On February 9, 2009, the Connecticut Legislature held a public hearing regarding on House Bill 6349, An Act Concerning Sales Tax on Services (the “Bill”).  The Bill would eliminate the current exemption from the sales tax for professional, insurance, and personal services transactions found in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-412(11) and would specifically add professional, insurance, occupational, and personal service transactions to those services that are subject to the state’s sales and use tax under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-407(a)(37). 

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Read More Connecticut Legislatures Proposes Sale Tax on Insurance Service Transactions

The staff of the World Bank Group recently released its annual Doing Business report, which provides an interesting review of the differing conditions and trends found in the various Latin American economies. 

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Read More World Bank’s Doing Business 2009 Measures Ease of Doing Business in Latin American Economies

The New Jersey Supreme Court has held that an umbrella policy issued by an excess/surplus lines insurer was not subject to the state’s automatic renewal statute.  New Jersey has a statute which provides that no policy shall be “nonrenewed” on its expiration date unless a valid written notice of nonrenewal has been sent to the insured.  

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Read More NJ Supreme Court Finds Umbrella Policy Issued by Excess/Surplus Lines Carrier Not Subject to Automatic Renewal Statute

The U.S. Reinsurance Under 40s Group, Inc. invites you to our next event, which will take place on March 12 at QBE the Americas’ office in downtown New York.  The Re Under 40s Group welcomes Frank Nutter, President of the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA), and his daughter Alycia Kiley, Vice President at Riggs, Counselman, Michaels & Downes (RCM&D), as they present insights on hot industry topics and lead a discussion about how reinsurance companies and organizations can better communicate with young professionals in today’s networked world. …
Read More The U.S. Re Under 40s Presents “It’s Not Your Father’s Reinsurance Anymore – Putting Reinsurance in Your Terms” – a Complimentary Event on March 12

On January 29, 2009, the New York Insurance Department (“NYID”) released a draft regulation on producer compensation transparency (the “Draft Regulation”), which aims to protect public interests by setting forth minimum disclosure requirements regarding the role of insurance producers and the “actual or potential conflicts of interest created by compensation paid to insurance producers.” …
Read More New York Releases Draft Regulation on Producer Compensation Transparency

As part of the structural changes ushered in by the new Bolivian constitution (for further discussion, see here), the central government will absorb eight of the country’s ten existing superintendencies, leaving only the superintendencies of banking and hydrocarbons as “independent.”  In addition, the Superintendencia de Bancos (Superintendency of Banks), which currently regulates insurance in Bolivia, will reportedly be renamed the Autoridad de Supervision de Entidades Financieras (Financial Entity Supervisory Authority). 

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Read More Bolivia: Insurance Regulatory Structure to Change as Part of Constitutional Reforms

In September 2008 we reported on the advisory opinion of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Allianz SpA v West Tankers regarding the English courts’ ability to issue anti-suit injunctions in support of arbitration agreements. The Advocate General stated that it was incompatible with EC regulation 44/2001 (Regulation) for a court of a Member State to injunct a person from commencing or continuing proceedings in another Member State on the ground that it would be contrary to an arbitration agreement. 

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Read More EU: ECJ Blow to Arbitration

We have reported previously on the FSA’s temporary ban on short selling of stocks in the UK financial sector, and the disclosure requirements that applied to existing short positions (click here to see our most recent post). 

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Read More UK: FSA Consults on Permanent Short Selling Rules

The Connecticut legislature has proposed a new bill, SB-763, An Act Concerning the Connecticut Unfair Insurance Practices Act, which could potentially enable Connecticut consumers to sue insurers for unfair claim practices.  Click here for a copy of the proposed bill. 

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Read More Connecticut Legislature Proposes Bill to Broaden Consumers’ Rights by Enabling Consumers to Sue Insurers for Unfair Claim Practices