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Swiss Insurers Baloise, Helvetia Said to Explore Combination

Article 0 Comments Baloise Holding AG and Helvetia Holding AG have been exploring a possible combination that could create one of Switzerland’s largest insurers, according to people familiar with the matter. The companies have held on-and-off discussions in recent months about a potential tie-up, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Shares of Baloise closed 0.4% higher after rising as much as 1.7% following the Bloomberg News report. The stock has advanced about 8% this year, valuing Baloise at roughly 8.2 billion Swiss francs ($9.4 billion). Helvetia has a market value of around 9.4 billion francs following a 16% gain in its stock price this year. Cevian’s Baloise Move Triggers European Insurers to Study Deal There’s no certainty the deliberations will lead to a transaction, the people said. Any move toward industry consolidation could also trigger action from other potential suitors like Zurich Insurance Group, according to the people. Representatives for Baloise, Helvetia and Zurich Insurance declined to comment. The discussions between the Swiss insurers follow a wave of merger talks in the European financial industry in the past year, ranging from tie-ups among asset managers to takeover negotiations in the Italian banking...

Coalition’s Cyber Threat Index 2025 Finds Most Ransomware Incidents Start with Compromised VPN Devices 0

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Coalition’s Cyber Threat Index 2025 Finds Most Ransomware Incidents Start with Compromised VPN Devices

Active Insurance Provider Also Forecasts Over 45,000 Software Vulnerabilities in 2025 San Francisco, CA (Mar. 11, 2025) — Coalition, the world’s first Active Insurance provider designed to prevent digital risk before it strikes, has published its Cyber Threat Index 2025, detailing insights on cybersecurity trends from 2024 and emerging threats businesses should be aware of in 2025. According to the report, most ransomware claims in 2024 started with threat actors compromising perimeter security appliances (58%), like virtual private networks (VPNs) or firewalls. Remote desktop products were second-most (18%) exploited for ransomware attacks. “While ransomware is a serious concern for all businesses, these insights demonstrate that threat actors’ ransomware playbook hasn’t evolved all that much—they’re still going after the same tried and true technologies with many of the same methods,” commented Alok Ojha, Coalition’s Head of Products, Security. “This means that businesses can have a reliable playbook, too, and should focus on mitigating the riskiest security issues first to reduce the likelihood of ransomware or another cyber attack. Continuous attack surface monitoring to detect these technologies and mitigate possible vulnerabilities could mean the difference between a threat and an incident.” Other key findings from the report include: The total number of...

Insurance Institute of Canada and Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association partner to accelerate adjuster onboarding 0

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Insurance Institute of Canada and Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association partner to accelerate adjuster onboarding

Toronto, ON (Mar. 13, 2025) – A new partnership between The Insurance Institute of Canada and the Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association will accelerate some Level 1 licensing courses to support the quicker onboarding of adjusters. The Institute’s Accelerated Competence Series is designed to support new adjusters in reaching their Level 1 licenses by offering the C11: Principles and Practice of Insurance course in an accelerated format. The partnership will also support the onboarding of new adjusters to CIAA. “This will help prepare for the current state of high demand in adjusters, as Canadian insurers continue to grapple with the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events in Canada. It also provides readiness should interprovincial trade barriers soon be removed in facilitation of needed mobility of adjusters within Canada,” IIC’s president and CEO Peter Hohman says in a release. “The partnership with CIAA is an extension of the IIC’s talent gap initiatives, prioritized to assist P&C employers to meet workforce growth and demand for qualified resources…” Hohman said. The industry handled $8.5 billion in insured damages in 2024, making it the largest loss year in Canadian history. Laura Twidle, CEO of Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc., has told Canadian Underwriter that the figure has...

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Abbott, Reckitt Face New Trial Over Premature Infant Formula

Article 0 Comments A Missouri judge has ordered Abbott Laboratories and Reckitt Benckiser unit Mead Johnson to face a new trial over allegations that they failed to warn a mother about the risks of their specialized baby formulas for premature infants, re-opening a case that had resulted in a victory for the defendants. The Thursday ruling comes months after a St. Louis, Missouri state court found that the companies were not responsible for a young boy’s debilitating intestinal disease. The case had been a victory for the two companies following large losses in similar trials that had rattled investors. Missouri Circuit Judge Michael Noble in St. Louis, Missouri, said the defendants’ lawyers had engaged in misconduct that resulted in an unfair verdict from the jury and ordered a new trial. Abbott and Reckitt said they would appeal. Abbott spokesperson Scott Stoffel said the jury had reached the correct decision, based on evidence from scientists and governmental regulators who have said there is no conclusive link between preterm infant formula and the plaintiff’s son’s intestinal disease. “We are disappointed by the court’s extraordinary decision to set aside the jury’s work,” Stoffel said. “This decision is at complete odds with the law...

MGAs and Insurers Losing at Least 50% of Broker Submissions Due to Data Format Issues: Insly 0

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MGAs and Insurers Losing at Least 50% of Broker Submissions Due to Data Format Issues: Insly

Toronto, ON (Mar. 13, 2025) – Canadian MGAs and insurers could be missing out on at least half of broker submissions due to incompatible data formats, according to analysis by Insly, a leading provider of low-code insurance software. The analysis highlights significant inefficiencies in broker-insurer and MGA interactions. Currently, brokers submit essential risk information to MGAs and insurers in varied formats—including PDFs, Word documents, Excel sheets, emails, and handwritten notes—many of which underwriters struggle to process efficiently. Insly’s research found that, due to the time and cost of processing this data, underwriting teams currently handle only around 30% to 50% of total submissions received, directly impacting revenue, growth potential, and customer satisfaction. By adopting AI-driven solutions like Insly’s FormFlow, MGAs and insurers can significantly streamline data intake and processing, increasing their capacity to handle broker submissions, reduce turnaround times, and capture more business opportunities. Key findings from Insly’s analysis include: Incompatible Submission Formats: The administrative burden of processing diverse submission formats falls on underwriters, causing significant delays, increased manual processing, potential for manual error, and lost business opportunities. Inefficient Submissions: Manual sorting and prioritisation of broker submissions consume considerable underwriting resources, diverting attention from high-value and complex risks. Excessive Broker...

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California Insurance Commissioner Provisionally OK’s State Farm’s 22% Rate Request

Article 0 Comments California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara provisionally approved State Farm’s request for a 22% interim rate hike, the California Department of Insurance announced on Friday. The approval is on the provision that the company can justify the hike with data in a public hearing scheduled for April 8. Ahead of the decision, company executives and representatives of the consumer group Consumer Watchdog pled their opposing cases in letters Lara. Lara in mid-February opted not approve the rate request from State Farm, instead calling a meeting with the carrier to get some answers about the carrier’s financial situation. The carrier, the state’s top homeowners insurer, is partly blaming the devastating Los Angeles wildfires for the request. As of February 14, the carrier reported roughly 11,400 total home and auto claims, paying out more than $1.35 billion. Insurance companies have so far paid out more than $12 billion for losses from the two biggest of the L.A.-area wildfires that swept through the region and destroyed tens of thousands of homes in January. State Farm’s emergency rate increases would have been effective May 1, and includes 22% for homeowners, 15% for renters, 15% for condominium and 38% for rental dwelling. Despite...

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Fraternity Members Charged in Death of Southern University Student

Article 0 Comments Two more arrests have been made in connection with the death of a 20-year-old Southern University student who was repeatedly punched during an off-campus fraternity hazing ritual, Baton Rouge police announced. Kyle Thurman, 25, and Isaiah Smith, 28, have been arrested and face charges of felony criminal hazing for their role in the death of Caleb Wilson, a mechanical engineering junior at the school who died in late February. Last week, police arrested Caleb McCray, 23, who faces charges of criminal hazing and manslaughter. He allegedly punched Wilson four times before the pledge collapsed unresponsive and appeared to suffer a seizure, police say. Smith was seen on surveillance video removing Wilson from his vehicle and bringing him to a hospital, according to a police arrest warrant affidavit reviewed by The Associated Press. The group that brought Wilson at the hospital initially told medical staff that Wilson collapsed while playing basketball at a park and left the hospital before police arrived, Baton Rouge Police Department Chief Thomas Morse Jr. told reporters last week. Wilson died as a “direct result” of the hazing, Morse Jr. said. Smith held the title “Dean of Pledges” and was in charge of the...

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Texas Tech Medical School Settles Suit Over Alleged Race-Based Admissions Practices

Article 0 Comments A group led by Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, is claiming victory after it got a commitment from Texas Tech’s medical school not to consider race in admission decisions, which the school continues to deny ever doing. George Stewart sued Texas Tech University Health Science Center and five other medical schools in the state as well as their presidents, medical school deans and admission officers in 2023. Stewart, who had a 3.96 grade point average as an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin and scored a 511 on his MCAT, claimed the schools rejected him in favor of lesser qualified students of color. He said he obtained data from Tech that revealed it accepted Black and Hispanic students with much lower MCAT scores than white and Asian students. In a settlement agreement reached this month, Stewart agreed not to reapply to or to apply to work for Texas Tech and withdraw all his claims against the school. In exchange Texas Tech, which has denied any wrongdoing, promised not to consider race in admissions. Nick Barry, senior counsel at America First Legal, the group that represented Stewart, said in a statement that...

Accenture Invests in QuSecure to Protect Against Future Quantum Threats with Crypto Agility 0

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Accenture Invests in QuSecure to Protect Against Future Quantum Threats with Crypto Agility

New York, NY (Mar. 26, 2024) – Accenture is pleased to announce it has made a strategic investment, through Accenture Ventures, in QuSecure™ a leader in post-quantum cybersecurity. Together, Accenture and QuSecure offer comprehensive post-quantum crypto agility solutions to help government agencies and private sector businesses mitigate emerging quantum risks. Headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., QuSecure is a privately held company founded in 2019. QuSecure’s QuProtect software offers an end-to-end quantum security-as-a-service architecture that combines zero-trust, next-generation quantum-resilient technology and crypto agility to protect networks, cloud systems, edge devices and satellite communications against today’s cyberattacks and future quantum threats, all with minimal disruption to existing systems. “Organizations need a reliable, quantum-resilient cybersecurity solution that not only adheres to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) post-quantum encryption standards but that can be easily integrated across all parts of a communications network,” said Tom Patterson, emerging technology security lead at Accenture. “We’re investing in trusted providers like QuSecure to help our clients future-proof their global networks today to protect high-risk data faster.” Post-quantum encryption standards protect a variety of electronic information, such as private email messages and e-commerce transactions. NIST is advising computer system administrators to start transitioning to NIST’s...

Vertafore Canada Enhances Broker Efficiency by Achieving CSIO’s eDocs Certification 0

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Vertafore Canada Enhances Broker Efficiency by Achieving CSIO’s eDocs Certification

Toronto, ON (Mar. 12, 2025) – CSIO is pleased to congratulate Vertafore Canada on achieving CSIO’s eDocs Certification by implementing the 40 updated eDocs codes and descriptions into their SIG Broker Management System (BMS). Vertafore programming the updated eDocs Standards ensures that descriptions are consistently labelled when insurers send eDocs to brokers. This is a significant advantage for brokers as it eliminates the need to open every eDoc to determine if action is required, saving them time and optimizing their workflows. Once the updated eDocs are released into production by their insurer partners, the latest codes and descriptions will be available to brokers in their BMS. “In a rapidly changing insurance landscape, we are firmly committed to integrating modern, simplified technology that drives automation in the broker distribution channel,” said Natasha Joyal, Senior Director of Development at Vertafore Canada. “Having deployed the changes in 2024, we are proud to earn the eDocs Certification as Vertafore Canada continuously strives to provide brokers with every opportunity for further enhancements to customer service and connectivity with insurers.” “CSIO’s eDocs initiative is a key industry priority to increase workflow efficiency for brokers,” said Kathryn Sinclair, Interim President at CSIO. “By implementing the updated eDocs...