Susep recently reported that gross written premiums for November 2009 were up 30.4% over November 2008, totaling US$ 6.85 billion for the month. …
Read More Brazil: Gross Written Premiums up 30.4% in November; Regulator Anticipates 16-20% Growth in Insurance Market in 2010

On December 22, 2009, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the settlement of apparent violations by Lloyds TSB Bank of OFAC regulations relating to Iran, Sudan and Libya. 

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Read More Lloyds TSB Bank Settles with OFAC

A federal judge in Pennsylvania recently examined whether an insurer must defend a crematorium and funeral home against several lawsuits alleging that they participated in an organ harvesting scheme. …
Read More Court Examines Duty to Defend Funeral Homes Accused of Participation in Organ Harvesting

On December 15, 2009, New York’s Appellate Division for the First Department held that an insured need not allege or prove that its insurer acted in bad faith in order to recover consequential damages stemming from the insurer’s breach of the policy. …
Read More NY Court: Insured May Recover Consequential Damages Absent Insurer Bad Faith

Most public companies will need to provide new disclosures about corporate governance, director qualifications and compensation matters in proxy statements for their 2010 annual meetings. …
Read More Client Advisory – SEC Requires Additional Corporate Governance and Compensation Disclosure for 2010 Annual Meetings

Privacy and data breaches are part of every company’s nightmare of what can go wrong. There is no company in any industry that is not exposed to risks and liabilities related to unauthorized access to personal information of individuals. The risk of data breaches, and the regulations governing company obligations to secure data, and to provide notification in the event of a breach, are increasing dramatically. …
Read More EAPD WEBINAR LINK: Privacy and Data Breaches

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, proposed on December 16, 2009 rebuilding the barriers separating commercial banks, investment banks and insurers established under the Depression Era Glass-Steagall Act.  In 1999, the requirements that the three industries remain separate were eliminated by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. …
Read More Unscrambling the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Omelet

On November 30, 2009, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to hear the appeal of a Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision affirming the dismissal of an “F-Cubed” securities class action — i.e., a securities class action brought by foreign investors who purchased shares in a foreign company on a foreign stock exchange — on subject matter jurisdiction grounds. 

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Read More The U.S. Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in F-Cubed Case

According to recent reports in the New York Times and Financial Times, A.I.G. plans to list its Asian life insurance unit, American International Assurance (“A.I.A.”), on the Hong Kong stock exchange by year’s end.  The IPO, which is expected to raise as much as $20 billion, would be one of the largest public stock offerings in the exchange’s history. 

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Read More A.I.G. to List American International Assurance on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

In National Navigation Co v Endesa Generacion SA [2009] EWCA Civ 1397 the Court of Appeal overturned the first instance judgment of Mrs Justice Gloster (previously reported on the blog here) and held that the English court was bound by an earlier decision of the Spanish court to the effect that no arbitration clause was incorporated into the relevant contract. 

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Read More UK: Court of Appeal Clarifies the Scope of the West Tankers Decision