As another wildfire season looms, insurance companies have abandoned some California neighborhoods at lower risk of burning, forcing tens of thousands of homeowners to obtain bare-bones coverage from the state’s insurer of last resort. California intended the insurer, called the FAIR Plan, as a backstop for homeowners unable to secure insurance on the private market because they live in areas of the state classifies as at high risk for wildfire due to vegetation, terrain and weather. Between September 2024 and December 2025, enrollment in FAIR surged 43% as insurers pull back from California following a series of catastrophic wildfires, including…
Author: Awais
The incident could intensify scrutiny of cyber war exclusions and coverage triggers
In an agreement between the two companies, GuardDog admitted it masqueraded as a healthcare provider in order to gain access to medical records.
The Trump administration’s $20 billion maritime reinsurance program, which aims to cover hull & machinery, as well as cargo, is designed to get ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz. But, according to Moody’s Ratings, without coverage of liability risk, the plan isn’t likely to work. On March 6, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) announced a plan to provide reinsurance for vessels sailing through the Strait, aiming to “restore confidence in maritime trade, help stabilize international commerce, and support American and allied businesses operating in the Middle East during the conflict with Iran.” On March 11, the DFC…
A Florida judge has given another win to Citizens Property Insurance Corp., finding that the state-created insurer’s arbitration endorsement is constitutional and enforceable. “Final judgment is granted in favor of Citizens and against the plaintiff as to this declaration that the subject state and the arbitration endorsement do not violate the rights of access to the courts, equal protection or due process,” reads the March 10 order from Leon County Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom. Homeowner Patricia Ruiz had filed suit in 2025, contending that Citizens’ 2023 plan to send some claims disputes to the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings, known…
McGill and Partners and American International Group said they collaborating to perhaps disrupt the subscription market—using agentic artificial intelligence to deploy capital to clients. AIG said the digital-first platform of the London-based independent broker allowed the insurer to conduct a detailed analysis of McGill’s specialty portfolio and create underwriting criteria to enable real-time underwriting through McGill. The new AIG-McGill relationship “has the potential to disrupt the dynamics of the subscription market,” said Steve McGill, CEO of McGill and Partners, in a statement. “It strengthens the value proposition of leading underwriters in the market and redefines the way capacity is positioned…
In a three-way deal, TPG, an asset management firm, has launched an insurance brokerage with offices in South Carolina. That brokerage, Third Wave Insurance, has acquired Palmer & Cay, an insurance and employee benefits brokerage in Atlanta. Palmer & Cay, founded in 1968, will serve as the flagship retail business for Third Wave and will continue to operate under its own name, the companies said in a news release. Palmer & Cay focuses on commercial coverage for mid- to large corporate clients. Jack Cay is CEO and is the fifth generation of Cay family members to lead the firm. Third…
Two waves of tornadoes, hail, and 60mph winds left damage across more than a dozen states
A man was charged week with selling a stolen gun to Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former member of the Army National Guard who used it to kill one person and wound two others at Old Dominion University, federal authorities said. The charges came a day after the attack by Jalloh, who had previously spent eight years in prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State group. Authorities say Jalloh yelled “Allahu akbar” before opening fire in a classroom at the Virginia school and being killed by ROTC students. The shooting happened in a class attended by active duty servicemembers and…
US data center development has slowed because the power grid is reaching its limit to accommodate more large facilities, according to research from energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. Developers added data centers that would consume about 25 gigawatts of electricity to their project pipelines in the fourth quarter of 2025, roughly half as much as they added in the third quarter. Projected capital spending by the biggest developers will decelerate in 2026 compared with the previous year for the first time since 2023, the WoodMac report states. “Both utilities and grid operators are essentially putting the brakes on and making it…
We’ve learned that US primary insurance giant State Farm has registered a new company structure in Bermuda under the Merna Re naming convention that has applied to all of its catastrophe bonds, suggesting the insurer may be set to return to the capital markets for more reinsurance.State Farm has been sponsoring catastrophe bonds as a way to secure multi-year, fully-collateralized reinsurance backed by capital market investors since at least the year 2000. Of the now 24 series of cat bond notes we’ve featured in our Deal Directory over the years that State Farm has sponsored, 23 have been issued by…
Starbucks may be neglecting the financial and reputational risks that stem from labor disputes, two proxy advisory firms are warning shareholders. The warnings come more than a year after contract talks between the company and its U.S. union, formed by baristas at its coffee shops, broke down. On Friday, the union and Starbucks both said they are in talks to resume bargaining in the coming weeks. The union said it sent a new complete proposal to the company on February 9. “There are ongoing controversies related to labor disputes, and it is not clear there is sufficient board oversight of…
It’s open enrollment season for Medicare Advantage, when people currently enrolled in private managed-care plans can either sign up for a new one or switch to original Medicare through March 31. But there’s a catch: If people want to move to original Medicare and buy a supplemental Medigap insurance plan to cover some out-of-pocket costs, they may not be able to. Medigap insurers can generally refuse coverage to applicants whose medical history or current health problems might make them expensive to cover, a process called medical underwriting. “We really want people to factor that in,” said Kata Kertesz, managing policy…
Palantir-powered system will deploy capacity in real time across up to $1.6 billion in specialty premiums