Archive for January, 2010

Posted by Admin | January 31, 2010

Acquisitions fuel revenue growth for Gallagher

The Itasca, Ill.-based broker late Tuesday reported $1.73 billion in total revenues in 2009, a 5.1% increase over 2008, while profits were up 66.4% to $128.6 million.

Gallagher’s brokerage segment, its largest operating unit, reported a 7.4% increase in revenue in 2009 to $1.28 billion. Acquisitions over the prior 12 months accounted for $142.8 million of that revenue, which offset the 2.5% drop in organic growth for the year.

Revenues from Gallagher’s risk management segment were down 2.5% in 2009 to $453.2 million, the broker said.

Gallagher recorded a pretax charge of $11.8 million in the fourth quarter related to its previously announced job cuts. The broker said that it completed its 4% reduction in workforce in January.

For reprints of this story, please contact Lauren Melesio at 212-210-0707 or email lmelesio@crain.com

Post a comment

Read more…

No Comments » Tags: Gallagher, Growth Gallagher
Posted by Admin | January 26, 2010

E.U. insurance watchdog’s annuity report due mid-Feb

Regulators want insurers to put more cash aside to cover against any slide in the value of assets used to fund the annuities, but insurers believe the proposed rules would be unnecessarily restrictive.

A special task force at the insurance watchdog Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors is honing the rules in light of concerns at big annuity writers like Legal & General Group P.L.C., Prudential P.L.C.

Read more…

No Comments »
Posted by Admin | January 21, 2010

AIG’s bailout disclosure surprised N.Y. Fed

The e-mails, given to Capitol Hill lawmakers by the New York Fed, revealed that some officials at the New York Fed were surprised and displeased by AIG’s plan to file an exhibit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that would provide specific details of the Fed-engineered rescue package.

Lawmakers have labeled the AIG rescue a “backdoor bailout” to 16 large U.S. and European banks.

In a Nov. 24, 2008, e-mail, Alex Latorre, a New York Fed assistant vp, asked: “But can they make these docs public without our consent? Aren’t we parties to this and shouldn’t we have a say?”

Paul Whynott, a New York Fed vp, responded, “I noted that making the documents public was not contemplated in our last turn.”

The e-mail exchange will provide more ammunition for critics who contend that some officials at the New York Fed sought to keep the public in the dark about terms of the AIG bailout.

The e-mails were included in the mountain of documents the New York Fed turned over this week to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

In response to a request for comment, New York Fed spokeswoman Deborah Kilroe pointed to a Jan. 19 statement in which New York Fed President William Dudley said, “We are in favor of a full and objective review of our actions.”

“It has become alarmingly clear that public disclosure was the last thing on the minds of the government officials charged with protecting the taxpayers’ interests,” said Rep.

Read more…

No Comments » Tags: Fed, Ny Fed
Posted by Admin | January 16, 2010

Senator questions severance for former AIG legal chief

In a Jan. 15 letter to the U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, Sen. Grassely cited recent media reports indicating that Anastasia Kelly will receive between $2.8 million and $3.8 million in severance following her resignation on Dec. 30, 2009.

Ms. Kelly—who was executive vp, general counsel, and senior regulatory and compliance officer for AIG—resigned at the end of the year in protest of the pay limits Mr. Feinberg last year imposed on AIG executives. In a statement earlier this month, AIG said Ms. Kelly resigned for “good reason” under the terms of AIG executive severance plan.

Sen. Grassely asked for several pieces of information, including Ms. Kelly’s salary history, the formula for the severance determination and a copy of AIG’s executive severance plan.

“The taxpayers are fed up with massive payouts to executives at companies that took taxpayer money,” Sen. Grassley wrote. Mr. Feinberg “should account for a multimillion-dollar severance agreement for this AIG executive,” he added.

A spokesman for AIG could not immediately be reached for comment.

For reprints of this story, please contact Lauren Melesio at 212-210-0707 or email lmelesio@crain.com

Post a comment

Read more…

No Comments » Tags: Severance, Severance Former
Posted by Admin | January 16, 2010

Bar Insurance

Find Bar Insurance for taverns, night clubs and any other businesses that serve liquor.  Bar Insurance should start with a business owners policy to cover property and general liability.  When you speak with your bar insurance agent make sure that they understand the risks in your establishment.  Some of the key points to discuss include the use of bouncers, deep fat fryers on premise, dance floors and the types of recreational equipment in use.  Recreational equipment includes but is not limited to pool tables, dart boards, mechanical bulls and foam machines.  Call a bar insurance agent today at Commercial Insurance.NET to find a competitive quote.

No Comments » Tags: Bar Insurance, insurance
Posted by Admin | January 12, 2010

Geithner: Right to pay AIG counterparties at par

“Absolutely,” Mr. Geithner replied to a question from a CNBC television interviewer, though he specified that he had not been involved in a New York Federal Reserve bank decision for AIG to make the payments at par.

“We had no effective legal means to step in and prevent default (of AIG) … without helping this firm meet all its legal obligations,” he added.

For reprints of this story, please contact Lauren Melesio at 212-210-0707 or email lmelesio@crain.com

Post a comment


No Comments » Tags: Aig, Aig Counterparties
Posted by Admin | January 11, 2010

Court sides with insurer in coverage exclusion case

Insurers and plaintiffs attorneys filed amicus briefs in the case of Tayarie Trayshaun Baker vs. National Interstate Insurance Co. et al. The case stems from an April 2001 bus collision that claimed the life of bus owner and driver La Shaun Clemmons.

In 2000, Ms. Clemmons purchased a bus from Four Winds Day Camp Inc., an Inglewood, Calif., bus company now called Four Winds Inc. Four Winds had coverage under a CGL policy issued by American National Fire Insurance Co. that included a widely used products and completed operations hazards exclusion, court records show.

Four Winds also contracted to inspect the bus it sold to Ms. Clemmons.

Following Ms. Clemmons’ death, her family, the Bakers, sued Four Winds, alleging wrongful death because of its alleged negligence in repairing, servicing and maintaining the bus.

A trial court ruled that Four Winds negligently inspected or maintained the bus and ordered it to pay more than $9 million. But the Baker family agreed not to execute the judgment in exchange for assignment of rights to Four Winds’ insurance coverage.

The insurer, however, had already declined to provide a defense and settle the case because Four Winds did not have products or completed operations coverage. The Baker family sued the insurer, alleging breach of good faith and contract because of its failure to settle the case.

A trial court denied the insurer’s motion for summary judgment, ruling the policy exclusion applied only to product liability-related claims, not to claims for negligent maintenance or inspection services. I

Read more…

No Comments » Tags: Case
Posted by Admin | January 06, 2010

Munich Re sees no big snow hit in Europe

“The storms and snowfall forecast for the weekend are not likely to cause major insured losses,” the world’s largest reinsurer said in a statement.

“Although snow breakage and heavy icing are being predicted, record events … are not to be expected,” the reinsurer’s weather experts predicted.

Heavy snowfall and snow pressure on buildings such as warehouses, shopping centers and infrastructure claimed four lives and caused around $1 billion in economic damage around Europe in February 2006, costing the insurance industry some $500 million in claims, company data showed.

Freezing high winds and snow at the turn of the year 1996-1997 killed 170 people and caused $650 million in insured damages.

Southwestern Europe and northern central Europe will be hardest hit this weekend, Munich Re said, as a strong low-pressure system called Daisy in southern Europe collides with a high-pressure system gaining strength over Scandinavia.

Snow and arctic winds are also blasting the United States and Canada, threatening crops and slowing business.

Toboggan sales in Germany have jumped in anticipation of the snowy weekend, while in Britain, which is also battling icy storms, sales of fur coats and thermal underwear are sharply up.

Reinsurers like Munich Re and Swiss Reinsurance Co. help shoulder the damage claims faced by insurers such as Allianz S.E., AXA S.A. and Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A.

No Comments » Tags: No Big, Snow
Page 1 of 212»