The RAA educational program entitled ReContracts: The Art of Designing Reinsurance Contracts and Programs, kicked off on Tuesday March 15, at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess in Bermuda.  On Tuesday Kathleen Carroll, of Guy Carpenter & Company, gave a presentation on Reinsurance Contract Terms – Standard, Required and Optional Clauses. …
Read More RAA ReContracts 2011: Live from Bermuda

Florida lawmakers have introduced legislation that would return state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to its original mandate as an insurer of last resort.  Florida Representative Jim Boyd and Florida State Senator Alan Hays have introduced identical bills in the Florida House and Senate. …
Read More Legislation Introduced That Would Shrink Citizens Property Insurance Corporation

On February 1, 2011, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled a proposed 2011-2012 executive budget. As part of the Executive Budget, the Governor submitted a bill merging the Insurance and Banking Departments and the Consumer Protection Board into a single state agency, to be known as the Department of Financial Regulation. InsureReinsure.com is following and reporting the latest developments. Click here to see what we’ve posted.

Read More New York Insurance and Banking Merger

In Re Digital Satellites Warranty Cover Limited & ors [2011] EWHC 122 (Ch) the English Companies Court considered three “public interest” petitions brought by the UK Financial Services Authority (the FSA) for the winding-up of two companies and a partnership (the Respondents). The FSA alleged that the Respondents had carried on (either in succession or with some overlap) substantially the same business namely the selling of extended warranty cover for satellite TV equipment without the authorisation required under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the FSMA). …
Read More UK: FSA Succeeds in Winding-Up Unauthorised Companies

As anticipated in our earlier blog post, the U.S. House of Representatives has voted on a bill that would repeal the IRS Form 1099 information-reporting requirements imposed by Section 9006 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  On March 3, 2011 the House approved H.R. 4 – Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011. …
Read More U.S. House of Representatives Approves Repeal of 1099 Reporting Requirement

The Supreme Court has handed down its decision in Sienkiewicz v Greif. The UK’s highest appeal court was reviewing the application of the “Fairchild exception” to single rather than multiple exposure cases. We reported on the Court of Appeal decision here. …
Read More UK: Sienkiewicz: Another Decision About the UK’s “Special” Mesothelioma Jurisprudence

Masefield AG v Amlin Corporate Member [2011] EWCA Civ 24 concerned an appeal brought by Masefield against the High Court’s finding (previously reported in our June 2010 issue, which report also includes full facts of the case) that the capture of Masefield’s biodiesel on board the Bunga Melati Dua was not an ‘actual total loss’ under section 57 of the Marine Insurance Act 1906. …
Read More Court of Appeal: Capture of Ship and its Cargo by Somali Pirates Seeking Payment of Ransom Does Not Constitute “Actual Total Loss”

In our September 2010 issue of Insurance and Reinsurance Review, we reported on the Law Commission’s proposed amendments to the duty of good faith as set out in Issues Papers 6 and 7. …
Read More Insurance Contract Law Reform: Recent Developments and the Road Ahead

The Financial Services and Treasury Bureau of Hong Kong recently published a Consultation Paper entitled “Proposed Establishment of an Independent Insurance Authority” (Consultation Paper), with a proposal to establish a new insurance regulatory authority which is both financially and operationally independent of the Hong Kong Government, and to give the independent body more supervisory powers over the industry. …
Read More Hong Kong: Proposed Establishment of an Independent Insurance Authority

The UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced that it intends to close a competition investigation into information exchange between motor insurers, following formal commitments from the companies concerned to limit the exchange of information on individual pricing strategies. …
Read More Insurers: Beware of Information Exchanges