The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently reaffirmed that jurisdiction’s broad understanding of a general liability carrier’s duty to defend, holding that an insurer had a duty to defend against a claim of trespass first asserted after the expiration of its policy period. …
Read More Massachusetts Court Reaffirms General Liability Insurers’ Broad Duty to Defend

In an unpublished opinion, the Eleventh Circuit recently affirmed the trial court’s decision that a D&O policy does not provide coverage for third-party property damage claims. …
Read More Eleventh Circuit Upholds That D&O Policy Does Not Provide Coverage for Claims Arising Out of Property Damage Under Florida Law

Domestic insurers in China are being encouraged by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (the CIRC) to grow new business through electronic commerce in order to optimize the structure of sales channels and foster the growth of new business. …
Read More China: China Insurance Regulatory Commission in Call for Insurers to Develop E-Insurance

The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance in Hong Kong has announced that in Q1 of 2010, gross premiums for general (non-life) insurance business grew 16.2% to HK$9.2 billion and net premiums grew 14.4% to HK$6.5 billion compared to Q1 of 2009. However, overall underwriting profits declined from HK$694 million to HK$559 million. …
Read More Hong Kong: General (Non-Life) Insurance Industry’s Q1 Gross Premiums Grow 16.2%

The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) has welcomed the planned creation of a new Consumer Protection & Markets Authority, which was announced by UK Chancellor, George Osborne, at his Mansion House speech on 16 June 2010 (see our previous blog here). …
Read More UK: Brokers Welcome One New Regulator

With only a few key differences to overcome, the House and Senate have hammered out several points regarding the creation of an office to monitor the insurance industry as part of the currently debated financial industry reform bill. …
Read More House and Senate Conferees Close on Establishing Federal Insurance Office; Include State Insurance Regulator on Financial Stability Oversight Council

Effective August 31, 2010, the Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner (“OHIC”) will impose a readability requirement for all health insurance policies to be readable at the eighth grade level measured by the Flesch-Kincade formula.  The readability requirement comes in response to Rhode Island’s low adult literacy rate, and is designed to protect consumers by making health insurance policies, which are often complicated, easy to understand. …
Read More Rhode Island Imposes Readability Standards for Health Insurance Policies

In order to tap investor expectations of a rising yuan (RMB), insurers are preparing to launch yuan-denominated policies as a new product offering for insurers in the Hong Kong market. Insurance premiums make up almost 10% of Hong Kong’s GDP, compared with just 3% of China’s GDP. …
Read More Hong Kong: Launch of Yuan-Denominated Policies in Hong Kong

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (the CIRC) has granted Lloyd’s China a licence to write direct insurance. This is in addition to Lloyd’s China’s existing reinsurance licence (granted in March 2007). The announcement was made by Lord Levene, chairman of Lloyd’s, on 19 May 2010 at the UK Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai. …
Read More China: Lloyd’s China Granted Licence to Write Direct Insurance