(Washington, DC, Economic & Insurance News by Insurance Market 360) –  Department of Labour (DoL), recently notified that, OSHA, shall investigate whistleblower complaints logged under the new Antitrust and Money Laundering provided by the legislation. This decision was taken keeping in view of increase in cases especially in professional safety and health administration in the recent days.

OSHA will probe into all concerns related to the direct and indirect actions of superiors or government exhibiting cause and related actions or support such incidents which are covered under the above two laws.

DoL will administer the registered cases under Wendell H Ford aviation investment and reforms act of twenty first century until OSHA is ready with its provisional final protocols related to both the acts.

DoL prime focus is to safeguard the rights of employees and to protect them from being harassed by supervisors; so as that transparency and credibility are developed leading to good governance in the work places.

The prime objective of the whistle blower retaliation program is to ensure that complainant is legally protected from 20 domains related to workplace safety and health, airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product, environmental, financial reform, food safety, health insurance reform, motor vehicle safety, nuclear, pipeline, public transportation agency, railroad, maritime, securities, tax, antitrust, anti-money laundering laws, and for engaging in other related protected activities.

More commentary can be obtained from, www.whistleblowers.gov.

Source: www.dol.gov

Reference: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osha/osha20210219

(Economic & Insurance News by Insurance Market 360) – Investigation done in commercial insurance sector across various regions and the globe in both private and public domains for the fourth quarter of 2020 with the support of Marsh, the lion share holder, indicate an aggregate of 22% increase which is 3% more than Q3, 2020.Global market insurance index was initiated in 2012 to study the trends across countries and continents which is a good resource and reference for various stake holders in insurance sector.

The major emphasis was laid on property insurance pricing, finance and professional lines, causality and composite ranking across regions and the nations. Analysis reported a sharp hike in finance and professional domains from 40% in Q3 to 47% in Q4.Property pricing decreased by 1%, whereas composite pricing has been increasing consistently for the last 9 years.

Though the overall increase is found in the fourth quarter, there is no significant change witnessed in certain regions other than UK and Pacific. Property insurance and Directors and officers reported moderate results. Region wise outputs reported Continental Europe, Asia, and LAC had moderate levels of price increases for three quarters of the financial year 2020.

Reports at national level reveal that Latin America, Pacific and US exhibited a positive growth of 9%, 35% and 44% respectively in Q4.Public sector Company D & O on an average reported medium results they had very good progress in US & Australia and exhibited an increase in the range of 25% to 50% in other countries of the world.

Source: www.marsh.com

Reference: https://www.marsh.com/us/insights/research/global-insurance-market-index-q4-2020.html

(Washington, Economic & Insurance News by Insurance Market 360) – National Association of Insurance Commissioners, NAIC, on 29 January 2021 announced the inclusion of Vermont department of financial regulation to license state based systems, SBS a 33rd in its latest count.

Michael Pieciak, Vermont Department of Financial Regulation Commissioner, expressed that, “SBS provides us with the opportunity to streamline our processes and improve our services and I am pleased to have licensed SBS and look forward to completing the implementation process.” He added that, “this is an exciting opportunity in our SBS implementation that we expect will result in across the board improvements to the services we provide our consumers, licensees and insurers.”

Electronic system will not help in rendering timely and quality services related to licenses, complaints management, enforcement with fewer amounts of efforts and also to work on par with the national standards and protocols in Insurance sector.

Vermont as a licensing agency to SBS is expected to offer a variety of product services in the domains of facilitating licenses to producers and companies, design and conduct capacity building programs and monitoring them, consumer related services, enforcement of the statutory norms, fraud reporting and support systems, exam tracking and revenue management.

For more details and list of the 32 licensed organizations and for other details you may look into the official portal of NAIC, www.naic.org

Source: www.naic.org

Reference: https://content.naic.org/article/news_release_vermont_becomes_33rd_naic_member_license_state_based_systems.htm

(Rolling Meadows, IL, Economic & Insurance News by Insurance Market 360) – Covid_19 affected Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) pricing and it is expected to continue in 2021 according to a report by Risk Placement Services.

Manny Cho RPS EVP, Executive Lines, opined that, “in order to obtain and maintain profitability, carriers are not only looking for rate adequacy but also, limiting their exposure through reductions in capacity”.

California, Illinois (Chicago) and New York are experiencing a jump in prices due to Covid. Other industries like hotels, restaurants and travel are deeply affected with EPLI rates. Sensitive analysis is done on EPLI Underwriting especially on private insurers regarding the impact of Covid, financial health of the organization, health and safety of employees and stability of the company.

Cho added, “At the onset of COVID, underwriting questions were related to a business’s reopening plans and the safety protocols in place to ensure employee safety”. Further scrutiny is also done on the operations, expansion plans and recruitment policy of the company to gauze their business stability and risk management.

In December 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released short document pertaining to vaccine administration, disability factors and religious beliefs to private insurers in addition to risk mitigation, work environment with safety measures.

It’s important for agents to help clients facilitate a decent insurance opportunity by deeply understanding the personal, professional and financial status of a client.

Insurers are exploring opportunities in financial services and technology in spite of all odds. Situations might have affected the underwriting procedures, but there is always scope to expand and explore.

Source: www. rpsins.com

Reference: https://www.rpsins.com/knowledge-center/items/epli-for-private-companies/

(Economic & Insurance News by Insurance Market 360) -The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on 1 October 2020 released an official reminder reminding about the fraud payments and reimbursement and their consequences to the economy and the insurance organizations.

Though, the statutory body did not make any alterations in the existing law, the reminder note publication is of great importance in the current pandemic and vulnerability wherein the probability of manipulations’ are increasing with the use of high end technology and strategies; due to which anti-social activities can increase and adversely affect the economy. It also suggested all the insurance service providers to be extremely keen and aware about the list of “specially designated Nationals and blocked persons” while executing any financial related settlements.

The funds raised from the insurance products by illegal acts can be used to strengthen the criminal, terrorist or cyber attack activities which can create huge damage to the infrastructure, people and the economy in major. In case if anyone is found guilty, agency will ban such entities and process with legal initiations as per the US Law.

In this regard, MARSH has developed strategies’ to address the issues with thorough investigation, recheck and reconfirm before the final settlement is done. Company is also open to do the required facilitation with regard to risk management, precautionary steps to avoid the negative consequences and provide professional way forward services so that insurance providers can play the game safe and secure so as not to fall down and get legally punished!

Source: www.marsh.com

Reference:https://www.marsh.com/us/insights/research/ofac-ransomware-advisory-for-us-companies.html

January 14, 2021.

(Los Angeles, CA, Economic & Insurance News by Insurance Market 360 ) – On April 24, new appointments to multiple advisory boards and committees in order to protect policyholders in the state.

New members joined the California Automotive Assigned Risk Plan Advisory Board (CAARP), the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA) Board of Governors, and the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) Governing Committee. CAARP advises Commissioner Lara on the operation of programs like the California Low Cost Auto Program and others; the CIGA Board oversees the operations and management of the guarantee association to protect policy holders, and the WCIRB Governing committee oversees issues related to pure premium rates, classifications, rating plans, rating systems and manual rules and policy, as well as endorsement forms. It is a private organization.

“I am very pleased to announce these appointments to the CAARP Advisory Committee, the CIGA Board of Governors, and the WCIRB Governing Committee,” said Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. “These committees and boards’ primary goal is to protect California consumers and these members will help us meet that goal.”

The next meeting of the CAARP Advisory Committee is Wednesday, May 20, 2020. The CIGA Board of Governors will meet on May 6, 2020, and the WCIRB Governing Committee will meet on June 10, 2020.

Source: California Department of Insurance.