On Friday April 2, 2010, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued “interim remediation guidance” to homeowners impacted by Chinese manufactured drywall. 

…
Read More Chinese Drywall – HUD and CPSC Issue Guidance on Remediation of Chinese Drywall

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire recently signed HB 1149 into law.  Under HB 1149, if a person or entity that meets the definition of a “processor” or “business” that fails to take reasonable steps to guard against unauthorized access to credit or debit card account information that is in its possession, and such failure is found to be the proximate cause of a breach, the processor or business is liable to the financial institution for reimbursement of reasonable actual costs related to the reissuance of credit or debit cards, even if the financial institution has not suffered an injury as a result of the breach. 

…
Read More Washington New Credit Card Data Breach Liability Law

The California State Senate approved Senate Bill 1166 on April 15, 2010.  The bill amends sections 1798.29 and 1798.82 of the California Civil Code, which require state agencies and businesses to notify California residents of a data breach, by adding specific content requirements for such notices. 

…
Read More California Proposes Amendment to Data Breach Notification Law

In Parker v Seixo [2010] EWHC 90162 (costs), which concerned the legal costs of a road traffic accident claim, the Court found that it should not consider the reasonableness of an After-The-Event insurance policy premium where the underwriter was better placed to rate the financial risk faced by the insurer and where there was no expert evidence to suggest that the ATE premium was unreasonable. 

…
Read More UK: ATE Insurance

On April 26, 2010, the New York Insurance Department (the “NYID”) proposed a circular letter to provide additional guidance to insurers on the impact of the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (the “Act”).  This proposed circular letter is a supplement to Circular Letter No. 20 (2009), and addresses interim final rules issued subsequent to Circular Letter No. 20 (2009) by the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of Labor and Department of Health and Human Services. 

…
Read More New York Insurance Department’s Proposed Circular Letter Re: the Federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008

On April 20, 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued Regulatory Notice 10-22 reminding broker-dealers of their obligation to conduct reasonable due diligence investigations of issuers in PIPEs and other private placements. …
Read More FINRA Issues Due Diligence Reminder

More than 40 mediators, attorneys and company representatives have registered for Re/Insurance Mediation Institute’s (ReMedi) Inaugural Mediation Conference.  You can earn 4.5 hours of CLE for $100 if you join them for ReMedi’s Spring Conference, Insurance and Reinsurance Mediation in the 21st Century, on Wednesday, May 12 at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge’s New York office. 

…
Read More Last Call: Join More than 40 Reinsurance Professionals at ReMedi’s Mediation Conference in NYC on May 12

PICC Property and Casualty Company (PICC), China’s largest non-life insurer, reported an increase in profits to 1.78 billion yuan (US$260.8 million) as a result of a surge in China’s stock market lifting the value of their investments and growth in insurance premiums received. PICC is exploring a number of ways to improve its solvency ratio, which currently sits at 111% having dropped 34% last year. …
Read More HK: Insurance Industry Update

In speaking with our insurance and reinsurance clients, one frustration that has been consistently mentioned is the difficulty of effectively monitoring legal and regulatory developments in the various countries in Latin America.  We have therefore recently launched a Latin American (re)insurance regulatory service to assist companies in overcoming this hurdle in a cost-efficient manner. …
Read More EAPD Launches Latin American (Re)insurance Regulatory Update Service

We reported recently on the passing of the Financial Services Act 2010 (you can see our post by clicking here) which granted the Financial Services Authority (FSA) new powers in a number of areas including reporting and control of short selling. 

…
Read More UK FSA Consults on New Powers Under the Financial Services Act 2010