CNNMoney.com.

‘Factors Affecting Efforts to Limit Payments to AIG Counterparties’ is the title of a Wednesday, January 27, 10 a.m. public hearing, to be held in Washington, D.C., by the U.S. House of Representatives’ committee on Oversight and Government Reform. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is the lead witness, according to this agenda.

Market Watch did a follow-up piece to the WSJ’s story on Tuesday, January 19.

USA Today story chronicles growing legislative backlash to red-light cameras:

Maine, Mississippi and Montana banned the installation of red light cameras last year, joining at least four other states, Nevada, New Hampshire, West Virginia and Wisconsin, according to this Monday, January 18, USA Today, article. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has compiled a wide variety of research papers indicating red-light cameras improve public safety.

The neighborhoods affected by the 2009 Station Fire are being hit again, this time by the heavy rains impacting southern California this week, the Thursday, January 21, Wall Street Journal reported (subscription required).

In this Sunday, January 17, piece, columnist Michael Stetz wonders why taxpayer-supported fire districts want to send accident victims bills for services rendered.

California insurance commissioner Steve Poizner’s gubernatorial bid was endorsed this week by former Governor George Deukmejian, who served in that office between 1983 and 1991, according to the Tuesday, January 19, edition of the Sacramento Bee. 

The details are in this Tuesday, January 19, San Diego Union-Tribune story. The event gets underway on Thursday, January 28, at Torrey Pines, the Associated Press reports.

Governor Christie, a Republican, named Tom Considine, a vice president and government relations counsel for MetLife, to be the state’s next banking and insurance commissioner. Commissioner Considine is a Bayonne native, and a Democrat, according to a Wednesday, January 20, Jersey Journal story.

The Beaumont Examiner has the latest in a Monday, January 11, article.

State Representative Steve Martin (R-Bartlesville) says getting uninsured drivers off the road is a high priority but some in the media wonder if this measure, if enacted, would be too severe. Additional details on Representative Martin’s legislation are in this Friday, January 8, press release.

Alabama State Senator Ben Brooks (R-Mobile County) has introduced a bill that would require insurers to include in their annual policy renewal statements a breakdown of the premium costs charged for wind, fire, theft and other types of coverage, according to a front-page story in the Monday, January 18, edition of the Mobile Press-Register. 

John Wortman, theCitizens’ CEO, told A.M. Best this week that he will be seeking a premium rate increase of anywhere from 7 to 10 percent from the Louisiana Department of Insurance. He also touted the drop in Citizens’ total book of business to about 130,000 polices from more than 170,000. The Times-Picayune had the story in its Friday, January 15, edition.

The I.I.I.’s Jeanne Salvatore was interviewed as a subject matter expert for an upcoming Today Show segment on what homeowners and/or renters policies cover when it comes to items stored in a safe deposit box at a bank. Reporter Sharon Epperson said the story was bumped from the program on Saturday, January 16, because of NBC’s Haiti coverage.