In the weeks following the implosion of a massive tank at a Washington paper mill that killed 11 workers and spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of chemicals, believed to be the deadliest industrial accident in state history, managers of similar operations have been dialing up their insurance brokers to find out how well they’re protected. It took days to recover all the bodies of missing workers who died in the May 26 blast at the Nippon Dynawave site in Longview. In additional to the workers killed, seven other workers and a firefighter were also injured by burns from the…
Author: Awais
Hudson Insurance Group, headquartered in New York City, appointed Beth Diamond as senior vice president and chief claims officer. Diamond has more than two decades of specialty claims experience and most recently served as group chief claims and litigation officer at Beazley. During her tenure, she led teams across multiple lines of business and held global leadership positions across complex claims and cyber & technology. Diamond will be based in New York. Topics Claims Was this article valuable? Yes No Here are more articles you may enjoy. Interested in Claims? Get automatic alerts for this topic.
Georgia insurance brokers and agents are sounding the alarm—and perhaps checking their own errors and omissions coverage—after a recent state appeals court ruling opened the door for third parties to sue when full coverage is not secured. “This ruling fails to understand the insurance buying process and is disastrous for agents and the industry,” said Michael Iverson, a commercial agent and former president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Georgia. Iverson was speaking of a May 13 decision from the Court of Appeals of Georgia, which, for the first time, allows insureds to assign claims to people who are not…
President Donald Trump outlined a hands-off approach to addressing cybersecurity threats raised by artificial intelligence under an executive order that calls for giving the US government voluntary access to AI models. The directive was signed June 2, two weeks after the president postponed the measure over concerns that it risked stifling tech innovation. It stops short of mandating safety tests on cutting-edge AI models and instead seeks to make them available to the government with developers’ permission for a 30-day review period. It also calls for creating a clearinghouse for AI companies and agencies, including the Treasury Department and Pentagon,…
The increasing need for memory chips to power artificial intelligence data centers could lead to dramatic price hikes in U.S. consumer goods and disrupt supply chains, groups representing automakers, retailers, electronic firms and others said on Wednesday. The groups said in a letter to the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments that “an urgent imbalance in the market for memory chips could lead to significant and sustained near-term price increases for American households and disrupt critical U.S. supply chains.” The letter shows the growing seriousness of the issue that threatens pricing and supply of key consumer goods. The U.S. government has…
The Trump administration’s decision to dismantle most of a $386 million federal ocean-observing network will leave scientists without an irreplaceable source of data used to understand how climate change is affecting crucial currents and marine ecosystems and increasing coastal flooding. “No other system has the comprehensiveness,” said Craig McLean, the former acting chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and now a senior fellow at the Ocean Foundation. Other monitoring networks provide valuable information but represent only “bits and pieces,” he said, of what is collectively measured. The network of sensors, moorings and autonomous instruments known as the…
With Oak Global successfully securing its debut catastrophe bond, the $150 million Arthur Re Ltd. – Quercian Re 2026-1 issuance, executives from the firm have highlighted how it marks an important moment in the development of the company and demonstrates its ability to access new forms of capital.Oak Global, the specialist Lloyd’s underwriting company, made its debut in the catastrophe bond market as a sponsor for the first time, as we initially reported on May 19th. The company was at first seeking a $75 million source of retrocessional protection from the capital markets through its debut cat bond. During the marketing…
What Can Government Do to Help Consumers?Prior authorization can be a useful tool for protecting patients from low-value care that provides little benefit or might actually harm them. However, the processes insurers currently use lack clear rationales that patients and their providers can understand. Most troubling is that prior authorization is preventing patients from getting the care they need while placing additional burdens on physicians and their staff.When asked what policymakers might do to help consumers, focus group participants said there should be greater transparency in insurer decision-making with “no ambiguity” in which procedures are covered. Some participants thought there…
Allstate, the US primary insurance giant, has added more catastrophe bond protection, by successfully securing an additional $30 million of multi-peril reinsurance which we believe to be for Florida from a privately placed zero-coupon Sanders Re III Ltd. (Series 2026-3) notes issuance, Artemis can report.This isn’t the first time Allstate has come back at the mid-year with an additional and more privately placed cat bond, to secure additional reinsurance protection. The last time we saw this from the insurer was in 2024, when it secured $74.5 of multi-peril Florida focused reinsurance from a zero-coupon, privately placed Sanders Re II Ltd.…
Extreme weather will likely spur more than $20 trillion in global spending over the next decade, boosting sales and earnings for reinsurers and companies involved in energy efficiency and climate security, according to analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence. Returns for a group of 275 companies focused on environmental adaptation and mitigation beat the broader market by almost 32 percentage points in the year through April 19, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Andrew John Stevenson and Eric Kane wrote in a report published Tuesday. Spending on climate adaptation has helped drive gains for companies including BWX Technologies Inc., RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd., Woodward Inc. and…
The Trump administration’s rollout of a federal mandate that millions of Americans on Medicaid must work or risk losing health benefits will force states to scrap months of preparation, according to advocates for Medicaid enrollees and consultants advising states. And they say an overhaul — less than seven months before states must start enforcing the requirement — will be costly. Regulations issued June 1 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services dictate many granular details about how the new work requirements will play out. They cover how states should check whether Medicaid enrollees are following the rules, and how…
Rising costs are eroding Americans’ trust in their commercial plans despite an industry-wide push to increase consumer satisfaction, the analytics firm found.
USA Rare Earth said on Tuesday it will invest $1.2 billion to build a magnet manufacturing and rare earth metals facility in South Carolina, as it expands domestic production capacity. Shares of the company rose 5.9% to $31.1 in morning trade. Rare earths are a group of elements used in electric vehicles, medical equipment, oil refining, wind turbines and defense. Topics South Carolina Was this article valuable? Yes No Here are more articles you may enjoy. The most important insurance news,in your inbox every business day. Get the insurance industry’s trusted newsletter
IMA Financial Group, a large North American insurance brokerage, named Rob Price as Alabama Market president, based in Birmingham, the firm announced. Price has been a top performer at the brokerage for almost nine years, and recently led IMA’s executive risk, private equity and mergers practice. As Alabama market head he will oversee IMA’s Alabama offices, including growth and profitability, the company said. IMA expanded into Alabama in 2025 through a partnership with Valent Group, which is headquartered in Birmingham with offices in Mobile and Decatur. The Alabama market includes 86 employees, generates more than $24 million in annual revenue,…