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Heavy Rains Swamp Northeast Again; Floods Claims 5 Lives; Others, Including 2 Children, Missing 0

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Heavy Rains Swamp Northeast Again; Floods Claims 5 Lives; Others, Including 2 Children, Missing

Article 0 Comments New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! Heavy rains pounded an already saturated Northeast on Sunday for the second time in a week, spurring another round of flash flooding, cancelled airline flights and power outages. In Pennsylvania, a sudden flash flood late Saturday afternoon claimed at least five lives. Officials in Bucks County`s Upper Makefield Township in Pennsylvania said torrential rains occurred around 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the Washington Crossing area, sweeping away several cars. At least five people died and two childen, a 9- month-old boy and his 2-year-old sister, remained missing, authorities said. Other parts of the East Coast were experiencing heavy rain, including Vermont. Authorities there said landslides could become a problem Sunday as the state copes with more rain following days of flooding. “There are flash flood warnings throughout the state today. Remain vigilant and be prepared,” Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said. Sunday’s strong storms led to hundreds of flight cancellations at airports in the New York City area, according to the tracking service FlightAware. More than 350 flights were canceled at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey alone, while more than 280 flights were canceled at Kennedy International Airport...

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How to Name (or Rename) Your Advisory Firm

“Professionals hired to come up with [company] names typically [present] a thousand ideas. It’s not just an afternoon of brainstorming and leaving the room with 10 good ideas. It’s … scratching beneath the surface,” Rob Meyerson, founder and principal of Heirloom, tells ThinkAdvisor in an interview. The independent brand strategist was formerly head of naming at Hewlett-Packard and director of verbal identity at Interbrand. In the interview, he argues that building a brand requires striking a balance “between fitting in and standing out.” Further, he discusses the pros and cons of creating an original name for a financial advisory versus using the founder’s own name. His clients have ranged from Silicon Valley startups to Fortune 500 firms, including Activision, AT&T, Intel, Microsoft and the Walt Disney Co. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where many of his technology clients are located, Meyerson also talks about the good and bad reasons for renaming a firm and opines on Riskalyze changing its name to Nitrogen. Author of “Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for Your Company, Product or Service,” Meyerson has a new book due in the fourth quarter or early 2024: the 6th edition of the Amazon bestseller, “Designing...

Tantallon wildfire causes over $165 million in insured damage 0

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Tantallon wildfire causes over $165 million in insured damage

Wildfires in Atlantic Canada serve as a reminder of the financial vulnerability that many Canadians face due to natural catastrophes Toronto, ON (July 5, 2023) – The wildfire in Tantallon, Nova Scotia, that lasted from May 28 to June 4, 2023, is estimated to have caused more than $165 million (CAD) in insured damage, according to initial estimates from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. Based on total claims counts, nearly 90% of all claims related to this wildfire were personal property claims. “The unprecedented 2023 wildfire season has devastated parts of Atlantic Canada and serves as a reminder of the increasing financial vulnerability of many Canadians due to natural catastrophes and other severe weather events. Our thoughts are with everyone whose lives have been disrupted and whose property has been damaged or totally destroyed,” said Amanda Dean, Vice-President, Atlantic, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). “We thank all those who have been involved in the ongoing recovery process, as well as the many first responders who took part in the firefighting efforts. As recovery and rebuilding continue, Canada’s insurers will be there to assist the residents of Tantallon, Hammonds Plains and other impacted areas.” The Tantallon wildfire forced more than 16,000...

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Schwab to Close, Downsize Offices in 10 Cities

Charles Schwab is giving thousands of employees a reprieve from a recently announced return-to-office mandate as it moves instead to to shut U.S. offices in five cities and downsize in six others. A Schwab spokesperson confirmed Friday that company offices will be closing Oct. 1 in Atlanta, San Antonio, San Diego, St. Louis and Tampa, and that the firm has told employees its offices are being reduced in size at single locations in Boston; Henderson, Nevada; Jersey City, New Jersey; and San Francisco; as well as at two spots in Chicago. The smaller locations will remain in place or be moved to nearby areas. “In an effort to efficiently use resources to support our clients, our employees, and our stockholders, we have evaluated our real estate footprint,” the spokesperson said in a statement supplied to ThinkAdvisor Friday afternoon. “We will close some of our smaller locations with modest levels of in-office attendance or reduce or move our footprint in others,” the spokesman explained. “There are no changes to our larger centers and corporate campuses or to our branch footprint.” The spokesperson added: “There will be no impact to client service. Employees assigned to a closing location will move to full-time remote work and employees in...

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Supreme Court to Decide Fund Manager’s 10-Year SEC Fight — SEC Roundup

Welcome to SEC Roundup, a bimonthly video series by former Securities and Exchange Commission senior trial counsels Nick Morgan and Tom Zaccaro, founders of the nonprofit advocacy group Investor Choice Advocates Network. The Supreme Court agreed on June 30 to review a case in which hedge fund principal George Jarkesy has been battling the SEC since it brought an administrative proceeding against him over 10 years ago. Morgan and Zaccaro discuss the case and its broad potential impact with Jarkesy’s lawyers, solo practitoners Karen Cook and Mike McColloch. Jarkesy contends, and a federal appellate court agrees, that the SEC’s administrative proceedings are unconstitutional and deny IAs and others their right to a jury. “It’s a very broken system,” McColloch said. The SEC sets up “these fake courts, I call them fake, inside the agency, administrative law judges … and they put on trials, just like a federal court would, except no right to trial by jury, the rules of evidence don’t apply, to the extent they ever do, they only apply in favor of the SEC and you lose 100% of the time,” McColloch said. “By and large it’s a kangaroo court.” See the video above for the discussion with Cook...

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Dimensional Seeks ETF Share Classes Pioneered by Vanguard

Dimensional Fund Advisors has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow its mutual funds to offer exchange-traded fund share classes — a structure that the Vanguard Group has offered exclusively for more than two decades. If the SEC approves the request, DFA could be the first firm to adopt the arrangement since Vanguard’s patent on it expired in May. DFA said it believes the multi-class structure “will allow investors to choose the manner in which they wish to hold interests in a fund based on the share class characteristics that are most important to the investor.” Vanguard, working under SEC orders that allowed it to offer ETFs from mutual fund shares since the early 2000s, “has become one of the major sponsors of index-based ETFs, with more than $2 trillion in assets invested through exchange-traded classes, representing almost 30% of all ETF assets in the United States,” DFA noted in its application. ”Vanguard funds with exchange-traded classes also have more than $2.7 trillion in assets invested through their mutual fund classes.“

Jaguar Land Rover and Allianz Partners launch Simply Drive 0

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Jaguar Land Rover and Allianz Partners launch Simply Drive

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Allianz Partners launch a new embedded insurance programme, Simply Drive, to give clients instant and complimentary insurance cover for first month Embedded insurance programme, Simply Drive, will offer clients seamless and instant insurance for new Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar purchases Clients can immediately start enjoying the driving experience as part of modern luxury purchase journey New insurance programme is the first product from the collaboration which will be available across eight markets in Europe Programme is already live in Germany and will be rolled out in Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain* Munich, Germany (July 3, 2023) – JLR and Allianz Partners are pleased to announce the launch of an embedded insurance programme to enhance the purchasing experience for Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar clients across Europe. The Simply Drive service will be available on all new vehicles, offering clients the convenience of immediate and complimentary insurance cover for the first month of ownership, making their purchase quicker and easier. This seamless service is the first product from JLR’s new, long-term partnership with Allianz Partners, a world leader in Business-to-Business-to-Consumer insurance and assistance services. Over the next year, the insurance...

National Adaptation Strategy & Action Plan a Critical Step Toward Improving Canada’s Climate Defence 0

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National Adaptation Strategy & Action Plan a Critical Step Toward Improving Canada’s Climate Defence

Investments urgently needed to address the impacts of climate change on families and communities Toronto, ON (July 3, 2023) – The Government of Canada has officially released its first-ever National Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan. Following the plan’s release, Celyeste Power, President and CEO of Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), issued this statement: “This is a significant step toward improving Canada’s climate defence. IBC and its members applaud the Government of Canada on the official release of its first National Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan. We commend Ministers Steven Guilbeault, Bill Blair and Jonathan Wilkinson and their teams on this important accomplishment. We urge the federal government to make the necessary investments to implement this strategy. The 2023 wildfire season serves as yet another stark reminder of the increasing financial vulnerability many Canadians face due to natural catastrophes and the urgency with which we must move forward in the implementation of the National Adaptation Strategy. Insured damage related to severe weather in Canada now routinely exceeds $2 billion annually. At $3.1 billion, 2022 was the third-worst year on record. By comparison, between 2001 and 2010, Canadian insurers averaged $675 million a year in losses related to severe weather. The time...

CEOs Embrace Generative AI as Productivity Jumps to the Top of their Agendas: IBM Study 0

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CEOs Embrace Generative AI as Productivity Jumps to the Top of their Agendas: IBM Study

Half (50%) of CEOs surveyed report they are already integrating generative AI into digital products and services, but more than half (57%) of CEO respondents are concerned about data security and 48% worry about bias or data accuracy Fewer than one in three CEOs (28%) surveyed have assessed the potential impact of generative AI on their workforces, and 36% say they plan to do so in the next 12 months Armonk, NY (July 4, 2023) – A new global study by the IBM Institute for Business Value found that nearly half of CEOs surveyed identify productivity as their highest business priority – up from sixth place in 2022. They recognize technology modernization is key to achieving their productivity goals, ranking it as second highest priority. Yet, CEOs can face key barriers as they race to modernize and adopt new technologies like generative AI. The annual CEO study*, CEO decision-making in the age of AI, Act with intention, found three-quarters of CEO respondents believe that competitive advantage will depend on who has the most advanced generative AI. However, executives are also weighing potential risks or barriers of the technology such as bias, ethics and security. More than half (57%) of CEOs...

Fire Kills Almost Every Animal at Florida Wildlife Center 0

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Fire Kills Almost Every Animal at Florida Wildlife Center

Article 0 Comments New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! An early morning fire on Thursday killed nearly all the animals at a wildlife center in Florida, officials said. News outlets reported the fire broke out around 3 a.m. Thursday at the Alligator and Wildlife Discovery Center in Madeira Beach, near St. Petersburg on Florida`s Gulf Coast. “We suffered from a tragic fire last night. Nearly all of the animals are gone. We are devastated,” a post on the wildlife center`s Facebook page said. Sonny Flynn, who owns the center, told WTSP that all of the mammals inside the building died and many of the reptiles were injured. Small mammals, lizards, amphibians, turtles and tortoises, fresh and saltwater marine life, and alligators were among the 250 animals at the center. “They didn’t deserve this. This is my whole life,” Flynn said. “They all have names, they all have personality, I come in every morning and talk to them like Dr. Dolittle.” Flynn said about 95% of the animals at the center were “pet surrenders because people didn’t know how to take care of them, or they weren’t able to take care of them.” Madeira Beach Fire Department Fire...