John J. McDonald, Jr., one of the Founders of the PLUS North Central States Chapter and Partner with Meagher & Geer, passed away suddenly on February 28, 2010.

A PLUS member since 1995, John was passionately committed to his legal career and was recognized as a "Super Lawyer" for his employment law practice by Minnesota Law and Politics Magazine.

A full notice from the Minneapolis StarTribune can be found here.

Richard Bucilla, 2006 PLUS Foundation Award Winner for Outstanding Leadership in Healthcare Professional Liability and long-time PLUS Member, died peacefully at home on February 27, 2010 after a long illness.

Richard was Executive Vice President of Lexington Insurance Company and Senior Executive responsible for AIG's healthcare industry casualty business.  The cornerstone of his underwriting vision was that each client / prospective client was unique, insurable on some basis/price, and capabale of improving its risk profile given proper risk management/patient safety guidance by its underwriters / consultants.  He had been a member of PLUS since 1988.

Donations can be made in his memory to the Passim Folk Music & Cultural Center, 26 Church Street, Suite 300, Cambridge, MA 02138. 

A full notice of the obituary can be found here on the Boston Globe website.

Britain's No. 1 insurer said it would finance the buy through a rights issue of $21 billion including costs and fees, a record for an acquisition-related cash call, and by raising $5 billion of debt.

The acquisition increases Prudential's already strong exposure to soaring demand for personal financial services in Southeast Asia as rapid economic growth there lifts consumer spending power, compensating for at-best sluggish growth in Britain.

"Transformational is an overused word, but this deal is truly transformational," Prudential Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam told reporters. The British company reported the deal on Monday, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

Buying American International Group Inc Asian arm, AIA, will lift the proportion of Prudential's new business profit generated in Asia to 60 percent from 44 percent, while roughly trebling its Asian customer base to 30 million, the company said.

Read the full story here on the Reuters website.

The registration rate for the 2010 PLUS Medical Pl Symposium and the Professional Risk Symposium goes up after Thursday, February 25.  If you are planning on attending, please register now to avoid paying a higher rate!

New This Year: The Medical PL and the Professional Risk Symposia are running simultaneously in one location, so you will be able to attend sessions in one or both events depending on what interests you have and still obtain CE credits too! Just register for one of these two events and you can attend any sessions at either event.

Experts from across the country have been recruited to make this an exciting and educational event for anyone involved with Medical PL, EPL, E&O, and Fiduciary Liability issues.

In addition to the fine educational sessions, the Symposia will include a networking reception and a luncheon with keynote address by Ben Sasse, PhD, Public Policy Faculty Member LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas and former Assistant Secretary of Health & Human Services.

Click Here to get more information and register now.

CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--A plan by New York to establish an infrastructure for a revived New York Insurance Exchange will create thousands of jobs in New York and help keep insurance dollars there, said James Wrynn, superintendent of New York's insurance department.

Governor David A. Paterson announced the plan in his state of the state address delivered Wednesday.

The NYIE "would enhance New York's status as the world's financial center stimulating the economy by increasing the flow of capital and insurance premiums to New York," according to a copy of his speech published on the governor's Web site.

Paterson described the exchange as a way to bring buyers and sellers of complex commercial insurance together that would operate like the famous Lloyd's of London exchange.

In a conference call Wednesday, Wrynn did not give a timetable for setting up the exchange, which he said could have a physical location as well as a technical infrastructure.

"The goal is not to get it up and running quickly. The goal is to make sure it fits a need for the industry. When it does get up and running it will be running for a long time," Wrynn said.

Wrynn estimated that 50% of the money that goes to the Lloyd's of London insurance market comes from the U.S., and that the exchange could help keep some of that money in the U.S. as well as create thousands of jobs in New York city and in upstate New York. The exchange would focus on complex and large risks.

The Freedom Tower, since renamed One World Trade Center, currently under construction on the site of the World Trade Center, would be a "perfect" example of a risk that could be insured through the exchange, Wrynn said.

A previous New York Insurance Exchange opened in 1980 but closed within a decade. The exchange offered a centralized marketplace for brokering and underwriting insurance risks, but closed after the industry suffered some losses.

"The risk market has advanced and technology and capital markets have advanced" since then, said Wrynn. "Conditions are more favorable for an insurance exchange."

Wrynn said the exchange would provide added security for insureds by establishing a central fund to pay claims if an insuring syndicate was unable to pay.

"By bringing together buyers and sellers of complex commercial insurance, the exchange will reaffirm our status as the hub of international trade and finance and it will also curtail the unregulated transactions that devastated the global economy," Paterson said in the remarks published on his Web site. He added that "New York was the epicenter of so much that went terribly wrong in 2008. It is our responsibility as New Yorkers to lead in the rebuilding and reform of these vital global markets."

Link to Article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100106-711820.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

This past year was quite a year. We had bailouts, ponzi schemes, and unemployment. There was the inauguration of a new President, healthcare legislation, and the ongoing war in Afghanistan. And we topped everything off with pirates, pandemic flu and a balloon boy.

While this was taking place, PLUS continued to move forward due to the creativity, diligence and foresight of the PLUS volunteer leadership and staff. Here are some of the highlights from 2009:

We completed our transition into the new RPLU exams based on the 23 module PLUS Curriculum.  In addition to offering exams at Prometric centers worldwide, we also offer companies the opportunity to administer exams at their locations, making it easier to train employees in the elements of professional liability.

We held more that 40 local meetings this year, hosted by volunteer Chapter leaders in the United States, Canada and Europe. Dedicated volunteers also worked to host eight golf outings raising money for the PLUS Foundation.

We moved into the realm of social networking, adding Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as resources for PLUS Members and others interested in professional liability. They also began inviting guest bloggers to participate in keeping our messages fresh and humorous.

Starting with lowering our printing output and offering an electronic option for the PLUS Journal, we are working to help the environment by “going green” and conserving resources.

PLUS offered its first Webinar in conjunction with Advisen. This program was a success, with more than 400 people participating in the call.

PLUS held four large scale events this year (D&O Symposium, Medical PL Symposium, Professional Risk Symposium, and the PLUS International Conference). They attracted more than 4,000 attendees and brought in timely and topical speakers including Madeleine Albright, Eric Dinallo, Paul Keckley, Susan Hodgkinson, Marvin Zonis, Walter Bond, Dr. Robert Hartwig, President Bill Clinton and Malcolm Gladwell.

Next week we will post some of the things we’re going to be working on come the new year. For now, on behalf of the PLUS leadership and staff, thank you for your support of PLUS in 2009 and best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2010.

Last night Beecher Carlson held its annual holiday party for clients and underwriters in its Times Square offices.   Your Citizen Blogger cannot hit all of the holiday parties, nor does he want to (especially since he's not invited to most...) but since he was at the Beecher party, he figured "Why not post a blog?"  The people at the party answered that question with a lot of reasons as to why no blog entry should be posted ("I don't want you taking a picture of me, especially with a Blackberry camera phone, get a real camera!") but, of course, your Citizen Blogger paid no heed... I just hope PLUS Executive Director Derek Hazeltine and PLUS Webmaster Scott Billey don't pull my blogging privleges for over-use (nah, they're excellent guys, they won't....hopefully....)

Before we delve into the photos, here is a bit of background on Beecher Carlson, excerpted from you-know-which-insurance-book that I will, once again, not reference specifically nor provide ordering information for:

*        *        *

Beecher Carlson:  Founded in 1981 by Bill Beacher and Tim Carlson, this brokerage (originally known as “Beacher + Carlson before being re-branded as “Beecher Carlson”) started out as a retail broker, captive manager and reinsurance and risk management consultant.  American Reinsurance bought the firm in 1989 to assist its reinsurance clients with, among other things, technical analysis and captive management (although about 65% of its revenues came from insurance brokerage.)  In September of 2003, Am Re was close to selling Beecher Carlson to a major broker when former Hobbs CEO Tom Golub, who had been retained by an investment group as a consultant on the deal, got the idea to spur a management buyout.  Along with his friend and former colleague Doug MacGinnitie, Tom convinced Beecher Carlson management to execute his plan (the investment group that had originally retained Tom was fine with it as well.)  Since that time Beecher Carlson has been busy expanding its various practices, including professional lines brokerage.  Employing a lean and mean structure that requires revenues to outpace expenses, Beecher is building quite a franchise for itself.  The company picks its spots prudently and has won some major accounts from its bigger rivals. 

*        *        *

 Ok, without further adieu (if you considered that to be "adieu" at all...), here are the pix:

Ray O'Byrne of Endurance, Pat Logan of XL and Dave Conca of TimeWarner (he would only guarantee that he'd be at the party sometime between 2 and 6 pm) mug it up for the camera.  Pat is one of the industry's foremost Fidelity experts and really classes up this otherwise questionable photo!

Betty Shepherd and Brian "Flynnie" Flynn of RLI show how much fun insurance can be.

Is is just me or does Bill Morris of TransReCo look like a younger, wider-faced Hank Greenberg?  Paul Brophy of W.R. Berkeley joins Bill in a chuckle over new state filing regulations in North Dakota.

ACE USA's Courtney Coletti pretends to be showing off a picture of her three gorgeous kids (Cameron, Addison and John) when, in fact, she's trying to impress the crowd with her 5-carat cubit zirconium ring.  Courtney doesn't believe in wasting money on diamonds and thinks all women should go the CZ route!  (she will, I'm sure, whomp me upside the head the next time she sees me...)

Jeff Cohen, the real brains behind Advisen, stops in to visit with another happy customer (lesson here: big supporters of my book get treated preferentially in my blog postings!)   

We could probably show a triple feature on the three foreheads in this photo (too bad drive-in movies are extinct!)  Wearing their hair high-and-tight are Jeff Lattmann (Beecher), John Kerns (Beecher) and Mark Reilly (CNA).  Jeff is having his Shore house demolished and rebuilt.  After he reads this caption, I'm sure I will be passed over for an invite to the housewarming party.  Too bad, because I hear they're showing outdoor movies.

Andre O'Reggio (Beecher), Lara Bruzzese (Chartis), John Kerns (Beecher) and Jolie Small (Beecher) strike a classic insurance party pose (uncomfortably rigid with a forced smile) for the photographer who kept badgering them into letting him take their picture.  They only agreed because they knew this photo would never be seen by anyone. 

Vitaly Pisetsky (not the one you probably went to school with, it's a very common name) of Freedom Specialty, Kim Fine of Shippan Partners and Andre O'Reggio of Beecher flash a smile for the camera. Not pictured: Keith Riccio of Freedom Specialty who is back in the office handicapping the 2010 Kentucky Derby. 

Steve Walsh of W.R. Berkeley and Jeff Lattmann (what a handsome guy; maybe it's not too late to salvage my housewarming invite..) of Beecher are oblivious to the fact that Bill Morris, in the background, has just witnessed a shooting.  Either that or the wine ran out. This photo, with its stunning contrast of joy and depair, has been entered in the National Press Association's Office Party Photos Contest.  Not pictured: John Benedetto of W.R. Berkeley.  John discoverd a wrinkle in his shirt and had to head home directly from the office (John: you know I wouldn't pass up a cheap shot like that!)

And, finally, in keeping with the holiday spirit, a picture of Anne Anderson's (of Integro) two dogs dressed up in their finest festive gear.  Anne didn't tell me what her dog's names were so I'll just assume one is named Tom and the other is named Zach.  Enjoy!

On another note:

Cara LaTorre and John Vanasco of Aon New York are organizing a cocktail party (beer, wine and premium drinks) on Thursday, January 14th from 6 - 9 pm at the Public House, 140 East 41st Street in Manhattan.  All net proceeds will be used to create "comfort packs" for children undergoing radiation treatment at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx.  This is being done in the name of Carolyn Sullivan, the precious 9-year old daughter of Pete (Aon New York) and Jeanne Sullivan who passed away in September after a courageous battle with cancer. Tickets are $60 in advance or $65 at the door.  For more information, or to buy your tickets, please contact Cara at charity11410@yahoo.com or call 212.441.2372.  You can also call John at 212.441.2281.  This is an open party and you are encouraged to spread the word to as many people as possible (if a certain threshold of attendees is met, the bar will close to the public that night and hold only this event.)

To read about Carolyn and her wonderful life, please go to www.caringbridge.org/visit/carolynsullivan

This is for a great cause and promises to be a very enjoyable night for all so please make every effort to attend.  And please spread the word and feel free to bring a friend or five. 

Also, a reminder that the PLUS Eastern Chapter Networking Reception will be held next Tuesday, December 15th at Pound & Pence (55 Liberty St.; corner of Liberty and Nassau) from 6 - 8 pm.  Appetizers and drinks will be served.  You do not need to be a PLUS member to attend.  The admission fee is $60 for members and $75 for non-members. If you should have any questions, you can call PLUS at (952) 746-2580.

 Thanks much.

I'm back again with some party photos and my almost-totally-made-up -and-inane captions (that should be a sufficient disclaimer to shield me from lawsuits, no?)  But, before I get to that frivolity, I want to mention a very worthy charity fundraiser. 

Cara LaTorre and John Vanasco of Aon New York are organizing a cocktail party (beer, wine and premium drinks) on Thursday, January 14th from 6 - 9 pm at the Public House, 140 East 41st Street in Manhattan.  All net proceeds will be used to create "comfort packs" for children undergoing radiation treatment at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx.  This is being done in the name of Carolyn Sullivan, the precious 9-year old daughter of Pete (Aon New York) and Jeanne Sullivan who passed away in September after a courageous battle with cancer. Tickets are $60 in advance or $65 at the door.  For more information, or to buy your tickets, please contact Cara at charity11410@yahoo.com or call 212.441.2372.  You can also call John at 212.441.2281.  This is an open party and you are encouraged to spread the word to as many people as possible (if a certain threshold of attendees is met the bar will close to the public that night and hold only this event.)

To read about Carolyn and her wonderful life, please go to www.caringbridge.org/visit/carolynsullivan

This is for a great cause and promises to be a very enjoyable night for all so please make every effort to attend.  And feel free to bring a friend or five.

Speaking of enjoyable nights, many of you, but probably not all, are familiar with the industry tradition of the first Wednesday of each December.  This is commonly referred to as "C&S Night."  The tradition started sometime long ago.  A Google search turned up nothing on the history of the C&S dinner or even the Casualty & Surety Society itself so, since nobody seems to know much about it, I'll arbitrarily say it started in 1954.  Sounds good.   It was a black-tie dinner held at the Waldorf Astoria (I think they discontinued the actual dinner in 2001 or thereabouts) for, generally speaking, the more prominent people in the industry (and, often times, those filling in for the more prominent; yours truly attended the black-tie affair once, in 1998 or so.)  Many companies would host cocktail parties in various suites of the Waldorf before the actual C&S Dinner and people jockeyed for invitations to these.  Afterwards various companies would host their own dinners in ballrooms and at restaurants around the city to celebrate (what, exactly, they were celebrating, nobody was sure, maybe just the closing of another accident year in the insurance industry...) 

So C&S Night became what I used to call "the single most fun night in the industry each year."  I'm not sure if it's good form to put your own words into quotes but I'm going with that....  Anyway, now that the actual C&S dinner has been discontinued, and things in general on the insurance social scene are being scaled back -- or discontinued totally -- I think that my pronouncement no longer holds true.  I'd say that currently (for professional lines anyway) that the most enjoyable night of the year would be one of the nights of the PLUS International Conference (especially when it's well-chronicled by a blogger...)  But C&S Night lives on (some might say "limps on" half-heartedly) and, I'm glad to say, that one bright light hasn't dimmed on the first Wednesday in December: the ARC Party.  It's been called "the single best insurance party of the year" in one prominent insurance book (I forget which one...) and it continues to hold that title.  Hosted by the incomparable Chris Cavallaro (that ought to get my invitation renewed for another year...) and his ARC colleagues, it's a great event where collegiality reigns.  ARC, as you probably know, is one of the premiere wholesale brokerages in the U.S.   So here, my friends, with no further bloviation, are some photos from this year's party which was held on Wednesday, December 2, 2009. 

 This is a photo of the lovely Dana Cavallaro and her grandfather father, Chris (did I just cost myself next year's invite?)  As you can see, Chris's wife must be very attractive because Dana's looks did not come from dad (although he's a great guy!) 

Pictured are George Blume (PIA), Kevin Donohue (CNA) and Kevin Finn (Hanover), three of the giants of Fidelity underwriting.  These three are the youngest Fidelity underwriters in the industry (by ten years). Free career advice: young underwriters would be smart to learn Fidelity, everyone with expertise will be retiring soon.

No folks, a GQ model party was not being held next door to the ARC party.  This is Brian Hickey (PIA), Pete McKeegan (Rockhill; don't worry, nobody else has heard of it either) and Ray Santiago (AIG  AIU Holdings  Chartis). Brian's eyes did not get caught in a flash bulb mishap, he's using his Death Stare on an insured who filed a claim last month. The three are celebrating their recent induction into the industry's "$100 Million Club." No, that's not premium booked, it's expense accounts run-up (just kidding, lighten up Francis...)

Leslie Hink (CNA), Joe Vaccaro (ARC), John Semeraro (ARC) and Jane Kornesczuck (Great American) (she gave me her card or I'd have no chance at spelling that) pose for the camera. In the best tradition of the industry, Joe is clutching a CNA umbrella.  The overcoat is from Zurich North America.  His shirt has a Travelers logo. That's an Arch tie.  The suit was given to him by Chubb. The hair is his own (not everyone in the industry can say that...) 

Peter Taub's Grandfather Taub of (Noah's) ARC and Kevin Guillet (PIA) strike a pose shortly after a heated debate over the new actuarial rules for IBNR accounting.  I enjoy giving Peter guff about his gray hair because it draws attention away from my own (notice how I'm not in any of these pictures?)  And, yes, the "strikethrough" feature is my new toy.

Jen O'Neil and Karen Parker (I forget their employers but if it's that important to you Google them) share a moment of comraderie while trying their best to each look like they weren't eating that desert on the table in front of them. Jen has a fork concealed in her right hand and Karen has chocolate under her fingernails.

Steve Barbal and The Other Jim Donovan (PIA) yukk it up with Judy "No Relation to George" Biancardi and Kathleen Ray (both formerly PIA and now with Hiscox) as everyone pretends to not be arguing over who wrote those losses at PIA.  The photographer's guess is that none of these people are happy with the way they look in this photo.  Tough.

Courtney Burns (Everest National), Andy Peterson (Zurich), Harris "Charlie" Tsangaris (NFP and FETA) and Sally Gregor (Everest National) discuss where they went wrong in their respective career choices.  Andy, who I've always felt has been one of my closest friends, recently assumed a new role at Zurich that puts him in charge of the tickets for Zurich's luxury box at Madison Square Garden.  He knows that those names I called him when he worked for me at AIG were all in jest and that I'd rip up all of those reviews if I could.  Can't wait to see you in the luxury box Andy!

One of the industry's best brokers, Stan "The Man" Quirk (ARC) is seen here with Ken Schmaltz, owner of the prominent S&A Events company which does a fine job in running many insurance industry parties, golf outings and other events.  Stan had to leave the party shortly after this photo was snapped because he had just placed the fleet coverage for Tiger Woods and needed to rush to the office to file a claim. Even the insurance industry gets into the act with Tiger Woods jokes!

George Blume (PIA) and Sandy "Wack" Nalewajk (Chartis) celebrate Sandy's recent induction into the "Executive Assistants Hall of Fame."  George was also recently inducted into the "Get Your Arm Around All the Pretty Women at Insurance Parties" Hall of Fame. As you'd suspect, there are a lot of members.

Here's my very good friend Andy Peterson of Zurich again.  I didn't have much chance to speak with him but we'll catch up at the Garden.  Next to Andy are Shelby Robinson (Chartis) who, many people don't know, serves as Beyonce's double in many films and videos (that's a compliment Shel!), Coutney Burns of Evererest National and Leslie Hink of CNA. Andy was recently inducted into the "Gets Into Photos With Pretty Girls at Insurance Parties" Hall of Fame in Tampa, FL (you know why it's there...)  

Joe Vaccaro (still with ARC as in the previous photo, pay attention...) and Peter Taub's Great Grandfather Taub laugh it up at the thought of not being in the office. Not pictured: Craig Thorsen (ARC) who was back at the office doing everyone's work for them (that may be my funniest line of the blog!) Craig is a great guy.  Yes, I know I'm overusing the strikeout feature.

And, as regular readers of the LG Blog have come to expect, here is our mandatory photo of Sophie the Blog Dog.  She's all decked out in her Christmas gear (sorry, dogs aren't PC.) 

Not to be outdone, Sophie's older brother Jake gets into the act.  His eyes clearly say, "I don't really want to be photographed in this ridiculous ear thing. I hope it doesn't appear on a blog."  Jake is much more docile than his younger sibling (everyone is.)

So that's it.  I hope you enjoyed this citizen blogger's attempt at chronicling some of the revelry of the ARC Party (and I hope you weren't offended, it's all in good fun -- for me.) All of the people pictured are excellent representatives of the insurance industry otherwise I wouldn't have taken their photos (sorry to those who were excluded....)  Other insurance industry parties were held elsewhere on that night (Axis, for example, held a bash on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange) but I did not attend since, technically, I was not invited (word is, however, that the White House Party Crashers made it in...)  Adios until next time kids. 

PLUS Supported Initiative at University of Montana

The University of Montana School of Business Administration is recruiting a full-time
adjunct instructor to design and teach a series of courses in insurance/risk management beginning in the fall 2010 semester.

Position requires an advanced degree in either law or finance, recent relevant work experience with insuring professional liability at the national level. University teaching experience preferred. Applicant will be required to develop four university courses in insurance, with an emphasis in professional liability insurance, as well as select executive education training courses to be delivered at a distance to professionals.

Please click here for a full description and application procedures.

Review of applications will begin immediately; position will remain open until December
18, 2009. Finalists will be subject to a criminal background investigation. This position
announcement can be made available in alternative formats upon request. AA/EOE.

PLUS Supported Initiative at University of Montana

The University of Montana School of Business Administration is recruiting a full-time
adjunct instructor to design and teach a series of courses in insurance/risk management beginning in the fall 2010 semester.

Position requires an advanced degree in either law or finance, recent relevant work experience with insuring professional liability at the national level. University teaching experience preferred. Applicant will be required to develop four university courses in insurance, with an emphasis in professional liability insurance, as well as select executive education training courses to be delivered at a distance to professionals.

Send a cover letter and resume to Amber Dudley (amber.dudley@business.umt.edu.)

Review of applications will begin immediately; position will remain open until December
18, 2009. Finalists will be subject to a criminal background investigation. This position
announcement can be made available in alternative formats upon request. AA/EOE.

National Underwriter has posted a series of articles based on some of the educational sessions from the 2009 PLUS International Conference.

Did D&O Fuel the Credit Crisis?  Find out here in this recap article of the session titled Executive Compensation, Corporate Governance, Global Warming: The Heat is On.

Also, there were two articles that came out of the session titled The Credit Crunch - What's Crime Got to Do With It?.  You can read them here:

Crime Policies, Bonds, Seen Slim Cover for Ponzi, Mortgage Scams

Madoff's Insurance Broker Gives New Details of His Coverage

For all of the presentations, please visit the following page of the PLUS Website (and click on the Material tab):

2009 PLUS International Conference

Fresh off of his presentation to a standing room only crowd at the PLUS International Conference, Dr. Robert Hartwig, CPCU, discusses Property Casualty Insurance and the economic recovery with Insurance Journal.

Treasury Department pay czar Kenneth Feinberg last week announced sharp cuts in total compensation at the finance and auto companies under his control.

But while he cut total compensation by half, he substantially increased one important element -- regular salaries, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. The move reflects the complexity of regulating something that mixes politics and economics.

Mr. Feinberg oversees seven firms that accepted bailout packages: American International Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., General Motors Corp., GMAC Financial Services, Chrysler Group and Chrysler Financial. The Treasury Department assigned him the job of tying more compensation at the companies to long-term performance and cutting pay deemed "excessive."

Government officials say Mr. Feinberg met that objective. All 136 employees and executives working at the seven companies under his review will earn much less this year than in 2008, even after accounting for the rise in regular salaries, also known as base salaries.

Read the full story here on the Wall Street Journal website.

From the Wall Street Journal, here are President Barack Obama's comments on Exectuive Pay.

In a one-two punch at the pay culture of banks and Wall Street firms blamed for the financial crisis, the U.S. government announced plans to aggressively regulate compensation at thousands of lenders and impose steep pay cuts at seven companies that received billions in federal aid.

While the moves had been anticipated for weeks, Thursday's separate announcements by the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department represent unprecedented federal intervention in pay decisions traditionally left to boards and shareholders.

The crackdown is likely to influence how financial firms pay top executives, traders, loan officers and others whose actions could threaten the soundness of the institutions. Compensation experts said it would be hard for companies to escape the new oversight, though individuals could do so by jumping to hedge funds, private-equity funds and other financial firms beyond the reach of the new curbs.

Read the full story here on the Wall Street Journal website.

The federal pay czar is trying to force the American International Group to reduce $198 million in bonuses promised to employees of its trading unit, where problems posed a threat to the global financial system last year.

But the Treasury’s special master for compensation, Kenneth Feinberg, is running into legal hurdles because those bonuses fall outside new rules against bonus payments at companies receiving government assistance. The bonus agreements at issue were struck before last year’s emergency rescues by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve, and thus are not directly covered by the new rules.

The problem is a recurring one. A.I.G. payments early this year to the same employees elicited public outrage, though government officials said then that they had little legal authority to rescind pre-existing contracts.

Read the full story here on the New York Times website.

Republicans will seek amendments to parts of the Democrat's healthcare reform they oppose, rather than push for an alternative plan to overhaul the $2.5 trillion system, a key senator said Monday.

Conservatives are seeking changes that would limit medical malpractice liability and do away with any requirement for consumers to buy a health insurance policy, said Sen. Charles Grassley, speaking at the Reuters Washington Summit.

He would also like to enable consumers to purchase insurance policies across state lines. Insurance is currently regulated at the state level, with consumers unable to purchase from firms that do not sell plans in their state.

"I just hope that we're able to keep this bill from getting any worse,'' said Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.

Read the full story here on the Insurance Journal website.

Excess and surplus lines insurance executives at a meeting here expressed worries that pending federal legislation for their sector could be a precursor to U.S. regulation for all insurance activity.

 The representatives of the nonadmitted (excess and surplus lines) industry voiced concerns over the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2009, which generally has broad support from industry trade groups.

A wholesale brokerage executive, Jim Keating, president of The Keating Group in Boston, said passage of the legislation aimed at streamlining multistate tax filing requirements and eliminating duplicative surplus lines broker licensing requirements might actually eliminate competitive advantages wholesalers currently have.

He expressed his views Friday during a panel discussion in Orlando, Fla., at the annual conference of the Kansas City, Mo.-based National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices, Ltd. Mr. Keating also voiced worries that the legislation moves in the direction of inviting federal regulation of the E&S insurance business.

“One of the tangible barriers to entry to our industry is the difficult nature of handling the [surplus lines] filings,” Mr. Keating said, responding to a question posed by panel moderator Glenn Hargrove, an industry consultant who once led wholesaler Crump Insurance Services.

Mr. Hargrove asked for panelists’ assessments of internal threats to the E&S industry—like E&S carriers increasingly placing business directly through retail agents.

The U.S. pay czar is clashing with American International Group Inc. over $243 million in retention bonuses, potentially sparking a showdown over the insurer's compensation practices.

Kenneth Feinberg, the Treasury Department's special master for compensation, has told AIG it should reduce $198 million in promised payments for 2010 and recoup $45 million already paid in 2009. The demands were made public in a report from Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general overseeing the government's bailout.

AIG had agreed to both efforts earlier this year and has recouped about $19 million of the $45 million it paid in March. But some AIG employees are balking at returning 2009 bonuses until they know how much they will receive in 2010, according to people familiar with the matter.

As a result, Mr. Feinberg may slash some employees' 2009 salaries to compensate for the retention payments, these people said.

Read the full story here on the Wall Street Journal website.

Congressional budget analysts said Friday that lawmakers could save as much as $54 billion over the next decade by imposing an array of new limits on medical malpractice lawsuits -- 10 times more than previously estimated.

New research shows that legal reforms would not only lower malpractice insurance premiums for medical providers, but also would spur providers to save money by ordering fewer tests and procedures aimed primarily at defending their decisions in court, Douglas W. Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, wrote in a letter to  Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah).

The CBO report lends credence to Republican arguments that substantive limits on malpractice lawsuits will reduce health-care costs. However, President Obama opposes one of the chief proposed changes the CBO studied, caps on jury awards, and analysts give the measures little chance of passage.

Read the full story here on the Washington Post website.

We don’t live in the world for which conventional risk-management textbooks prepare us. No forecasting model predicted the impact of the current economic crisis, and its consequences continue to take establishment economists and business academics by surprise. Moreover, as we all know, the crisis has been compounded by the banks’ so-called risk-management models, which increased their exposure to risk instead of limiting it and rendered the global economic system more fragile than ever.

Low-probability, high-impact events that are almost impossible to forecast—we call them Black Swan events—are increasingly dominating the environment. Because of the internet and globalization, the world has become a complex system, made up of a tangled web of relationships and other interdependent factors. Complexity not only increases the incidence of Black Swan events but also makes forecasting even ordinary events impossible. All we can predict is that companies that ignore Black Swan events will go under.

Instead of trying to anticipate low-probability, high-impact events, we should reduce our vulnerability to them. Risk management, we believe, should be about lessening the impact of what we don’t understand—not a futile attempt to develop sophisticated techniques and stories that perpetuate our illusions of being able to understand and predict the social and economic environment.

House Republicans accused the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of being slow to respond to an ex-Moody's Investors Service analyst who complained in September that the ratings agency might be inflating complex securities ratings.

Eric Kolchinsky, the former Moody's employee, testified at a U.S. House committee hearing that he was contacted by the SEC last week after he went public with new allegations against the rating service.

Kolchinsky has complained to the SEC twice this year - first in March and again shortly after he was suspended in early September. SEC officials said they were in touch with Kolchinsky after his March complaint.

Read the full story here on the SmartMoney website.

A U.S. judge Friday dismissed a lawsuit against Citigroup Inc brought by buyers of auction rate securities, a $330 billion market that collapsed in early 2008.

Five consolidated putative class action lawsuits were included in the ruling by Manhattan federal court Judge Laura Taylor Swain who granted Citigroup's application for dismissal on grounds plaintiffs could not prove a claim for fraud or market manipulation.

The investors bought the Citigroup auction rate securities (ARS) between Aug. 1, 2007 and Feb. 11, 2008.

The $330 billion market for mortgage-backed ARS (debt reset at periodic auctions by Wall Street firms that had touted it as a safe, cash equivalent) collapsed in February 2008. Several investigations have led to settlements in which banks and firms paid back investors.

Read the full story here on the CNN website.

This is an interesting look back, provided by the New York Times, of the week that began the catastrophic downturn of the global economy.

Read the full article here on the New York Times website.

Henry Olszewski was stoked in 2008 when he, along with millions of Americans, drafted New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to his fantasy football team.

About eight minutes into the season, a 220-pound safety was blocked into Brady's knee, tearing two of the quarterback's ligaments. Brady's season ended, as did Olszewski's.

"That Monday, [Olszewski] came in the office, and he was bummed out," said Anthony Giaccone, president of Intermarket Insurance. "He asked, 'Why can't we buy insurance for fantasy team players?' "

Thus spawned the brainchild for Fantasy Sports Insurance, which guarantees that NFL players won't miss a certain number of games. FSI will reimburse a fantasy player's entry fee if they do.

It's one of a blitz of bizarre businesses cropping up in the $800 million industry of turning quarterback stats to greenbacks, said Paul Charchian, president of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.

Read the full story here on the CNN website.

This study examines how insurers can avoid bad faith exposure when policy limits are insufficient to accommodate multiple claimants or insureds.  Insurers regularly encounter situations where the applicable policy limit is insufficient to satisfy.  They include: multiple claims against an insured; a single claim against multiple insureds; and multiple claims against multiple insureds.

Read this full report from Swiss Re here in PDF Format.

Toyota spent years concealing evidence from victims of hundreds of rollover accidents that resulted in death and injury, a former top lawyer for the automaker says.

The accusation, spelled out in a lawsuit filed in federal court, has the potential to reopen cases that Toyota Motor Corp. won or settled for two decades, legal experts said.

Dimitrios P. Biller of Pacific Palisades, a former managing counsel for Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc., said in the suit that the company repeatedly forced him to illegally withhold information from opposing lawyers and made him resign in September 2007.

Read the full story here on the Los Angeles Times website.

Chevron has released videos it says implicate a judge in Ecuador and a senior official of the country's ruling party in a $3 million bribery scheme related to a lawsuit alleging that the U.S. oil company should be held liable for $27 billion in environmental damages in Ecuador's Amazon region.

The case has drawn attention because of the size of the claim against Chevron and the damage the proceedings could do to Ecuador's bid for most-favored-nation status if the oil giant convinces members of Congress and the Obama administration that the country's legal system lacks integrity.

Chevron said Monday that it had been given videos of three meetings, including one in which the judge, Juan Núñez, appears to say he will rule against Chevron, and that the company's appeals would be denied even though the trial is still in progress. The company posted the videos and transcripts in English and Spanish on its Web site.

Read the full story here on the Washington Post website.

The smell of death was overpowering the moment a relief worker cracked open one of the hospital chapel’s wooden doors. Inside, more than a dozen bodies lay motionless on low cots and on the ground, shrouded in white sheets. Here, a wisp of gray hair peeked out. There, a knee was flung akimbo. A pallid hand reached across a blue gown.

Within days, the grisly tableau became the focus of an investigation into what happened when the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina marooned Memorial Medical Center in Uptown New Orleans. The hurricane knocked out power and running water and sent the temperatures inside above 100 degrees. Still, investigators were surprised at the number of bodies in the makeshift morgue and were stunned when health care workers charged that a well-regarded doctor and two respected nurses had hastened the deaths of some patients by injecting them with lethal doses of drugs. Mortuary workers eventually carried 45 corpses from Memorial, more than from any comparable-size hospital in the drowned city.

Read the full story here on the New York Times website.