Source: Business Insurance

September 05, 2019 The U.K. needs to meet the necessary health and biosecurity standards of the European Union for the country’s exporters to be able to sell products to the bloc in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Euractiv reports. The European Commission had granted such a status in April. “If the United Kingdom continues to provide the necessary assurances, the measures will be re-adopted to apply as of Nov. 1,” an official said.

Source: Business Insurance

September 05, 2019 Dzhambulat Khatuov, first deputy agriculture minister of Russia, expects extreme weather events to have caused more than $140 million worth of agricultural damage this year, UrduPoint reported. “This year, 15 regions of the Russian Federation faced different emergency situations, such as freeze, drought, flood and so on,” Mr. Khatuov said.

Source: Business Insurance

September 03, 2019 (Reuters) — A federal appeals court on Friday handed a victory to travelers who object to invasive screenings at U.S. airport security checkpoints, saying screeners are not absolutely immune from lawsuits accusing them of abusive conduct. In a 9-4 decision, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said Transportation Security Administration screeners were “investigative or law enforcement officers” for purposes of searching passengers, waiving the government’s usual immunity from lawsuits. Circuit Judge Thomas Ambro said the “intimate physical nature” of airport screenings brought them within the ambit of law enforcement, allowing travelers to pursue some civil claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act for intentional wrongdoing. He downplayed concern that the decision would open the floodgates to litigation, saying that in 2015 fewer than 200 people, out of more than 700 million screened, filed complaints that might trigger the waiver. “The overwhelming majority of perform their jobs professionally despite far more grumbling than appreciation,” he wrote. “Their professionalism is commensurate with the seriousness of their role in keeping our skies safe.”

Source: Business Insurance

September 04, 2019 A report by U.S.-based S&P Global Ratings Inc. said that property/casualty reinsurance prices have been hardening during the 2019 renewals in reaction to back-to-back high-catastrophe years in 2017 and 2018, Asia Insurance Review reported. “Reinsurers are battling the commoditization of their business and the rise of alternative capital nibbling at their margins,” the ratings agency said.

Source: Business Insurance

September 04, 2019 A Paris commercial court has fined Amazon.com Inc. €4 million ($4.5 million) for allegedly introducing abusive clauses in its contracts with third-party vendors, Reuters reported citing Nextinpact. “The court ruled on a limited number of clauses, most of which were already updated earlier this year,” Amazon said.

Source: Business Insurance

September 04, 2019 Two years of higher-than-expected losses from natural catastrophes are likely to prompt average reinsurance rate renewal rises of up to 5% in January, Reuters reported citing rating agencies. Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and S&P Global are all expecting rates to rise to varying degrees for 2020.

Source: Business Insurance

September 04, 2019 Analysts at UBS Group AG expect hurricane Dorian to cause up to $25 billion worth of insured losses, Fox Business reports. Hurricane Dorian battered the Bahamas on Sep. 2, and then moved to the east coast of the United States.

Source: Business Insurance

September 02, 2019 U.K.-based insurance broker Willis Towers Watson P.L.C. is offering airport operators across the world a drone disruption action plan to deal with drone sightings and prevent flight delays or cancelations, Consultancy.asia reported. Under the action plan, airport operators can assess, locate and understand the type of drone that has infringed the airspace and seek cover for potential property damage, legal liability and reputational risk.

Source: Business Insurance

September 02, 2019 Lloyd’s of London syndicates have pooled £100 million ($121.4 million) for a product innovation facility to help fund product development for emerging and hard-to-insure risks such as climate change, ITIJ.com reported. Senior underwriters from U.K.-based Beazley P.L.C., Hiscox P.L.C. and Germany-based Munich Reinsurance Co. among others have formed the facility to modernize the Lloyd’s market and develop new products to cover rapidly evolving risks.

Source: Business Insurance

September 02, 2019 Japan-based cyber security firm Trend Micro Inc. said that it detected 46 million ransomware attacks against firms worldwide in the first half of this year, up 77% from 26 million attacks in the second half of 2018, SC Magazine reported. A report by Trend Micro found that business email compromise attacks increased 52%, with firms in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom recording the most attempts.