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Fitch Downgrades Hartford's Hybrid Debt Following Receipt of TARP Funds

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fitch Ratings has downgraded and removed from Rating Watch Negative the following Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (HFSG) ratings: --$500 million 8.125% junior subordinated debentures due 2068 to 'BB' from '...

New Law will Empower Attorney General's Office to Fight Securities Fraud

The office of the Florida Attorney General issued the following news release: Attorney General Bill McCollum today joined Senator Garrett Richter and Representative Tom Grady to witness Governor Charlie Crist sign into a law a bill that furt...

WellCare CEO To Make Exit

When WellCare Health Plans Inc. made Heath G. Schiesser president and chief executive officer in 2008, Schiesser seized the role of the sheriff brought in to clean up a troubled town. The $7 billion Tampa managed care company was under inves...

Retirement Plans From Hell

Early this year the woman overseeing the 401(k) plan for a rural Oregon company gathered her 25 colleagues together to hold an election. At stake: whether to continue paying AIG an annual 1.25% of assets to manage their 401(k) plan as part o...

Employer-Based Benefits: A Kaput Model

Distributing voluntary benefits such as group health, disability and retirement perks through the employer is a bankrupt strategy. It's time to cart that moribund business model off to the morgue. Offering benefits via the employer started...

WellCare President and CEO Schiesser to resign

TAMPA, Fla._Health insurer WellCare Health Plans Inc. said Monday that Heath Schiesser, who was promoted to president and CEO during a leadership shakeup in January 2008, will resign once a successor is found. WellCare said Schiesser announc...

Online Health Insurance Shoppers Indicate High Customer Satisfaction in Consumer Survey

Online health insurance portal GoHealthInsurance.com (http://www.gohealthinsurance.com) recently conducted a survey asking customers about their experience shopping for coverage. We're proud to provide a service that helps people obtain the...

Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt to Combine to Form Towers Watson

STAMFORD, Conn. ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Towers, Perrin, Forster Crosby, Inc. and Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ: WW) today announced that their respective Boards of Directors have unanimously approved a definitive agree...

Standard Life Lifted to Buy at BofA Merrill Lynch

MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch on Thursday upgraded U.K. insurer Standard Life (uk:sl) from neutral to buy, saying shares have underpformed the market by nearly 30% since the March rally, making for an excellent entry...

Swiss Life cut to underperform: BofA Merrill Lynch

MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Swiss Life Holding (ch:slhn) was cut to underperform from neutral on Thursday by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which said market expectations are ignoring the fall-out effects of last year's turmoil. The investment b...

Hoboken Couple Sentenced for Insurance Fraud

The New Jersey Attorney General issued the following news release: A Hoboken couple has been sentenced to one year probation and ordered to pay $49,054 in restitution for stealing health care insurance benefits, Attorney General Anne Milgram...

NAIFA President Cliff Wilson Appears Before Congress to Discuss Consumer Financial Products Regulation

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors issued the following news release: Today, the president of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), Cliff F. Wilson, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF, CLF, will testif...

A.M. Best Special Report: Life/Annuity Companies Adjust to Volatile Markets

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Publicly traded life and annuity companies are feeling wide ranging impacts from volatile equity, fixed-income and housing markets, affecting not only financial statements but business strategies. Executive t...

Doctors, Health Care Executives Accused Of Medicare Fraud

More than 50 doctors and health care executives have been indicted and dozens of them arrested by the FBI in a $50 million Medicare fraud case centered in Michigan, law enforcement officials said Wednesday. Nearly 40 of the suspects named in...

Fitch Report: Statutory Capital Declines for Most U.S. Life Insurers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- U.S. life insurers have experienced a significant deterioration in investment results in 2008, negatively affecting industry earnings and capital, as discussed in a Fitch Ratings report. Statutory capital levels w...

Employees Concerned About Changes in Insurance Coverage and Their Ability to Pay

COLUMBIA, S.C., June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Eight out of 10 employees are concerned about changes their employers have made to their insurance coverage in the past year and how they will pay for these changes. According to a recent nationwide su...

American Life Insurance Company (ALICO), American International Assurance Company, Ltd. (AIA) to Be Placed in Special Purpose Vehicles

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- American International Group, Inc. (AIG) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) that will accomplish two key goals: reducing the debt AIG owes the F...

Financial Crisis Is Biggest Risk Facing Insurance Market, E&Y Says

Financial crisis is the biggest risk facing insurance market says Ernst Young The impact of the financial crisis is the most significant risk facing the insurance industry, according to a new report by Ernst Young. In the Second annual busin...

Crisis Tests Client Confidence and Long-Standing Business Models for Wealth Management Firms Finds the 2009 World Wealth Report

Increased Transparency and Improved Risk Management Will Enable Wealth Management Firms to Effectively Restore Customer Trust and Confidence NEW YORK, June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The global economic and market downturn has shaken the trust and...