As healthcare leaders know all too well, the procurement process can be plagued with inefficiencies and complications. The pandemic may be behind us, but the memory of PPE shortages remains vivid, and supply chain disruptions remain an issue. Trade barriers, extreme weather, and limited supplier options all make sourcing more costly and difficult. According to a recent survey, 71% of healthcare systems are still experiencing distribution delays in their supply chain, and 55% report issues in raw material and sourcing availability. These challenges have very real financial implications. In the same survey, nearly one-third (29%) of respondents have seen non-labor…
Author: Awais
American Integrity Insurance Company has returned to the catastrophe bond market, with an initial target to secure at least $175 million of fully-collateralized US named storm reinsurance for losses across southeastern states, through an Integrity Re III Ltd. (Series 2026-1) issuance, Artemis has learned.This new catastrophe bond from American Integrity Insurance will be the company’s ninth in the Integrity Re series of deals. It’s the second from the Integrity Re III Ltd. special purpose insurer that is based in Bermuda, following a $565 million Integrity Re III Ltd. (Series 2025-1) that American Integrity Insurance sponsored one year ago, which became…
For Q4, Selective posted a net income of $2.52 per share. Net premiums written (NPW) rose 4% year-on-year to $1.13 billion, while net premiums earned increased 7% to $1.22 billion. The Q4 combined ratio improved to 93.8%, a 4.7-point gain on the 98.5% reported a year earlier. Catastrophe losses added 1.7 points to the ratio, compared with a 0.9-point benefit in Q4 2024, but there was no prior year casualty reserve development. In the same quarter of 2024, adverse development added 8.8 points.
The Netherlands’ consumer protection regulator ACM has launched an investigation into U.S. gaming platform Roblox over potential risks to underage users in the European Union, it said on Friday [Jan. 30]. The regulator said it will assess whether Roblox is taking adequate measures to protect minors, referring to the EU’s Digital Services Act, which requires platforms to take appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure safety for minors using their services. A Roblox spokesperson said the company is “strongly committed to complying with the EU Digital Services Act” and referred to the gaming platform’s announcement last November that it would require…
Trafigura won its London lawsuit against Indian businessman Prateek Gupta over fake nickel cargoes on Friday, with London’s High Court ruling in favor of the commodities trader. Geneva-based Trafigura alleged Gupta was the mastermind of a fraudulent “Ponzi scheme” in which he and his companies agreed to provide high-quality 99.8% pure nickel but delivered low-value or even worthless materials instead. Gupta accepted he did not deliver high-grade nickel cargoes but says Trafigura staff devised the scheme, something Trafigura’s former head nickel trader Sokratis Oikonomou denied when giving evidence in November. Read more: Trafigura Lawyers Claim Gupta Had History of Fraud…
A deadly gas explosion in a New York City high-rise last weekend was traced to an intruder who disconnected a stove to steal and sell it, prosecutors said Thursday.The suspect, Samuel Calderon, was being held without bail after his arraignment on murder, burglary and other charges in the Bronx blast, which sent flames surging through the apartment building’s windows shortly after midnight Saturday.A 60-year-old resident, Ronald McAllister, was killed, and more than a dozen other people were injured. Some occupants leaned out of windows, yelling into the frigid night for help.His lawyers declined to comment Thursday. No contact information for…
Two years ago, in May of 2023, a circuit court judge in Lee County, Florida, sharply criticized a restoration contractor, accusing him of concealing the true cost of condominium roof work in an assignment-of-benefits claim with Tower Hill insurance. Six months later, the state Department of Financial Services and local prosecutors brought criminal fraud charges against the contractor, Ricky McGraw, of South Florida Restoration Services, charging him with insurance fraud and grand theft. Florida’s chief financial officer at the time, Jimmy Patronis, now a Congressman, called the alleged fraud “despicable” and a reason behind rising premiums in the state. Last…
Hackers and other criminals can easily commandeer computers operating open-source large language models outside the guardrails and constraints of the major artificial-intelligence platforms, creating security risks and vulnerabilities, researchers said on Thursday. Hackers could target the computers running the LLMs and direct them to carry out spam operations, phishing content creation or disinformation campaigns, evading platform security protocols, the researchers said. The research, carried out jointly by cybersecurity companies SentinelOne and Censys over the course of 293 days and shared exclusively with Reuters, offers a new window into the scale of potentially illicit use cases for thousands of open-source LLM…
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Friday it had written to 42 law firms warning them about diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring, which it described as potentially unfair and anticompetitive. President Donald Trump’s administration has eliminated DEI-related programs in the government. Several private firms have also rolled back such initiatives. The FTC letters were addressed to many of the country’s largest and most profitable firms. Three of them—Paul Weiss, WilmerHale and Perkins Coie—were targeted last year by Trump executive orders that threatened their business practices, citing in part their allegedly discriminatory hiring practices. Paul Weiss and two other firms…
Price, relevance, conviction — Bitcoin is bleeding all three. The world’s largest cryptocurrency slipped below $76,000 in thin weekend trading, dropping about 40% from its 2025 peak and revisiting levels last seen in the aftermath of the “Liberation Day” tariff fallout. What began as a sharp crash in October has morphed into something more corrosive: a selloff shaped not by panic, but by absence of buyers, momentum and belief. Unlike the October drawdown, there’s been no obvious spark, cascading liquidations or systemic shock — just fading demand, thinning liquidity, and a token that’s untethered to broader markets. Bitcoin has failed…
Since the start of 2025, USAA has implemented rate increases in at least 14 states and Washington, D.C., with overall effective hikes of up to 12.5% in California, according to BestLink. Other jurisdictions, including Montana and the District of Columbia, saw overall rises of up to 10.2% and 11.7%, respectively, across various sublines. Smaller overall decreases are taking effect this year in Virginia, down as much as 1.7%, and fractionally in Indiana, although Indiana itself was among the states that saw higher overall effective increases last year.
Lockton’s transaction liability practice advises on W&I insurance, tax liability and contingent risk solutions, as well as bespoke structures for known issues and special situations. Sitting at the junction of legal, financial and insurance due diligence, these coverages can influence bid dynamics, where risk sits post-closing and how competitive a buyer appears in auction processes.
The U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday suspended the search for seven people who were aboard a commercial fishing vessel that sank off the coast of Massachusetts in rough, frigid waters. The Coast Guard launched a search and rescue mission early Friday after receiving an alert from the 72-foot (22-meter) Lily Jean about 25 miles (40 kilometers) off Cape Ann. Searchers found a debris field near where the alert was sent along with a body in the water and an empty life raft, the Coast Guard said. Crews covered about 1,000 square miles (2,589 square kilometers) using aircraft, cutters and small…
Within the segment, Marsh Risk posted fourth-quarter revenue of $3.7 billion, up 10%, with underlying growth of 3%. US and Canada underlying revenue rose 3%, while international growth was 4%, led by gains in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Guy Carpenter recorded fourth-quarter revenue of $215 million, up 7%, and full-year revenue of $2.5 billion, up 6%.