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Liberty Mutual to Eliminate 250 Positions

Article 0 Comments Liberty Mutual has confirmed it is eliminating about 250 positions, or 0.5% of its global workforce, as it continues implementing new organizational structures within US Retail Markets and Global Risk Solutions units. In an email a spokesperson said some employees had been notified off the position eliminations this week but the Boston-based insurer hopes to “minimize the actual reduction by offering opportunities to many of these impacted individuals.” Most of the eliminations will be effective in April or May. “We have been transparent with our employees that we are on a multi-year transformation to ensure our organization is set up for future success and to address the rise of emerging risks,” a company spokesperson said via email. “This means we are reimagining and optimizing our business – including our product portfolio, an intentional focus of our global footprint, and investment in innovation and capabilities – while prioritizing our efforts to focus on how we can provide the most value for our customers, agents, brokers and partners.” The latest news follows a late October 2023 announcement of an additional 850 layoffs on top of about 370 jobs lost in the U.S. as the result of an earlier restructuring....

Tobacco Giants’ Patent Settlement Clears Path for Smokeless Products 0

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Tobacco Giants’ Patent Settlement Clears Path for Smokeless Products

Article 0 Comments Tobacco giants Philip Morris International Inc. and British American Tobacco Plc settled a series of patent suits that clears a path for both firms to bring their cigarette alternative products to US and European markets. The accord ends legal challenges preventing PMI from bringing its IQOS heated tobacco product to the key US market, and now allows BAT to offer its rival Glo product to some European markets. The two companies have been battling for years in a series of patent disputes regarding alternative cigarette products that include vapes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches. Both PMI and BAT have said they have spent tens millions on research and development of nicotine products that they say are safer than cigarettes. In a joint statement, the companies said the settlement includes “non-monetary provisions that resolve all ongoing global patent infringement litigation, encompassing all related injunctions and exclusion orders.” The deal also prevents future claims against current heated tobacco and vapor products, the companies said. While continuing to sell billions of cigarettes each year, the biggest tobacco firms are battling to earn market share with the next generation of nicotine users with the latest alternative products. BAT shares rose as...

10 Best Stocks to Buy Now: Morningstar 0

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10 Best Stocks to Buy Now: Morningstar

Start Slideshow In a new blog post, Margaret Giles, a Morningstar content development editor, names 10 companies that investors may want to own as February begins. Selected from Morningstar’s list of Best Companies to Own in 2024, these companies have significant competitive advantages and predictable cash flows, and are run by management teams with a history of making smart capital allocation decisions. Giles notes that the best companies may not necessarily be the best stocks to buy because the amount an investor pays to own a company is also important. So, the companies on her list have the most undervalued stock prices as of Jan. 30. See the accompanying gallery for the 10 best companies to own. One-year performance is as of Feb. 1. Start Slideshow

CES 2024: Big Themes for Insurance and How They’ve Changed 0

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CES 2024: Big Themes for Insurance and How They’ve Changed

By Mark Breading, ReSource Pro — I’ve been attending CES for many years, always looking at the advancements in technology through an insurance lens. As might be expected, the insurance lens is very broad, given that P&C insurers cover every industry. New technologies are reshaping segments like manufacturing, retail, construction, and many more – understanding these changes will help to ensure the industry is properly addressing evolving risks and customer needs. At each CES, I try to distill the event into big themes. This year, I’m looking back at the themes I identified in 2019 to see what has changed and evolved in the last five years. Granted, it has been a momentous five years for the insurance industry and the world at large. COVID-19, wars, inflation, and supply chain issues are driving fundamental changes in traditional patterns of work, travel, and commerce. Here, I share my themes from CES 2019 and how they have morphed into new themes for 2024. 1. AI is Everywhere This is even more true today than in 2019. There are two big AI themes of 2024. First is the broader emergence of AI and generative AI chips, allowing AI to be embedded more into...

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Texas Men Indicted in $70M University Athletic Billing Scheme

Article 0 Comments Four individuals, including two physicians, have been indicted in the Eastern District of Texas charged with federal violations involving a university athletic billing scheme, announced U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs. Mouzon Bass, III, also known as Muzzy Bass, 58, of Highland Park; Lance West Wilson, 54, of Allen; and Robert Brent Scott, 59, of La Quinta, CA; were indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2024 and charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud, conspiring to commit healthcare fraud, and conspiring to commit money laundering. In a separate indictment returned in October 2023, Kyle Kelly Carter, 61, of Keller, was charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud. The defendants have all made initial appearances in federal court this month. According to the indictments, from approximately 2014 through 2023, the defendants are alleged to have been involved in a university-centered athletic department billing scheme. Bass and Wilson used their company, Vivature, to submit false claims to private insurance carriers representing that physicians, like Scott and Carter, were providing medical services for injured student-athletes at universities across the country. The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Texas alleges that in reality, these physicians did not see...

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CAIS Hires David Canter as Strategic Advisor

CAIS, an alternative-investment platform for independent financial advisors, has tapped Fidelity Investments veteran David Canter as a strategic advisor to support its work with the RIA community. “We are excited to have David join the CAIS team at a time when independent advisors are adopting CAIS technology as their primary solution to scale alternative investments,” CAIS founder and CEO Matt Brown said in an announcement Thursday. “David has been a champion of the RIA community for decades; his deep experience and network will have a meaningful contribution to our mission,” Brown said.

Wisedocs Closes $12.7M Oversubscribed Series A Round 0

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Wisedocs Closes $12.7M Oversubscribed Series A Round

Technology Market Leader for the Insurance Industry Closes $12.7M Oversubscribed Series A as It More Than Doubles Customer Base Toronto ON (Jan. 30, 2024) – Wisedocs, machine learning software-as-a-service (SaaS) for medical record review, indexing, and summarization closes $9.5M USD ($12.7M CAD) in oversubscribed Series A financing. The Series A is led by Information Venture Partners, an early-stage B2B fintech investment firm; and by Thomson Reuters Ventures and ManchesterStory. Connor Atchison, Founder and CEO of Wisedocs, states, “This latest financing round proves the success of our most recent technological advancements. The claims ecosystem has long remained a siloed and slow-moving machine. With the improvements in automation, intelligence, and centralization that Wisedocs enables, the claims process will be an efficient experience for companies, team members, and claimants alike.” This financing round follows Wisedocs’ successful 2022 $4.1M oversubscribed Seed round. The Series A further enables Wisedocs’ successful expansion of its team, product, and sales territories. Wisedocs launched in the United States in 2022, followed by the opening of new American headquarters in Florida to support a growing US customer base. Wisedocs is poised to accelerate exponentially in 2024 following a successful 2023, which saw the company more than double its growth in...

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Aviation Lessors Secure Settlements With Russia Totaling $2.5B for Trapped Planes

Article 0 Comments Aircraft leasing firms have secured settlements with Russia totaling more than $2.5 billion for over a quarter of the roughly 400 aircraft stuck in the country since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In return, international lessors are handing ownership of the planes to state insurance company NSK, which will transfer them to Russian airlines. NLK-Finance, a subsidiary of NSK, has been allocated 296.8 billion roubles ($3.31 billion) to date to buy out aircraft that have been the subject of a stand-off between international lessors and insurers, Russia’s finance ministry said this month. The impact of these settlements on lawsuits launched by lessors against Western insurers was unclear, the heads of aircraft lessors DAE Capital and Aircastle Advisor told the Airline Economics conference in Dublin this week. Lessors have been suing dozens of insurers over losses of at least $8 billion over the trapped planes, with vast court trials scheduled in Dublin in June and London in October. Some are also being heard in U.S. states. In separate litigation, groups of lessors are trying to prevent reinsurance cases worth more than $4 billion from being heard in Moscow, a court filing shows. Below are details of settlements...

11 Reasons Clients Stay With Their Advisors: Morningstar 0

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11 Reasons Clients Stay With Their Advisors: Morningstar

Start Slideshow New research from Morningstar looks at why clients keep their financial advisors, a topic that sometimes receives less attention than taking on a new client or losing one. Morningstar noted that its previous research on why investors hire and fire their advisors suggests that returns may not be the key factor in clients thinking about the advisor-client relationship. Sixty percent of respondents cited an emotionally grounded reason for hiring their financial advisors, such as the degree to which someone feels comfortable making financial decisions and has the ability to stay the course.  The three most common reasons that clients fire their advisors are the quality of financial advice/services provided, the quality of the relationship with the advisor and the cost of service. To gain insight about advisor retention, Morningstar researchers asked 620 advisor clients in four surveys conducted in 2021 and 2022 to list some of the reasons they continue to work with their advisors.  Morningstar used existing research from both industry and academia to identify common motivations that investors have for working with an advisor. These fell into two broad categories: emotional, such as comfort, trust and guidance; and financial, such as cost, returns performance and specific...