AM Besthas revised the outlooks to stable from negative and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings of “a” (Excellent) for the following pooled members of Western Reserve Group: Western Reserve Mutual Casualty Company, Lightning Rod Mutual Insurance Company and Sonnenberg Mutual Insurance Company. These companies are domiciled in Wooster, Ohio and collectively referred to as Western Reserve Group (WRG or the group). These Credit Ratings reflect WRG’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).…
Author: Awais
The Society of Actuaries (SOA), the world’s largest actuarial professional organization, named Clar Rosso as the new CEO, effective May 4. Rosso assumes the role from Greg Heidrich, who is retiring after serving as CEO since 2007. Rosso recently served as CEO of ISC2, a cybersecurity professional association. Before ISC2, Rosso held executive leadership roles at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA & CIMA), where she guided global member learning and engagement initiatives and led the organization’s market growth in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. SOA is based in Chicago, Illinois. Was this article valuable? Yes No…
Georgia could become the first state to require every student to be checked for weapons when arriving at a public school each day. A bill is nearing passage that would require weapons detection systems in a further reaction to a 2024 school shooting that killed four. “That rifle would have never reached our hallways,” said Daria Lezczynska, a junior at Apalachee High School in Winder, where the shooting took place. “Lives would have been saved. Families would not be grieving, Students like me would not be carrying this trauma.” Some schools have long used metal detectors or required students to…
A shooting in Boston. A carjacking in Washington, D.C. A robbery in New York. All were carried out with guns that were among hundreds bought in the South and trafficked north to cities with some of the nation’s strictest firearms laws, according to court documents gathered by the group Everytown for Gun Safety. The group’s new report illuminates a key way that guns go from legitimate store shelves to crime scenes: people, known as straw purchasers, buy weapons legally and resell them on the black market. The report traces more than 250 guns bought over the course of three years…
Marsh Risk said it has secured comprehensive insurance coverage for TerraPower’s Kemmerer Unit 1 in Kemmerer, Wyoming, considered the nation’s first commercial-scale, advanced nuclear power plant approved for construction by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. According to Marsh, the placement is backed by U.S., London, and Bermuda insurers alongside traditional nuclear insurance pools and risk-retention vehicles. Marsh said the placement also marks the first time a next-generation U.S. nuclear plant has gained direct access to the commercial insurance marketplace. The insurance program provides cover for TerraPower and its partners throughout the construction phase of the power plant, which is expected to…
The case traces back to September 2024, when a woman named Jenna Combel filed suit in state court claiming she suffered paralysis and nerve damage from inhaling nitrous oxide she purchased from Tahoe, among other defendants, between 2019 and 2023. In her complaint, Combel described nitrous oxide inhalation as producing euphoric, dissociated, and out-of-body experiences, and alleged that the substance is commonly sold and used as a recreational drug known as whippets, poppers, or laughing gas. She sued Tahoe and twenty other alleged distributors and manufacturers.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday it will fund up to $1 billion in disaster-resilient infrastructure under a grant program it had previously canceled and criticized as being wasteful. The move was prompted by an order from a US district court earlier this month, which had mandated in December that the Trump administration restore the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. FEMA launched the multibillion-dollar grant initiative during President Donald Trump’s first term in office in an effort to reduce the cost of future disasters. State, local and tribal governments can apply to fund an array of construction…
Other types of captive insurance companies, including pure, association, sponsored, industrial insured, and agency captives, retain their existing reporting framework largely intact. They continue to file with the Commissioner by March 15, and may apply for an alternative fiscal year-end reporting date. If granted, their annual report is due 75 days after the fiscal year-end, with a premium schedule filing still required by March 15 to support the premium tax return.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte has sent letters to the Department of Justice encouraging prosecutors to open new fraud investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James related to real estate. Pulte wrote separately to the US attorneys for the Southern District of Florida and Northern District of Illinois in letters dated Wednesday. He alleged that James appeared to misrepresent who would occupy property in separate homeowner insurance applications, saying the documents could indicate that James “may have defrauded” insurers in those states. James has emerged as one of President Donald Trump top perceived political enemies. She brought…
It’s not how the program was supposed to work. But thanks to a legal anachronism, Britain’s state-backed plan intended to help those most exposed to flooding has ended up favoring the country’s richest property owners. Economists at the Bank of England have already suggested that Flood Re, the UK’s flood insurer of last resort, may not be channeling enough support to those who need it most. But the full scale of the distortions isn’t well understood, according to the program’s chief executive. Subsidies provided by Flood Re are flowing from poorer people in the north to some of Britain’s richest…
First Central Group Ltd., the UK vehicle and home insurer, has appointed investment banks as it prepares for a potential initial public offering in London, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has lined up Deutsche Bank AG and UBS Group AG to steer a potential share sale, the people said, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. It’s has also asked Fenchurch Advisory Partners to act as financial adviser on the offering, they added. A listing could value First Central at close to £1 billion ($1.3 billion), some of the people said. No…
The conflicting statements came as the economic and humanitarian toll of the war mounted, with fuel shortages spreading worldwide, sending companies and countries scrambling to contain the fallout. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said while there had been no dialog or negotiation with the U.S., various messages had been exchanged through intermediaries. Read more: Iran Is Drafting Law to Introduce Tolls for Hormuz Transit “Messages being conveyed through our friendly countries and us responding by stating our positions or issuing the necessary warnings is not called negotiation or dialog,” Araqchi said in a state television interview on Wednesday. Trump, speaking…
The UK will interdict and board Russian “shadow fleet” vessels in its waters, increasing European pressure on Moscow over tankers exporting sanctioned crude in transactions that help fund the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said the move aims to deliver a blow to President Vladimir Putin, who is using the fleet to generate revenue to support the attacks on its neighbor. “Putin is rubbing his hands at the war in the Middle East because he thinks higher oil prices will let him line his pockets,” Starmer said in a statement released Wednesday. “That’s why we’re going…
Allied Trust Insurance Company has now secured its targeted $100 million of fully-collateralized named storm reinsurance protection from the capital markets through its second catastrophe bond sponsorship, with the Sabine Re Ltd. (Series 2026-1) issuance now priced, Artemis has learned.Allied Trust Insurance Company had returned to the market for its second catastrophe bond sponsorship earlier this month. The initial target was to secure $100 million of named storm reinsurance covering the states of Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisiana, similar to its first Sabine Re Ltd. (Series 2024-1) transaction. Now, we’ve learned that the insurer has successfully priced its…