The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has produced a joint issues paper with the MicroInsurance Network regarding the role of mutuals, cooperatives and community-based organisations (MCCOs) in insurance markets. …
Read More International Association of Insurance Supervisors issues paper on the role of participants in MicroInsurance

The Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS) submitted its advice to the European Commission on the revision of the Insurance Mediation Directive (2002/92/EC) (IMD), on 11 November 2010. …
Read More EU: Advice on the revision of the Insurance Mediation Directive

Bed bugs are quickly becoming the bug du jour. While some media reports have anointed Cincinnati the “Bed Bug Capital of the U.S.,” others have given the honor to New York City. …
Read More Bed Bugs – the Next Big Bug for Business Interruption Insurers?

As previously discussed here, Ambac Financial Group Inc. has filed for bankruptcy for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief with United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. …
Read More Ambac and IRS Come to Temporary Terms Regarding Dispute Over $700 Million in Tax Refunds

Earlier this year, the leadership at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) directed its staff at the Office of the Chief Accountant to develop a Work Plan to consider the convergence of the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Standards (“GAAP”) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”). …
Read More SEC Issues First Progress Report on Convergence of Global Accounting Standards

The California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has filed a lawsuit challenging the determination made by the California Office of Administrative Law (“OAL”) that the Commissioner’s attempt to place a moratorium on new investment in companies doing business in Iran by insurers licensed in California is an overreach of the Commissioner’s powers. …
Read More California Insurance Commissioner Sues to Uphold Moratorium on Investment in Iran

On November 22, 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued final regulations on the medical loss ratio requirements provided for in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). …
Read More Federal Government Issues Final Medical Loss Ratio Regulations

As we last discussed here, the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of New York (“IIABNY”) and the Council of Insurance Brokers of Greater New York (“CIBGNY”) jointly filed an Article 78 proceeding to block the implementation of Insurance Regulation 194, which requires insurance producers to disclose certain information regarding their compensation to their clients.  Regulation 194 is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2011. …
Read More New York Court Rules in Favor of Producer Compensation Disclosure Regulation

Three people have been charged with motor insurance fraud after allegations they acted as “ghost brokers”, the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) has reported. The two men and one woman are suspected of working as ghost brokers, or illegal intermediaries, offering cheap motor insurance. …
Read More UK: Ghost Brokers Charged with Insurance Fraud

Prudential Assurance Co Ltd & Ors v Revenue & Customs Commissioners [2010] EWHC 2811 (Ch) concerned the UK’s former rules on the taxation of dividends received by insurance companies resident in the UK on shareholdings in foreign companies which were held as investments in their pension and life assurance business. …
Read More UK: Prudential Test Case Relating to UK Dividend Taxation Adjourned