The IRS delayed application of the nondiscrimination rules under Internal Revenue Code section 105(h) to fully-insured group health plans. This IRS notice is welcome relief to employers who lacked any substantive guidance on how to structure their group health plans and other arrangements to comply with these rules. …
Read More The IRS Delivers Welcome Relief to Fully Insured Group Health Plans by Delaying Affordable Care Act Nondiscrimination Rules

As expected, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced during his State of the State address plans to merge the Insurance Department with the Banking Department and Consumer Protection Board in order to create a new Department of Financial Regulation.  Governor Cuomo stated that the merger is necessary to properly regulate modern financial services organizations and the “primary mission of this new agency will be to stand up for consumers, protect them against predatory lending and unlawful foreclosure practices, and provide access to good, honest and capable financial services at competitive rates.” …
Read More UPDATE: New York Governor Formally Announces Plan To Merge Insurance Department with Banking Department

According to reports, it is anticipated that incoming New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will announce during his State of the State Address tomorrow, January 5, 2011, plans to merge the Insurance Department and Banking Department into a single agency in an effort to reduce costs and improve efficiency.  Such a merger would require approval from the New York State Legislature before it would become effective. …
Read More BREAKING NEWS: New York Governor To Propose Merger of Banking and Insurance Departments

The Law Commission has published the responses it has received to Issues Paper 7: The Insured’s Post-Contractual Duty of Good Faith. The Commission received 33 responses in total with the majority coming, not surprisingly, from the insurance and legal sectors. …
Read More UK: Law Commission Publishes Summary of Responses to Issues Paper 7

We have reported previously on proposals to establish a ‘twin peaks’ regulatory approach  in the UK (click here to see our most recent post and here to read an article in the December 2010 issue of Insurance and Reinsurance Review). …
Read More UK: Chief Executive of the FSA Gives Update on UK Regulatory Reform

In December, the National Council of Private Insurance (CNSP) published Resolutions Nos. 224/10 and 225/10, each amending Resolution 168/07.  Resolution 224, which becomes effective January 31, 2011, provides that insurance risks in Brazil cannot be ceded to companies abroad that belong to the same financial group. …
Read More Brazil – Recent Insurance Regulations

The recent federal approval of the first wind farm (“Cape Wind”) to be built in United States’ waters marks a new era for renewable energy projects, said Peter Mavraganis, recently appointed leader of Marsh’s U.S. Renewable Energy Practice. …
Read More Offshore Wind Energy Brings New Opportunities and Risks to Insurance Industry

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently affirmed a district court decision that remanded to state court a lawsuit asserted by the Liquidator of Midland Insurance Company against its reinsurer, Dunav Re, finding that the Service of Suit clause in the reinsurance treaties at issue unambiguously waived Dunav Re’s right to remove the dispute to federal court. …
Read More Second Circuit Finds That Service of Suit Provision in Treaties Unambiguously Waived Reinsurer’s Right of Removal