An insurance agent trade group praised the New York State Insurance Department’s draft regulation that will allow insurance producers to use out-of-state and Internet-based banks.

An additional $574 billion in unfunded liabilities — in addition to the previously estimated $3 trillion in unfunded liabilities — from pension plans at the city and county levels, which may affect operational abilities of state and local governments in the future, according to a new report by the Kellogg School.

An Ossining, N.Y., man allegedly working as a taxi driver has been charged with workers’ compensation fraud against the New York State Insurance Fund.

The Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (PURE) is expanding nationally in an effort in part to follow the money, according to its chief executive.

About 351,000 members of a New York teachers union are among nearly 1 million people for whom the new health reform law’s elimination on the cap on insurance costs will not apply.

Brown & Brown has acquired Martin Benefits Consulting and Martin Human Resources, companies that offer employee benefits in the tri-state area.

Philadelphia Financial, a Philadelphia-based private placement insurance company, acquired Phoenix Life and Reassurance Co. of New York, a New York-domiciled life insurance company, from The Phoenix Cos.

A Virginia and a New York firm were recognized as two of the top six insurance firms in the country by an insurance trade group.

An independent insurance agent from Queensbury, N.Y., admitted to defrauding a couple of $26,100 by not obtaining an annuity for which the couple had paid.

An insurance claims examiner from New York will spend between three to nine years in prison for stealing nearly $500,000 from two insurance companies for which she worked over a 10-year period.