One in four directors may have to meet damages, legal costs and fines as well as costs incurred by their own organisations from their own pocket because they don’t have the right insurance cover.

Recently, the Institute of Directors released a report which highlighted that 24% of executive and non-executive directors do not have directors’ and officers’ liability (D&O) insurance.

To read full article: www3.asiainsurancereview.com/News/View-NewsLetter-Article/id/43889/Type/eDaily/New-Zealand-Survey-shows-24-of-directors-don-t-have-insurance

PARIS (AP) – An audit commissioned by the French government says about 840 French bridges are suffering from serious damage and at risk of collapse in the coming several years.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government had already promised new infrastructure spending, but is coming under new pressure after Tuesday’s bridge collapse in neighboring Italy that killed 43 people.

To read full article: www.mytwintiers.com/news/report-warns-840-french-bridges-may-face-risk-of-collapse/1381435484

German automaker BMW A.G.’s South Korean unit is recalling 106,317 cars after a recent series of engine fires, Yonhap News Agency reported. BMW plans to recall 42 different models with an exhaust gas recirculation component, which the carmaker blamed for the recent fires. The South Korean government has suspended the operation of all BMW cars that have not received safety inspections.

To read full article: english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2018/08/19/0200000000AEN20180819002100320.html

8/16/2018 5:47:00 AM

Source: Business Insurance

British tanker BW Maple’s insurers are paying nearly $1.7 billion Indian rupees ($24 million) related to an oil spill following the vessel’s collision off the coast of Chennai in India, DNA reported. The compensation covers INR 28 million in clean-up costs and INR 1.4 billion related to fishermens’ loss of livelihood. India’s Directorate General of Shipping found the captain of BW Maple guilty over the January 2017 collision between the tanker and cargo ship MT Dawn Kanchipuram.

 Source: Business Insurance

8/15/2018 10:48:00 AM

(Reuters) — The Royal Bank of Scotland will pay $4.9 billion to settle U.S. claims it misled investors on residential mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2008, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

The Justice Department said the penalty is the largest ever imposed on a bank for misconduct leading up to the financial crisis. The bank announced in May that it had reached the settlement in principle.

The government alleges RBS misled investors in underwriting and issuing residential mortgage-backed securities, understating the risks behind many of the loans and providing inaccurate data.

“Despite assurances by RBS to its investors, RBS’s deals were backed by mortgage loans with a high risk of default,” Andrew E. Lelling, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said in a statement.

The Justice Department said that RBS disputes the allegations and does not admit wrongdoing, although the bank said in a statement it was happy to move on.

“There is no place for the sort of unacceptable behavior alleged by the DOJ at the bank we are building today,” RBS Chief Executive Ross McEwan said.

In conjunction with the settlement, the bank also said it would be paying out an interim ordinary dividend of 2 pence (3 cents) per share on Oct. 12 to shareholders.

The dividend is the bank’s first since its near-collapse and 45.5 billion pound ($58 billion) state bailout in 2008.

The DOJ settlement and the resumption of dividends were two of the last big milestones in RBS’s decade-long journey back to normality. The looming Justice Department fine had weighed on the bank’s share price and prevented it from paying out to its shareholders.

Together with hefty cuts made to its investment bank and international business, a return to dividends could help shift the bank’s profile with investors from a risky bet into a safe, predictable value stock.

It also expands the market for future government share sales by enabling a broader array of investors to look at buying the bank’s shares.

Tuesday’s announcement marks the latest in a long-running series of massive settlements struck between the U.S. government and large global banks over conduct leading up to the financial crisis.

On Aug. 1, the Justice Department struck a settlement with Wells Fargo, which agreed to pay $2.09 billion to settle similar claims.

Judy Greenwald

8/15/2018 1:49:00 PM

Source: Business Insurance

A federal judge in Texas has ruled that a pension fund can proceed with securities fraud litigation against Exxon Mobil Corp. and its executives.

The Pittsburgh-based Greater Pennsylvania Carpenters Pension Fund filed its securities fraud case against defendant Houston-based Exxon Mobil and executives on behalf of those who purchased the company’s stock from March 31, 2014, to Jan. 30, 2017, according to Wednesday’s ruling by the U.S. District Court in Dallas in Pedro Ramirez Jr. v. Exxon Mobil Corp., Rex W. Tillerson, et al.

According to the ruling, in mid-2014, when oil and gas prices began to fall worldwide, Exxon Mobil “did not write off or abandon assets, but instead repeatedly reassured investors that ExxonMobil had superior processes and project management that allowed it to continue operating without writing down any assets.”

The pension fund “alleges these representations were materially misleading because ExxonMobil knew it could not survive the historic drop in oil and gas prices without writing down assets,” said the ruling.

It also alleges the company made these misrepresentations to maintain its AAA credit rating and move ahead on a $12 billion public debt offering scheduled for March 2016.

In January 2017, the company said in its fourth-quarter announcement that it would record a $2 billion impairment charge “largely related to dry gas operations in the Rocky Mountain region.”

The litigation charging securities fraud claims was filed in November 2016.

In his ruling, Judge Ed Kinkeade ruled against ExxonMobil’s motion to dismiss the litigation against it.

“Pension Fund sufficiently pleaded securities fraud claims…having pleaded material misstatements” and “sufficiently pleaded loss causation,” said the ruling.

It said the plaintiff has also met the heightened pleading standard for “scienter,” which refers to knowledge of wrongdoing, in permitting the litigation to continue

8/15/2018 6:16:00 AM

Source: Business Insurance

The Morandi motorway bridge in the Italian city of Genoa collapsed during a rainstorm on Aug. 14, plunging about 35 cars and several trucks onto railway tracks below, TheLocal.it reported citing media sources. About 200 meters of the viaduct collapsed while the bridge was undergoing maintenance work. The bridge connects the regions of Lombardy and Piedmont to the eastern part of Liguria and extends over dozens of railway lines and an industrial zone.

8/15/2018 6:11:00 AM

Source: Business Insurance

Swiss insurer Baloise Holding A.G. hopes to reduce hail-related claims by using a cloud-seeding plane to reduce the probability of hailstorms, TheLocal.ch reported citing Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen. Baloise is running a pilot project under which a plane sprays hail clouds with silver iodide to reduce the size of hailstones or prevent storms from occurring. Swiss insurers pay out hundreds of millions of francs every year to farmers and car owners for hail-related damage.

Gloria Gonzalez

8/14/2018 10:48:00 AM Source: Business Insurance

Radiologists are involved in 15% of diagnosis-related medical malpractice claims, second only to those of general medicine health care providers, according to a new report.

Claims naming a radiologist — totaling 595 in 2013-2017 — often involve significant patient harm and most frequently allege an incorrect or delayed diagnosis of a patient’s condition, according to an analysis of closed claims at Boston-based medical professional liability insurer Coverys published Tuesday. Of the claims against radiologists, 80% of the missed diagnoses are alleged to have resulted from the misinterpretation of clinical tests

“Among radiology claims alleging diagnostic failure, cancer diagnoses are the most frequent,” Coverys’ Red Signal report stated. “The top four cancer conditions associated with the alleged misinterpretation of diagnostic tests are breast, lung, pancreatic and ovarian. Many claims allege that a lack of follow-up on abnormal test results, such as from radiology or primary care, leads to a high-severity patient injury.”

More than 80% of missed diagnosis claims involved permanent injuries to the patient or death, according to the report, which recommended a series of risk management steps for the radiology profession. For example, the report suggested the development of criteria to determine whether a second read of a film must be performed, including the time frame for completion and confirmation back to the radiologist that the second read has been received, and the use of clear language and avoidance of interpretive phrases such as “cannot rule out,” “consistent with” or “likely represents.”

The report also recommended the implementation of checklists that can help circumvent some cognitive biases and decrease reliance on memory, the revision of standards to keep pace with technology changes and revisiting peer review practices to ensure they address how to measure and communicate periodic evaluation of clinical outcomes and compliance with established quality indicators and when performance may warrant closer review.

8/14/2018 5:36:00 AM

Source: Business Insurance

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said that cyber criminals are planning a coordinated attack on ATMs worldwide and withdraw millions of dollars from customer bank accounts, The Independent reported. The FBI has warned banks that the cyber attack could take place in the space of a few hours, most likely on a weekend. The scheme involves cloned cards and hackers targeting the banks’ payment processors to facilitate fraudulent withdrawal of funds, the FBI added.