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Barbara karouski

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Cardiac screening could predict future attacks

International

Apr 11, 2012

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A test to measure the heart’s electrical activity could help predict future heart attacks in otherwise healthy adults over 70, said a US study on Tuesday.

Researchers followed 2,192 healthy adults aged 70-79 for a period of eight years, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The subjects started the study by getting an electrocardiogram, often called an EKG or ECG, which measures the heart’s overall health.

People who showed abnormalities in their EKGs saw a higher risk of heart disease over the course of the study than people whose EKGs were normal, even after researchers adjusted for risk factors like diabetes and high cholesterol. Those who had minor abnormalities show up on their first test had a 35 per cent higher risk of heart attack, while those with major abnormalities had a 51 per cent increased risk, said the findings.

“This research is taking the information from an EKG and adding it to other traditional risk factors to better predict who is going to have a heart attack,” said co-author Douglas Bauer, director of the University of California San Francisco Division of General Internal Medicine Research Program.

However, organizations such as the American Academy of Family Physicians do not back routine use of EKGs for cardiac screening in low-risk patients, citing high costs and a lack of evidence that the test would improve health outcomes.

“For the time being, in the absence of clear evidence of benefit and no clear implications for costs, the best advice is not to perform ECGs in asymptomatic patients, regardless of age,” said an accompanying editorial by Philip Greenland of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

“However, a careful and detailed cost-effectiveness analysis would be a useful next step in the translation of the cumulative risk information into an evidence-based practice recommendation.”

Heart disease is the leading killer in the United States, and accounts for one in three deaths, according to the American Heart Association.

Washington, April 10, 2012 (AFP)

Sky News : admits in hacking ‘canoe’ man’s emails

Communication

Apr 6, 2012

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Sky News, the British broadcaster partly owned by Rupert Murdoch, admitted on Thursday that it had illegally hacked into the emails of a man who notoriously faked his own death in a life insurance scam.

Sky News said it had authorised reporter Gerard Tubb to access emails belonging to John Darwin and his wife Anne, who faked his death in a 2002 canoe accident before starting a new life in Panama with the insurance payout.

But the broadcaster insisted the hacking was in the public interest as material provided by the channel was “pivotal” in the successful prosecution of the British couple in 2008.

“We stand by these actions as editorially justified and in the public interest,” head of Sky News John Ryley said in a statement.

“We do not take such decisions lightly or frequently. They require finely balanced judgement based on individual circumstances and must always be subjected to the proper editorial controls.”

But shares in the channel’s owner BSkyB slid three per cent following the announcement, the biggest fall of any company on London’s FTSE 100 index on Thursday.

The revelation comes after a huge phone hacking scandal engulfed Murdoch’s British newspaper arm News International, forcing the Australian-born tycoon to shut down the 168-year-old News of the World tabloid last July.

There was public revulsion in Britain when it emerged that the News of the World had listened to the voicemails of Milly Dowler, a murdered English schoolgirl, as well as dozens of victims of crime, celebrities and politicians.

Simon Cole, the former Sky News managing editor who authorised Tubb to break into the emails, announced his resignation on Thursday but claimed it was not connected to the hacking.

“I’ve been planning for some time to retire from Sky News after 17 years,” he wrote on Twitter.

“This is unrelated to the Darwin story. There is no linkage. Fact.”

The police would not comment on whether material provided by Sky News had indeed been “pivotal” in the case against the Darwins.

“All we can say is that it formed part of the evidence that was put before the jury,” a spokeswoman for Cleveland Police, the force in northeast England that investigated the case, told AFP.

In a second case of authorised hacking, Tubb, Sky News’ northern England correspondent, accessed the emails of a suspected paedophile and his wife, but this did not result in any material being published or broadcast.

The channel said that “in light of the current, heightened interest in editorial practices”, it had commissioned an external review of its email records and an internal audit of payment records.

Ryley said Sky News’ email review was nearing its conclusion and that no grounds for concern had been found so far.

The channel is owned by pay-TV giant BSkyB, of which 39 percent belongs to Rupert Murdoch’s US-based media empire News Corp.

James Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch’s youngest son who is under continued pressure over phone hacking, resigned as BSkyB chairman on Tuesday saying he did not want his association with the scandal to damage the broadcaster’s reputation.

The 39-year-old has always denied knowing that the illegal practice was widespread at the News of the World, but he resigned as executive chairman of News International in February.

John Darwin was jailed in 2008 for six years for his scam and his wife, who claimed just over £500,000 ($793,000, $607,000) in life insurance payouts, was jailed for six and a half years. The couple were both freed last year.

London, April 5, 2012 (AFP)

WHO : 135 states agree anti-tobacco trafficking deal

International

Apr 5, 2012

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Negotiators from 135 nations sealed Wednesday a global deal to stem the illegal tobacco trade that could net governments $50 billion more annually in tax revenues, the World Health Organisation said.

“Illicit trade in tobacco is one of the most dangerous trades at the moment, it’s a way of getting cheap, illegal cigarettes into the hands of young people, poor people, people who are in a vulnerable position,” said Ian Walton-George, who chaired the negotiations.

The protocol, to be put to a ministerial meeting in November in Seoul for adoption, would not only have a health impact, but could also help governments recover between $40 and $50 billion in duties lost in smuggling.

It would require signatory states to establish a tracking mechanism that could help detect and investigate any illegal trade in tobacco products. Companies involved in the trade, including agents, suppliers and tobacco manufacturers, would have to be licensed under the deal.

Manufacturers would also have to carry out checks on their customers to ensure that they are genuine or if they have associations with criminal organisations. The products themselves would also have identification markings showing where they were produced, when they were produced and who were their first customers.

“If those products with identification markings fall out of the legal chain, then we can check who produced them, who is the first customer,” said Walton-George.

“This would make sure that if there are bad apples in the chain, then we can take action to stop that leakage.”

Geneva, April 4, 2012 (AFP)

Association of British Investigators joins IQ

Industry News

Apr 5, 2012

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The UK’s leading trade body for Investigators in the private sector, the Association of British Investigators has become the first industry association to become a member of Industry Qualifications (IQ). The ABI has become both a member of IQ Qualifications and IQ Resources. The ABI Academy will work with IQ on the development of qualifications for investigators, promoting IQ qualifications within its membership, and the development and sale of training courses and materials to support IQ programmes.

Gavin Robertson, ABI Governing Council member with responsibility for Strategy, Qualifications and Regulation said “The agreement to work with IQ comes at a critical time for the investigations sector.

The considerations of the Leveson enquiry and the renewed interest in licensing private investigators are raising the profile of education and qualifications in the sector. The ABI will play a central role in these developments and further strengthening our relationship with IQ is part of our strategic response to the challenges and opportunities that will arise”.

As a result of the agreement, ABI will assist IQ in the development of qualifications for the sector, provide subject experts for IQ quality assurance activities in the sector and provide access to IQ awards for its members. IQ will assist ABI by providing strategic advice on education and qualification issues, and assist the ABI establish and promote its learning programmes.

Raymond Clarke, Chief Executive of IQ said, “This is a significant development for IQ on two counts.

Firstly, it provides IQ with a strategically significant sector partner in advance of the licensing of the investigatory sector, and confirms our commitment to the sector. The opportunity to access the expertise of ABI members and networks will do much to ensure the quality of the IQ product and our responsiveness to sector needs”.

“Secondly, ABI becomes the first trade body to become a member of IQ. Whilst we anticipate significant growth in the membership of representative bodies in the coming months, across a wide range of sectors, the ABI is an important first for IQ. We are very pleased to have secured the involvement of such a distinguished and significant body at such an important time in the development of their industry sector”.

Generali : shares drop after profit plunge

Financial News

Apr 2, 2012

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Shares in Italian insurer Generali, a leading European insurance group, dropped almost 3.0 percent on the Milan stock exchange, after the company posted a 50-percent drop in 2011 net profit.

Generali shares were showing a loss of 2.75 percent in late morning trading on the FTSE Mib index.

The Trieste-based company said late on Tuesday that its 2011 net profit fell to 856 million euros ($1.133 million) from 1.7 billion euros in 2010, on the back of writedowns on Greek bonds and other assets for a total of 1.02 billion euros.

A Dow Jones Newswires poll had forecast a profit of 998 million euros. The group’s operating profit fell to 3.9 billion euros. The drop in net profit led the Generali board to recommend a reduced 2011 dividend of 0.20 euros per share, down from 0.45 euros in 2010.

The drop reflected difficulties in the core life insurance division, where margins were hit in particular by lower prices for Italian government bonds.

Generali was among the companies which insured the cruise ship Costa Concordia — which sank off the Italian coast in January — and the company is likely to book big charges for the accident in 2012.

Claims spike expected with Easter

Good to know

Apr 2, 2012

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As the Easter break approaches many people are planning to take on some DIY around the home. But AXA Personal Lines warns of costly accidents as claims peak on Easter Monday.

Easter weekend could see a flood of people checking their home insurance policies as over two thirds of the adult population open their toolboxes for a bit of DIY or home maintenance over the break, AXA claims. Worryingly however, over 50% of these people don’t have accidental damage on their insurance cover, the company added.

Statistics from AXA Personal Lines show that for the last three years, accidental damage claims on Easter Monday have soared by up to 29% on the annual average with an average claim reaching almost £500.

Nearly two thirds of regular DIYers (60%) have had an accident at some point, the most common damage being:

1 – spilt paint/varnish or other

2 – broken furniture

3 – unintended holes created in walls and ceilings

4 – water leakage

5 – caused a fire/burnt something

Easter is traditionally one of the busiest DIY periods of the year, and as finances remain tight many people are looking to save money by doing it themselves – nearly two thirds say that saving money is the main reason they carry out DIY.

Nick Turner, MD Intermediary & Partnerships, AXA Personal Lines says, “It’s interesting to see this claims peak around Easter.

“DIY is of course very popular but people shouldn’t forget about properly protecting themselves with AD cover.”

The Strategic Impact of further Mergers, Acquisitions & Consolidation

Calendar

Mar 30, 2012

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Evening Panel Discussion

April 17^th 2012 | Novotel Tower Bridge | London

Whilst 2011 saw a wave of M&A activity in the industry, to date the expected consolidation on the carrier side has failed to materialise. Speculation nonetheless abounds over moves that would radically re-shape the market.

Our panel of industry leaders conduct an authoritative exploration of the projected drivers and outcomes of M&A activity. Hear top decision makers’ thinking on where the next round of M&A will take place, the degree of scale required for success in the coming economic climate, and the likely direction of movement of current market valuations.

Appointment : John Elbl is named Vice President in AIR Worldwide’s Business Development Group

Social

Mar 20, 2012

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AIR Worldwide (AIR) today announced that John Elbl has been appointed vice president in AIR’s Business Development Group. He joins AIR after 13 years with Zurich Insurance Company, most recently as global head of catastrophe modeling. In his new role, Elbl will assist with service and support for AIR’s commercial insurer clients, as well as aid in developing AIR software and models to better meet the needs of commercial insurers.

“John brings extensive experience working with companies to interpret analysis results, optimize modeling workflows, and improve overall catastrophe risk management,” said Bill Churney, senior vice president at AIR Worldwide. “He brings tremendous industry expertise in modeling of commercial and industrial risks, which will benefit our rapidly expanding set of commercial insurer clients.”

AIR continues to invest significant resources in expanding the scope of its catastrophe models for commercial risks. Recently enhanced capabilities include a component-based approach to help companies better assess the catastrophe risk to industrial facilities and an updated financial module to more accurately reflect commercial risks. AIR is currently working with companies that represent almost half of total commercial premiums in the United States and is committed to growing that number in 2012.

“I’m extremely pleased to join the best-in-class provider of flexible and intuitive catastrophe modeling solutions,” said Elbl. “I look forward to using my experience and understanding of the commercial insurance industry to further improve our models and software to better meet the needs of insurers of complex commercial risks.”

Mr. Elbl holds an M.S. in applied mathematics from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in mathematics from Kansas State University.

Taiwan : beef imports checkes to tighten

International

Mar 20, 2012

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Taiwan will tighten checks on beef imports over food safety fears surrounding a controversial additive used to promote lean meat, officials said.

Several shipments of imported beef have been pulled from Taiwan’s shelves this year after they were found to be treated with ractopamine. And plans to lift a ban on ractopamine-treated US beef recently sparked protests from farmers, who fear the local meat industry could be undermined.

Beginning Tuesday, imports of beef products from the United States, Canada, Australia, Panama and Nicaragua will be tested shipment by shipment, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.

The move is aimed at calming the fears of local consumers who have shunned buying meat products, either imported or locally produced.

Observers say the plan to lift the ban on ractopamine-treated beef is aimed to facilitate stalled trade talks with the United States, a key trading partner and arms supplier of the politically isolated island.

“Before the existing law can be amended, all meat products treated with lean meat drugs are banned,” Tsai Shu-chen, an FDA official, said.

Taiwan, China and the European Union ban such drugs because of possible human health risks, but 26 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia and Brazil, have declared the product safe.

Taipei, March 18, 2012 (AFP)

Friends Life reports that more should be done for working mothers

Industry News

Mar 16, 2012

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A report by Friends Life has revealed that more needs to be done to ensure women’s long-term savings are not hampered by the impact of starting a family. The latest Visions of Britain 2020 report has exposed a worrying number of women who are less clued up about pensions than their male counterparts, and the company is urging employers to do more to combat the issue.

Despite female representation on the board of the UK’s largest companies increasing, little is being done to minimise the damage of women taking a career break to start a family, Friends Life believes.

Kim Clarke, Head of HR at Friends Life, commented:

“We believe that employers may well consider the short-term financial impact of female employees starting a family through supportive flexible working practices but what about the long-term impact? When women return to work they often go back part time in the first instance, meaning that the percentage of their salary that they can save is much smaller, while at the same time their outgoings have increased. Unless drastic changes are made, many women may find that starting a family could negatively affect their retirement pot.”

According to the latest Visions of Britain report by Friends Life, entitled Pensions: The Solutions, almost half (49%) of women do not save into an employer-sponsored pension scheme. A further one in ten are unsure if they save at all. In light of the findings Friends Life is calling for more to be done to increase savings awareness among women in the workplace.

Kim Clarke added:

“There is a lot we could do as a nation to help those women wanting to have a family and a career – the two no longer need to be mutually exclusive. Missed National Insurance payments and pension contributions while women are out of the workplace raising a family can have a serious impact on those trying to save for their retirement. Flexible working is one of a number of things that can encourage working mums back to work, but fresh thinking is still needed, hence our undertaking this project and commissioning this important research.”

The views of more than 1,000 people across Britain, including pension experts, were canvassed for the report.

Praedicat : RMS and private investors launched new company

Industry News

Mar 14, 2012

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The RAND Corporation, Risk Management Solutions, Inc. (RMS) and private investors have launched a company named Praedicat, Inc., that will provide consulting services and software to the property and casualty insurance industries, officials announced today.

The creation of Praedicat builds off of multi-year research and development projects by RAND and RMS on the identification and prioritization of emerging risks using modeling and cutting-edge computer science. Praedicat will have about a dozen employees at launch and expects to locate in Culver City, Calif.

Based in Newark, Calif., RMS is the leading provider of products and services for the financial management of global catastrophe risk. RAND is a nonprofit public policy research organization headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif. Praedicat marks the first time RAND has spun off a new company for commercial application of its technology research.

“The RAND Corporation is committed to pursuing innovative ways to extend the reach of our research and analysis,” said Michael D. Rich, president and CEO of RAND. “This new venture will help us reach new audiences with solutions and expand RAND’s positive impact on society.”

Praedicat will use new approaches to extend a field of analytics called catastrophe risk modeling. These models are used extensively by the insurance industry and other financial markets to manage the property and casualty risk posed by natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and terrorist attacks. Praedicat is developing “liability catastrophe models.” Liability catastrophes are catastrophes with a human cause for which businesses or people may be held liable, such as asbestos or climate change.

“Asbestos had a devastating impact on the workers exposed to it, and it also had a devastating financial impact on insurers,” said Robert T. Reville, a senior economist at RAND who will be the CEO of Praedicat. “With the emerging catastrophe risk technology that RMS and RAND have developed, the casualty insurance industry should be able to better manage man-made catastrophes while helping their clients avoid them.”

Praedicat tested its solutions with several leading insurance and reinsurance firms while the technology was under development at RAND and RMS.

“Modeling has transformed underwriting and catastrophe risk management decision-making for the property insurance market,” said Hemant Shah, president and CEO of RMS and a director of Praedicat. “RMS and RAND, and now Praedicat, are excited to extend this transformation to the casualty insurance market, taking it to the leading edge of an industry trend of deeply embedding analytics and models to increase risk-adjusted profitability.”

James A. Thomson, the former president and CEO of RAND, will serve as chairman of the Praedicat board of directors. Along with Thomson, Reville and Shah, the board also will include Siddhartha Dalal, chief technology officer of RAND, and Jacques Dubois, a private investor and former chairman and CEO of Swiss Re America Holding Corporation.

Over 80% of Lloyd’s claims now on ECF

Market

Mar 14, 2012

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The percentage of new insurance claims being managed using ECF – the London insurance market’s Electronic Claims File system – has reached 83% within the Lloyd’s market, a rise of 8% on this time last year.

Newly-published figures for the companies market show ECF being used for 71% of all new claims, a rise of 13% over the last calendar year.

Transactions are also speeding up, the data reveals. According to the market’s ECF User Group, 2011 saw a 15% improvement in end-to-end transaction processing time.

The figures come as the initial roll out of ECF2 across the market reaches its conclusion and a detailed assessment of its performance gets under way.

Robert Gregg, chair of the ECF User Group and senior claims executive at the Lloyd’s Market Association said:

“ECF2 is very nearly there now. All elements of the system have been rolled out and we are now obtaining feedback from the market’s users with a view to fine-tuning the system and introducing change requests to enhance usability, functionality and process. The ECF User Group has prioritised 14 changes that have now moved to an analysis phase. One of our major examples of this is to ensure the recognition and conversion of embedded documents within emails utilising the Document File Viewer.

“With 83% of all Lloyd’s new claims being processed using the system we’ve made considerable advances but there is still a little way to go. An enhanced system solution will be required to achieve the 100% target and discussions are under way to investigate potential suppliers.”

Every month, around 40,000 claims transactions are being created and completed using the ECF system.

Marketforce and the IEA’s 3rd Annual Conference: Discuss holistic anti-fraud strategies

Calendar

Mar 14, 2012

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Tuesday 27 March 2012, One Whitehall Place, London

Insurance Fraud

As the programme for this year’s insurance Fraud Conference is now full, we hope that you’ll be able to join us and your peers on 27^th March in One Whitehall Place, London. With the economic climate hitting both consumers and insurers hard, tackling opportunistic and organised fraud is at the top of the agenda this New Year. This dedicated one-day conference will follow the policy lifecycle, from application to claim, to examine how trends in fraud are changing and how insurers can develop a proactive anti-fraud strategy.

The Event

The Programme

New PI policy for IFAs launched by Aon Risk Solutions and Axa Commercial Lines

Industry News

Mar 13, 2012

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Aon Risk Solutions has entered into an exclusive arrangement with AXA Commercial Lines to provide professional indemnity insurance for Independent Financial Advisers in the UK.

The product will be distributed through a dedicated sales team and Aon’s UK branch network. Aon will bind and issue policy documentation under a limited delegation of authority.

Working together, Aon and Axa have produced a product to meet the needs of the IFA market based on research conducted by Aon. This highlighted that IFAs were frustrated by the length of time they spent filling in proposal forms, the limited number of options available to them for PI insurance and that the market will consolidate further with the impact from the Retail Distribution Review.

By entering the market, Aon and Axa have increased the options available to IFAs, providing a quality service at competitive prices and making life easier for IFAs by reducing the length of the proposal form by introducing a shorter proposal form than their competitors.

Andrew Gough, Director at Aon Risk Solutions, says: “Our research highlighted that IFAs were dissatisfied with both the lack of choice in the market and the paperwork involved in obtaining a quote, so we worked with AXA to bring in new capacity and streamline the process. Dominic and his team have a tremendous amount of expertise in this sector and I’m confident that in partnering with AXA, we will be able to develop a successful scheme that will deliver quality cover at a competitive price to our clients.”

Dominic Guest, Head of Professional Indemnity at AXA Commercial Lines, comments: “IFAs present their own set of challenges when it comes to writing professional indemnity. You need lot of experience in this class of business to understand the risks involved and be able to grow a profitable book of business. The PI team at AXA Commercial Lines has that experience and we’re delighted to be able to support Aon in bringing this new offering to the IFA market.”

Hiscox : ‘Super losses’ in the US healthcare insurance sector are on the rise

International

Mar 13, 2012

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The overall cost and frequency of so called $50m plus ‘super losses’ in the US healthcare insurance sector are on the rise according to specialist healthcare insurer Hiscox. Despite the clear benefits of the implementation of quality and patient safety measures, the large losses keep on getting larger with, in the last two years alone, juries awarding well over $1bn in total damages for just seven medical liability cases.

While there are many healthcare institutions who continue to risk manage their more modest loss levels well, many others are experiencing mid-sized losses getting steadily larger together with a rise in frequency of catastrophic medical loss. With record awards being made in cases ranging from inadequate staffing at nursing homes, to medical negligence in hospitals, seven US states in 2011 declared their largest ever medical malpractice awards. While some cases have been, or will be revised down on appeal, there are clear signs that the overall trend in ‘super losses’ is upwards.

Rise of the super loss: recent awards

Date	State	Award
March 2010	New York	$60.9m	Negligence at birth
July 2010	California	$670m	Inadequate staffing at assisted-living facilities
July 2010	Florida	$114m	Wrongful death suit against a nursing home
May 2011	Connecticut	$58.6m	Negligence at birth
August 2011	West Virginia	$91.5m	Nursing home negligence
October 2011	Michigan	$144m	Negligence at birth
January 2012	Florida	$168m	Brain damage following surgery

Commenting, Ian Thompson, Senior Vice President, Healthcare, Hiscox, said: “We have real fears that the bigger so-called ‘super losses’ are getting worse and becoming more frequent. In addition there is increasing evidence that batch losses, where the insured has the ability to place losses together under a common aggregating cause, are also increasing in size and frequency – the recent case involving the overuse of coronary stents in Maryland is a good example of a batch loss that certainly has the potential to become catastrophic.”

Nick Williamson, Healthcare Actuary at Hiscox, added: “According to Hiscox figures*, more than half of all the largest healthcare claims in history have been paid in the last five years. Our research also suggests that losses above $5m are increasing at a concerning rate, from around 0.25% of all losses in 2000, to 0.7% currently and 1% by 2014; that represents a significant change.”

Ian Thompson concluded: “Given the question marks over the new Accountable Care Organization model as well as concern we might see another demonising of the Managed Care industry the trend for all losses, big and small, could see more worsening, and in different areas. We are already seeing numerous and very public reports coming out of the Hospital Data Privacy area, and challenging times appear to be ahead. With insurers charging premiums for catastrophic events often based on a 1 in every 200 or 300 year loss, it is time that the healthcare insurance sector took a careful look at its catastrophic exposures.

Munich Re : profits up more than threefold in 2012

Financial News

Mar 13, 2012

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Munich Re, the world’s leading reinsurer, said Tuesday it is projecting a threefold increase in profits this year to around 2.5 billion euros ($3.3 billion).

“Given average claims experience and in expectation of a rising price trend overall in reinsurance, Munich Re anticipates a significantly improved underwriting result for 2012, as things stand at present,” the group said in a statement.

“Subject to actual claims experience with regard to major losses and the impact on the income statement of severe currency or capital market developments, Munich Re aims to achieve a consolidated result in the region of 2.5 billion euros.”

In 2011, Munich Re saw its bottom-line net profit slashed to just 702 million euros from 2.4 billion euros a year earlier as a result of the large number of natural catastrophes and huge writedowns on its holdings of Greek debt.

Munich, Germany, March 13, 2012 (AFP)

US Treasury announced selling of $6 billion in AIG shares

Industry News

Mar 11, 2012

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The US Treasury announced it would seek to raise $6 billion by selling off a chunk of its holdings in American International Group, the giant insurer it rescued at the height of the financial crisis.

The Treasury gave no details of number of shares on offer and the pricing, but said that AIG itself was planning to take up to $3 billion of the offering.

That would likely reduce by a significant amount the Treasury’s 77 percent holding of AIG, nearly 1.46 billion shares.

At the closing price Wednesday of $29.45, that would put the offer at about 11 per cent of the company, though Treasury would likely be pricing the offer at lower than market to ensure buyers for such a large offering.

AIG shares have traded between $23.54 and $30.39 so far this year.

Underwriters would also have the option to buy another $900 million worth of shares in the offering, according to a separate AIG statement.

Meanwhile Treasury said that AIG would repay $8.5 billion for money the government put into AIG entities to support the company in the 2008 rescue.

AIG will pay for this in part from proceeds of its $6 billion sale of shares in Hong Kong-listed affiliate AIA Group Ltd. on Monday.

“The people of AIG have achieved another significant milestone in our progress toward our goal that American taxpayers recoup their entire investment in AIG at a profit,” AIG chief executive Robert Benmosche in a statement.

The Treasury and the Federal Reserve stepped in to rescue AIG, formerly the world’s largest insurance group, committing $180 billion in support in 2008 as the company appeared on the verge of a catastrophic failure amid the meltdown of the market for packaged mortgage securities.

The Treasury put in some $70 billion to support the company. Since then — before Wednesday’s deals are counted — paybacks and share sales had brought the outstanding exposure of the Treasury to just over $50 billion.

The official Government Accounting Office said in January that Treasury was not likely to ever recover all of its investment in the company.

Washington, March 7, 2012 (AFP)

Australia : heavy rain and flooding still affects states of Victoria and New South Wales

International

Mar 11, 2012

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Heavy rain and flash flooding continues to affect the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales.

Sydney was affected by severe rainfall over 7/8 March 2012, with some observatories recording the highest daily rainfall in five years. Sydney’s southern corridor, from Tempe through to Southerland, was especially affected by flash flooding causing road closures and impacting local businesses. Local reports from the suburb of Marrickville indicate that the Cooks River burst its banks causing residents along Riverside Crescent and Dibble Street to evacuate, while further submerging approximately 20 cars. In the Victorian town of Nathalia floodwaters breached both its main levees resulting in the evacuations of all the town’s residents and putting 700 homes under threat.

On March 8, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared a catastrophe for New South Wales and Victorian flood zones covering the NSW Riverina, NSW Central West and northern Victoria. The ICA indicate that so far there have been fewer than 4000 claims, mostly for light storm damage, however, they expect this number to greatly increase. The ICA also declared a catastrophe for the inundation of southwest Queensland in late January and early February 2012, with insurers anticipating AUS$111 million from over 5,000 claims for damage to properties, contents, vehicles and businesses. According to Queensland Emergency Management the townships of Bidwell, Tin Can Bay, Rainbow Beach and Goomboorian remain isolated by floodwater.

Flood policies in Australia are currently under review following the recommendations of the National Disaster Insurance Review in response to the devastating floods of January 2011. The ICA has reported that losses from the Queensland floods December 21, 2010 through to January 14, 2011 total AUS$2.38billion. The flooding in 2011 affected a much broader area of Queensland, with significantly higher rainfall than has been observed in 2012. Furthermore the populated regions of the east coast of Queensland, including Brisbane, were affected in 2011 – to date these areas have not been affected.

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Barbara karouski

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