EXTRA! EXTRA! Read it Here First! Certain information about the insurance business in New York is being exclusively presented here for the very first time! This information is not otherwise publicly available and was mined from the Department of Financial Services through the magic of the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), with the help of […]
ENCORE! ENCORE! Congratulations to the New York Liquidation Bureau! Yes, you read that right. For the second year in a row the Bureau has timely posted its annual report on its website (www.nylb.org). This is the statutorily required report of the Superintendent of Financial Services as receiver (liquidator, rehabilitator, conservator or ancillary receiver) on the […]
Motivational Misdirection Anyone who loves a good mystery knows that determining motivation is a key element to understanding actions. But as in all good mysteries, motivation can be cleverly concealed or woven into the fabric of a tale. We are probably all guilty at one time or another of the practice of misdirection in order […]
Pension Stripping and De-Risking Pension what? Is this some form of new TSA security protocol? A new energy source? An X-rated event for old people? No, but it does involve the alchemy of converting pension obligations into annuities. Corporations, particularly large organizations with massive pension obligations, are always looking for ways to reduce or stabilize […]
Tea Leaves and Press Releases My very first Insight column (IA, May 21, 2012) took a look at the press releases issued by the new Department of Financial Services for the first four months of 2012. I pointed out that not one of the 27 DFS press releases issued in that period related to support […]
State of Inflexibility It is right there in the New York insurance law: if an insurer “ceases to do any insurance business for more than one year continuously,” it is subject to, among other things, forfeiting its charter and being liquidated. There is no counterpart to this provision in the NAIC receivership model act’s long […]
Show Us the Numbers! Ah, Spring! The long, torturous winter with its seemingly endless cold and snow is behind us and we can look forward to warmer days, greening trees, blooming flowers and the beginning of Derek Jeter’s retirement tour. Spring is also reporting season for the insurance industry. Just about everyone in the industry […]
Budget Balancing (and Other Magic Tricks) The State of Nirvana has come up with a painless way to not only balance its budget, but to also increase spending on new programs and capital projects and reduce taxes. Nice trick, right? How, you may ask, is this possible? Nirvana has decided to require all state domiciled […]
The Joy of Ownership (The following story is total fiction – except for the parts that aren’t) Congratulations! You just won tens of millions in the lottery, and after 20+ years in the [claims/underwriting/ actuarial/program/brokerage/other – pick one] side of the insurance business, you can now retire from active participation in the business. Your good […]
Warning Shots Don’t you just love the flexibility of the English language? Although annoying to many purists (and often to the sensitivity of our ears) English is always adapting and moving with current times. Even the Oxford English Dictionary has accepted this flexibility by adding current usage into its venerable pages, often the result of […]
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