With implications of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East cascading across financial markets, investors are assessing how individual asset classes might be affected. Catastrophe bonds remain remote to such geopolitical events, but there are indirect financial market linkages investors should be aware of, according to specialist catastrophe bond fund manager Icosa Investments.“Recent developments in the Middle East have triggered a familiar chain reaction across global markets: falling equities, rising oil prices and renewed concerns about geopolitical risk. In times like these, investors naturally reassess how different asset classes might be affected,” Icosa Investments explained in a post on LinkedIn.…
Author: Awais
The Trump administration announced a $20 billion reinsurance program aimed at reviving shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has all but stopped amid the US and Israeli attacks on Iran. The US International Development Finance Corp. said Friday it is deploying maritime reinsurance, including war risk, in the Persian Gulf region to stabilize commerce. The facility will insure losses up to about $20 billion “on a rolling basis” and will apply only to vessels for now, according to a statement. The announcement comes days after President Donald Trump ordered DFC to offer insurance “at a very reasonable price”…
Allstate is claiming $8,629,995.28 in damages and, invoking federal RICO treble damages provisions, is seeking $25,889,985.84, along with attorneys’ fees and exemplary damages. The suit brings seven counts: two RICO violations under 18 U.S.C. Section 1962(c), one RICO conspiracy count under Section 1962(d), common law fraud, conspiracy, unjust enrichment, and money had and received.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has positioned himself as a national public health leader by staking out science-backed policies in contrast with the Trump administration. After Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez for refusing what her lawyers called “the dangerous politicization of science,” Newsom hired her to help modernize California’s public health system. He also gave a job to Debra Houry, the agency’s former chief science and medical officer, who had resigned in protest hours after Monarez’s firing. Newsom also teamed up with fellow Democratic…
After that judgment was handed down, Chubb filed a counterclaim arguing that, by paying the claim, it acquired property rights in the aircraft, including salvage and subrogation rights. The insurer relied on policy language that allows it to take covered aircraft as salvage where a claim is settled as a “total loss, constructive total loss or arranged total loss.”
The search has been called off for any survivors after a commercial fishing vessel with two people aboard sank off Cape Cod, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday. Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England received a notification just before noon Thursday that the vessel Yankee Rose was overturned about three nautical miles (3.5 miles) northeast of Race Point in Provincetown. Coast Guard crews arrived on the scene along with local agencies minutes later. One person was recovered from the boat but on Friday, the town manager of Provincetown, Alex Morse, said that person had died. He did not provide any…
A private jet that crashed in Maine in January, killing all six people aboard, remained on the ground 8 minutes longer than it should have after receiving a deicing treatment in a snowstorm, according to a preliminary report issued Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board. The plane should have waited no more than 9 minutes from the start of when the deicing treatment began before taking off in those cold and snowy conditions, according to Federal Aviation Administration guidelines. But the NTSB report said 17 minutes passed before takeoff. The cockpit voice recorder captured the pilot commenting that it…
Five insurance carriers cannot be expected to defend or indemnify a Georgia boarding school where child sexual abuse took place decades before the liability policies were written, the Georgia Court of Appeals has found in a ruling that reversed a $345 million judgment against the insurers. “…The fact that the mental anguish continued in subsequent years does not mean the injury ‘comes into existence’ in each subsequent policy period, the three-judge panel said in the March 6 opinion, addressing the heart of Darlington School victims’ argument. The litigation has been brewing for almost a decade. The appeals court’s review was…
The share of insurance companies planning to maintain their current staff size over the next 12 months has reached a 15-year high—while just 7% of insurers plan to reduce headcount in 2026. Aon and The Jacobson Group’s Q1 2026 Insurance Labor Market Study found that 43% of industry respondents expect to hold staffing steady. That figure is up 10 percentage points from January 2025. Jeff Rieder, head of benchmarking for Aon’s strategy and technology group, shared those findings during a Feb. 19 webinar. He pointed to several possible factors behind the trend, including a historically profitable 2025, strong investment performance…
Liberty Mutual’s underwriting results across its businesses came in ahead of targets the company set three years ago when the business was unprofitable, the chief executive reported yesterday, also giving a sense of future strategies. “In 2026, a key focus is shifting from fixing to building—taking what’s working and scaling it, leaning into our target segments and distribution, and growing only where returns meet our thresholds,” Tim Sweeney said on an investor conference call for Liberty Mutual Holding Company. For the full year, Liberty reported a 55% jump in net income to $6.8 billion, with its combined ratio landing at…
President Donald Trump ousted Kristi Noem as head of the Department of Homeland Security, a move announced Thursdaythat will also have major implications for the nation’s top disaster agency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which falls under DHS, has been at the center of numerous controversies under Noem’s leadership. They include delays in disaster response and recovery efforts nationwide, the cutting of popular preparedness programs, and putting whistleblowers on administrative leave. At times, Noem has advocated for abolishing or eliminating the agency in its current form — a position Trump once promoted. Earlier this week, she faced a bipartisan backlash…
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday aimed at fighting cybercrime — including fraud and extortion — directing officials to identify robust tools to combat transnational criminal organizations preying on American families, businesses and infrastructure. The directive calls for a “comprehensive review to determine what operational, technical, diplomatic, and regulatory tools could be improved to combat transnational criminal organizations” that carry out cybercrimes and “predatory schemes,” according to the White House. It also directs administration officials to present an action plan identifying the criminal organizations behind digital offenses and to offer solutions to prevent and halt their operations. The…
The insurer also reported full-year direct written premiums of $289.8 million, down 15.3% from 2024. Fourth-quarter direct written premiums fell 26% year over year to $54.1 million. The declines in both periods were driven primarily by the company’s strategic decision to cut back in nonstandard auto, including exits from Illinois, South Dakota, and Arizona, partly offset by growth in its home and farm business in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska.
However, majority of financial professionals say life and annuity partners are not very easy to deal with