NAIFA shuns stranger-originated annuity transactions

A trade group of insurance and financial service professionals has voiced its opposition to the growing use of stranger-originated annuity transactions (STATs).  Read Story

UniGroup to move its Vanliner subsidiary to National Interstate

UniGroup is selling its Vanliner Insurance Co. subsidiary to a Richfield, Ohio-based specialty property-casualty insurance company.  Read Story

Nebraska opts out of federal high-risk pool program

Questioning the need for “a new layer of bureaucracy,” Nebraska’s governor has told the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services thanks, but no thanks to participating in a proposed federal high-risk pool program.  Read Story

Judge orders liquidation of American Trade Association, Smart Data

A Tennessee judge has ordered the closure and liquidation of two health providers sanctioned by regulators across the U.S. for allegedly failing to provide adequate services to customers.  Read Story

The folks at Willis Group, parent company of Willis HRH, are hoping to promote the brokerage’s decision not to accept contingent commissions, using a new media campaign and website to argue that its competitors who do accept the payments are “conflict-prone.”  Read Story

House panel approves National Flood Insurance Program extension

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has forwarded a plan to extend the National Flood Insurance Program for five years to the full House.  Read Story

Virginia regulators reinstate N.Y. agent’s license, blaming NIPR error

A New York insurance agent had his license reinstated in Virginia after regulators in that state found that a national licensing system failed to properly forward information he submitted about an administrative action.   Read Story

Lees named general counsel for N.Y. State Insurance Department

The New York State Insurance Department named a new general counsel to succeed Robert H. Easton, who departed the agency for a job in the private sector.  Read Story

Horizon to become sole owner of AtlantiCare Administrators

Newark-based Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey announced a new deal, giving it sole ownership of AtlantiCare Administrators, a third-party administrator already serving 200,000 of the insurer’s members.  Read Story

Maryland-based insurer covers house of worship kidnappings, ransoms

Victor O. Schinnerer & Co., based in Chevy Chase, Md., has a new kidnap and ransom program for houses of worship.  Read Story