Recently, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that where a policy’s exclusion clearly precluded coverage, the insurer could not be held liable under Pennsylvania’s statute for bad faith denial of coverage. 

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Read More Third Circuit Holds That Lack of Coverage Precludes Bad Faith Claim and That Failure to Follow “Best Practices” Is Not Bad Faith

On 30 October 2009, the European Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) published a statement reporting on the results of its analysis of the application of disclosure requirements related to financial instruments in the 2008 financial statements of 96 listed European banks and insurers, including 22 in the FTSE Eurotop index. 

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Read More EU: Committee of European Securities Regulators Publishes its Analysis of Financial Instruments Disclosures

Following the House’s November 7 vote on healthcare reform, the Senate now faces increasing pressure to vote on a bill this year, as evidenced by the words of both the current President and a former President last week.  In the House, Members spent the week in their congressional districts, in recess for Veterans Day. 

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Read More Last Week in DC: The Healthcare Reform Debate – November 16, 2009

Earlier today, Maurice R. Greenberg (Chairman & CEO of C.V. Starr & Co., Inc. and former CEO of American International Group, Inc.) participated in a panel with other guest speakers at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention.  The panel was entitled “Bailouts and the Government as Insurer of Last Resort.” …
Read More Greenberg Calls for Commission to Scrutinize Standards for Government Bailouts

The Superintendencia de Bancos y Otras Instituciones Financieras (SIBOIF) (Nicaragua), Superintendencia del Sistema Financiero (SSF) (El Salvador) and Superintendencia de Bancos (Superban) (Guatemala) recently released insurance industry results for the first nine months of 2009. 

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Read More Central American Insurance Regulators Report on Market Performance

In a move expressly designed to stimulate competition and reduce prices for personal lines insurance, the Brazilian government recently removed the previously existing prohibition against life insurers selling home and personal casualty insurance. 

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Read More Brazil: Regulatory Change Removes Prohibition Against Life Insurers Selling Home and Personal Casualty Insurance

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently held that coverage under a directors and officers liability insurance policy is not available for claims against unnamed officers or directors. 

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Read More First Circuit: No Coverage Under a D&O Policy Where The Underlying Complaint Does Not Specifically Name an Officer or Director

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has recently released its judgment in the case of Swiss Re Germany Holding GmbH v Finanzamt München für Körperschaften, confirming that a transfer of a portfolio of life reinsurance contracts, outside of a business transfer, will be subject to value-added tax (VAT) at the standard rate. 

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Read More EU: European Ruling on VAT Goes Against Reinsurers

The Superintendencia de Pensiones (Supen), the interim regulator of the Costa Rican insurance market, recently issued an opinion stating that the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) and its component entities are not permitted to engage in insurance or reinsurance business outside of the country, whether by acquisition, establishment or joint venture. 

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Read More Costa Rican Insurance Regulator: INS Is Prohibited from Operating Abroad