New York passes ground-breaking regulation on employee theft
Insurance companies will no longer be able to refuse coverage for crime-related losses from employees with criminal records.
The ruling is the first of its kind in the US and means that businesses that hire employees with criminal records cannot be refused coverage on the basis of a potentially higher risk.
"It is simply inexcusable for an insurer in New York to exclude a potentially valuable employee from insurance coverage just because he or she has a criminal conviction,” noted New York’s superintendent of financial services Mario T. Vullo.
“So long as every business owner follows the letter of the law, we should encourage more companies to hire prospective employees rather than punish someone for a mistake in the past," Mr Vullo added.
Reacting to the new regulation, Andrew Potash, chairman of specialist insurer Distinguished commented: "Distinguished has long provided a wide variety of niche insurance products, and we support Governor Cuomo’s efforts to provide employers with commercial crime insurance that does not exclude coverage for individuals on the basis of their past criminal records.”
Around 2.3 million New Yorkers have a criminal conviction on their record.
USI expands with Ball Peoples acquisition
New York-headquartered brokerage and consulting firm USI Insurance Services has acquired Ball Peoples, an employee benefits advisory firm based in Texas.
“This acquisition further strengthens our footprint as one of the top three retail employee benefits insurance brokerage firms in Texas, and increases our ability to deliver our clients a powerful arsenal of employee benefits services and solutions,” said John D. Collado, USI Southwest regional chief executive officer.
Paying tribute to Ball Peoples’ staff, who will remain in their Austin workplace with firm leaders Thomas H. Ball and Daniel L. Peoples, Collado added: “Tom, Danny and their team will play an important role to further our employee benefits practice throughout the Southwest region, and we are excited to have them join the USI family."
RGA names new chief executive
Anna Manning is the new chief executive officer of Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) with effect from January 1, 2017. She has been president since November 2015 and has been expected to succeed A. Greig Woodring who retires on New Year’s Eve.
RGA board chairman J. Cliff Eason says that Manning has been working with the board over the past year to ensure a smooth transition and he is confident in her ability to lead the business.
“Anna is a seasoned professional with outstanding business acumen, a deep understanding of the industry, and strong technical skills,” Eason said.
The Fortune 500 company, headquarted in St. Louis, Missouri, operates in 26 countries and has around $3.1 trillion of life reinsurance in force and assets of more than $54 billion.
