News

Transatlantic Holdings Inc. (NYSE: TRH) has established a special committee to evaluate proposals received from American International Group Inc. (“AIG”) related to the possible sale of AIG’s 59% common stock interest in the company.Commenting on these actions, Robert F. Orlich,…

Hurricane Kyle made landfall at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on the evening of Sept. 28 as a Category 1 storm, but was quickly downgraded to a post-tropical low and failed to cause any serious damage, reports the Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC).The…

The Shumka Group has unveiled new corporate identities for itself and its three operating companies, SCM Adjusters Canada Ltd., Forensic Investigations Canada (FIC) and Risk Management Services (RMS).The parent company, previously known as The Shumka Group, will now be known…

Eleven vehicles have won the Top Safety Pick Award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), with four of them in the small vehicle class.Winners are selected based on their superior overall crash protection among the vehicles in their…

In light of recent developments in the financial markets, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) says it is continuing to monitor closely events both domestically and internationally to determine whether additional regulatory responses are necessary. Members of the CSA have taken,…

Gore Mutual and Keal Technology have launched a joint beta program designed to allow brokers direct access to instant quote, bind and issue capabilities. The program allows for upload integration between Gore Mutual’s GoBroker technology with Keal’s commercial management system…

The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an appeal of the Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Debbie Rizzi v. George Mavros, in which the Ontario appellate court found a trial judge had erred in his jury instructions on the…

Lloyd’s has reported a pre-tax profit of US$1.889 billion for the first half of 2008, a sharp decrease from the pre-tax profit of US$3.32 billion reported in the same period of 2007.The specialist insurance market reported a combined ratio of…

The U.S. property and casualty industry’s net income after taxes fell more than 50% to US$15.9 billion in the first half of 2008, reports A.M. Best Company, Inc.In a special report, the rating agency cites a combination of deteriorating underwriting…

The Canadian Insurance Claims Managers Association (CICMA) established its executive at its annual general meeting Sept 12-15 in St. John’s, Nfld.The newly inaugurated executive for 2008-2009 is: Past President: Ron Bouwmeister, AVIVA Canada, Toronto, Ont.President: Ralph Best, Munn Insurance, St.…

A boom in the extractive industries including the mining and oil and gas sectors has created new challenges for the insurance industry, including asset evaluations and determining true business interruption (BI) numbers.“Reinstatement costs [are] often underestimated, leading to insufficient premium…

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has issued an amended order under Section 144 of the Securities Act that temporarily prohibits short selling of certain financial sector issuers. This follows an order prohibiting short selling of securities of certain financial sector…