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Illinois Company Fined $138K for Selling Unregistered Pesticide Product

Article 0 Comments The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement with Amerikal Products Corp. of Waukegan, Illinois, for allegedly selling and distributing an unregistered pesticide product in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Amerikal Products will stop producing and selling the product and will pay a $138,762 penalty. Amerikal Products allegedly sold or distributed the unregistered pesticide, Genesis 950 Concentrate, which it claimed could be used to kill bacteria, germs, and viruses. Under FIFRA, products that claim to kill, destroy, prevent, or repel bacteria or viruses are considered pesticides. All pesticides distributed or sold in the United States are required to be registered by the EPA to ensure that the products perform as intended, and will not harm people, non-target species, or the environment when used as directed. Pesticidal claims can only be made for products that have been registered with EPA. Source: EPA Topics Illinois Was this article valuable? Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article. Submit No Thanks Thank you! % of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it. Submit No Thanks Here are more articles you may enjoy. The most important...

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LPL Updates Brand at Yearly Conference

Topics include artificial intelligence, behavioral finance, estate planning, client segmentation and marketing. Some of the event’s keynote speakers are Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno and former NFL Super Bowl champion Jon Dorenbos, who also was a two-time Pro Bowler. A registration desk for LPL Financial’s Focus event at the San Diego Convention Center on Aug. 11, 2024 “We are thrilled to gather in San Diego for the largest Focus event in LPL history … ,” President and CEO Dan Arnold said in a statement. “We are investing back into our winning model to create unprecedented flexibility in how advisors affiliate” with the firm. Last week, LPL Financial recruited Houston-based advisor Alberto Francis to its high-net-worth-focused employee affiliation model from Bank of America Private Bank. Francis’ move came about two months after LPL recruited its first advisors to the new HNW channel — which was launched in November — in Oklahoma City. The independent broker-dealer’s advisor headcount was 23,462 as of June 30— up 1,520 from a year ago and 578 from the first quarter of 2024. Its total advisory and brokerage assets were $1.5 trillion at the end of the second quarter, up 21% from Q2’23.

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Markets Go on Wild Ride in Week Marked by Forced Selling

What You Need to Know With many asset groups not yet screaming economic angst, one bullish mantra is starting to emerge from the noise: Buy the dip. Panicked moves were the theme of the week, particularly Monday. Still, almost as quickly as it blew up, volatility eased, and the S&P 500 staged its biggest rally since 2022. It started, innocently enough, in markets, when high-flying tech stocks started giving back gains that nearly all of Wall Street was convinced had gone too far. Roughly a month into a trauma that expanded this week to encompass everything from emerging-country currencies to Japanese shares — before defusing almost as fast — a lot of people worried about the economy are hoping markets are where it will stay. A signature fact of the worst turbulence of 2024 remains how much of it is confined to excesses wrought by traders. Speculators exploiting an ever-weakening yen got chased out of cross-border wagers. Quants who’d been ringing up gains for months suffered a comeuppance. Popular options bets premised on calm briefly blew up. In short, while economic fears lit the match that fueled the selloff’s loudest bursts, a daisy chain of leverage drove a slew of market reversals that muddy the...

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BofA Private Bank Hires Citi’s Palacio in South Florida Push

Bank of America Corp. hired private banker Luke Palacio from Citigroup Inc. as it seeks to capture more business serving wealthy individuals in South Florida. Palacio is joining Bank of America Private Bank in October as the Miami senior market executive, according to a memo reviewed by Bloomberg News. In this new role, he will focus on growing the firm’s ultra-high-net-worth and family office business development. “In line with our priorities, we are making a strategic decision to expand South Florida,” Hong Ogle, southeast and southwest division executive at Bank of America Private Bank, said in the memo. A representative for Bank of America confirmed the contents of the memo. For the biggest U.S. banks, wealth management has been a fast-growing, competitive business. They’ve poured resources into the sector to lure new clients who bring additional assets to invest.

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California Commissioner Moves to Implement Insurance Rate Review Reforms

Article 0 Comments California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Friday released a statement on his latest administrative action designed to address the state’s homeowners insurance crisis. Lara today issued a bulletin implementing rate review reforms he says will help stabilize the state’s insurance marketplace, which includes reforms included in budget trailer language that Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced in May. Newsom first made the proposal to speed up the rate filing process while discussing the state’s budget during a press conference in May. Related: California Commissioner Orders Insurance Cancelation Moratorium for 185K Residents The new proposal requires the California Department of Insurance to respond to rate requests from insurers in 120 days. If an insurer requests a rate hike on an average of more than 7%, the CDI must provide insurers with a suggested rate in 120 days. Home insurance rates are on the rise, and availability has also become a concern, as many insurers are pulling back from the wildfire prone state. Proposed solutions to the crisis have included finding ways to expedite rate filings, enabling insurers to use reinsurance rates in filings, as well as enabling them to use catastrophe modeling to set rates. Related: California’s Park Fire Continues...

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Judge Tosses Suit Alleging Excessive Force During Dakota Access Pipeline Protest

Article 0 Comments BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge in North Dakota has thrown out the remainder of a lawsuit by an Arizona man who alleged excessive force was used against him when he was protesting the Dakota Access oil pipeline. In 2019, Marcus Mitchell sued several law enforcement officers, the city of Bismarck and Morton County. He alleged officers targeted him during a January 2017 clash and struck him in his left eye with a bean bag round, injuring him. His lawsuit alleged excessive force was used and that Mitchell’s constitutional rights were violated. In 2020, U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor granted motions to dismiss Mitchell’s complaint. But in 2022, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed part of the judge’s ruling and sent some of Mitchell’s claims back to a lower court to be reconsidered. The defense denied Mitchell’s allegations earlier this year and asked the judge to throw out the case. On Tuesday, Traynor granted the defense motions for summary judgment and tossed the case. Mitchell failed to show that either of two officers he accused intended to hurt him, the judge ruled. He found that the officers did not use...

Leading U.S. Insurer Awards Verint $4.5 Million Contract to Deploy AI-Powered Bots 0

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Leading U.S. Insurer Awards Verint $4.5 Million Contract to Deploy AI-Powered Bots

Melville, NY (Aug. 1, 2024) – Verint®, The CX Automation Company™, is pleased to announce that a leading insurance company awarded Verint a $4.5 million contract over three years. They will use the Verint bots to increase CX automation and deliver AI business outcomes across their contact center of 3,000 agents. The insurer is looking to increase agent capacity and elevate CX across three business units. They will deploy multiple AI-powered Verint bots including the Exact Transcription Bot, Knowledge Automation Bot, Coaching Bot, Interaction Wrap Up Bot and Data Insights Bot. These bots will initially be deployed across 600 agents in one business unit with plans to extend to the other business units and remaining agents in the near future. The insurer expects Verint’s solution to pay for itself in under six months and increase the usage volume of the AI-powered bots over time. “AI is reshaping the insurance landscape and creating new opportunities to increase CX automation now,” says Verint’s Jaime Meritt, chief product officer. “Around the world, insurance brands are leveraging Verint’s AI-powered bots and reporting strong AI business outcomes, creating more capacity in the contact center and elevating the customer experience.” Visit Verint Open Platform for more...

IMS Applauded by Frost & Sullivan for Shaping Safer and Smarter Mobility with Its Telematics and Connected Insurance Solutions 0

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IMS Applauded by Frost & Sullivan for Shaping Safer and Smarter Mobility with Its Telematics and Connected Insurance Solutions

IMS’s telematics insurance solutions for usage-based insurance (UBI) provide cost-effective and streamlined access to vehicle and driving data, refining the overall driver experience and revolutionizing the insurance landscape San Antonio, TX (Aug. 1, 2024) – Frost & Sullivan recently researched the telematics insurance industry and, based on its findings, recognizes IMS with the 2024 North American Technology Innovation Leadership Award. The company offers a suite of fully digital UBI solutions that cater to the diverse needs of insurers and policyholders in today’s fast-paced insurance landscape, where consumers demand faster, fairer underwriting and slicker claims experiences. IMS’s solutions allow insurers to refine pricing practices, improve risk management, streamline claims processing, reduce operational costs, and enhance overall customer satisfaction and experience. With over a decade of global expertise in insurance telematics programs, IMS provides a carrier’s policyholders with detailed driving style feedback with personalized premiums and provide insurers with invaluable, actionable insights into risk assessment and mitigation. IMS relentlessly focuses on customer engagement-led product design and enables drivers to enhance their driving behavior, fostering a safer and more efficient mobility ecosystem. IMS leverages extensive expertise in data analytics, transforming raw data points into predictive risk scoring and equipping insurers with the tools...

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Oklahoma Contractor Faces $85K Fine Over Fatal Trench Collapse

Article 0 Comments An Edmond, Oklahoma contractor with a history of workplace safety violations dating back to 2018, including three related to the dangers in underground trenches, was found disregarding U.S. Department of Labor regulations. In February 2024, investigators with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration learned a 61-year-old pipe layer employed by Jerlow Construction Co. suffered fatal injuries when a 9-foot deep trench collapsed at a residential work site near Shawnee. The agency determined the employer allowed their employees to work in an excavation without proper protections, including shielding, benching, sloping or other devices. The incident occurred as employees worked below the surface to install an 8-inch water line. “No one should ever be allowed to enter or work in an excavation without required protective systems in place and without inspection of the trench by a qualified person,” explained OSHA Area Director Steven Kirby in Oklahoma City. “Despite numerous warnings and notices of violations for failing to protect employees in trenches, Jerlow Construction has joined the all-too-long list of employers whose defiance of federal regulations resulted in a preventable loss of life. Their failures are inexcusable.” OSHA issued citations to Jerlow Construction for one repeat violation and three...

Climate Change, Natural Catastrophes and Consumer Awareness 0

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Climate Change, Natural Catastrophes and Consumer Awareness

Toronto, ON (Aug. 5, 2023) – The Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR) and the Canadian Insurance Services Regulatory Organizations (CISRO) are encouraged to see insurers and intermediaries’ response to the CCIR’s Position Paper, Climate Change, Natural Catastrophes and Consumer Awareness. In 2023, the CCIR released this position paper that focuses on actions the insurance industry can take to ensure Canadians receive and understand information about the risk of natural catastrophes to their property and policy coverages that can help address their risk. Since then, CCIR has partnered with CISRO to engage the property and casualty insurance sector on addressing the recommendations in the 2023 position paper. In response to that engagement, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) and the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC) have jointly established a working group to engage with the property and casualty insurance sector to explore ways to enhance existing practices to help Canadians better understand how natural catastrophes could affect their home and property. CCIR and CISRO are encouraged to see insurers and intermediaries’ response to the position paper to collaborate on ways the insurance industry can help Canadians become better informed. “CCIR is very encouraged by the collaboration between insurers and...