President Barack Obama announced a new round of sanctions against Russian officials and influential individuals on March 20, 2014. According to the President, this new round of sanctions targets “individuals with substantial resources and influence who provide material support to the Russian leadership, as well as a bank that provides material support to these individuals.” …
Read More U.S. Sanctions Levied Against an Additional 20 Russian Individuals and One Russian Bank

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published yesterday, the results of its market study into general insurance ‘add-on’ products. Add-ons are sold alongside or on the back of ‘primary products’ such as travel insurance sold with a flight, or mobile phone insurance sold with a mobile phone. …
Read More UK: Financial Conduct Authority Finds Insurance ‘Add-On’ Market Is Not Competitive

Last week, we wrote about pending legislation in Massachusetts that would realign the state’s reinsurance regulations to make them more consistent with the increasingly global nature of insurance and reinsurance markets. …
Read More Massachusetts Legislative Committee Favorably Reports Reinsurance Credit Bill

Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas Leonardi has voiced several concerns about the long overdue (2 years to be exact) Federal Insurance Office (FIO) report, “How to Modernize and Improve the System of Insurance Regulation in the United States” (the “FIO report”). …
Read More CT Commissioner Leonardi Speaks out About the FIO Report

The Massachusetts Appeals Court has upheld a lower-court judgment severely limiting the amount of coverage available to a motor vehicle policyholder, writing that the policyholder’s failure to control who operated the car constituted a misrepresentation that invalidated coverage even in the absence of an intent to deceive. …
Read More Massachusetts Appeals Court Finds That Policyholder’s Misrepresentations Limit Coverage

President Obama stepped up the diplomatic pressure on Russia by signing a new executive order titled “Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine” (the “Second Executive Order”). The Second Executive Order follows on the heels of a referendum in the autonomous region of Crimea on March 17, 2014, in which over 90% of the voting population of Crimea casted ballots in favor of seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia. …
Read More President Obama Issues Second Executive Order Regarding Crisis in the Ukraine; Targets Officials of the Government of the Russian Federation

In KAIROS SHIPPING LTD & STANDARD CLUB LTD V ENKA & CO LLC & ORS 2014 EWCA Civ 217, Karios sought a declaration that it was entitled to constitute a limitation fund
(a fund providing a maximum limit for its claims liability under the International Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976) by means of a guarantee in the form of a letter of undertaking provided by a protection and indemnity (P&I) club. …
Read More UK: Court Of Appeal Rules a Limitation Fund Can Be a Guarantee as an Alternative to a Payment Into Court

U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) has introduced a bill, S.2012, in an effort to clarify the application of Section 171 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) to insurance companies. Section 171 (codified at 12 U.S.C. 5371) requires insured depository institutions, depository institution holding companies, and nonbank financial companies to maintain certain capital levels on a consolidated basis (i.e., Basel III global capital standards). …
Read More Senate Bill Would Allow Federal Reserve to Exclude Insurers From Dodd-Frank Consolidated Capital Requirements

On 26 February 2014, a plenary session of the European Parliament voted on the proposals to revise the Insurance Mediation Directive (the revised Directive commonly referred to as IMD2). However, despite certain amendments being approved by the Parliament, a vote to approve the latest draft was deferred and the draft was referred back to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. …
Read More IMD2: Further Delays to Adoption

The Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Financial Services is due to report next week on HB 881, An Act Relative to Reinsurance Requirements. Sponsored by Representative Michael Costello of Newburyport, the bill closely tracks the NAIC’s Revised Credit for Reinsurance Model Law, which has already been adopted in eighteen states, including New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. …
Read More Massachusetts Legislative Committee Considers Reinsurance Credit Requirements