Author: completebodyneeds

The North Carolina Ethics Commission has dismissed a complaint against Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, brought by a former employee who accused him of sexual harassment, news outlets reported. “After review and discussion as necessary, the Panel concluded its preliminary inquiry with a determination that the facts alleged in the complaint would not constitute a violation of the Ethics Act,” the Ethics Commission said in its finding, the Raleigh News & Observer reported this week. The woman, April Taylor, had shown the newspaper a number of texts that she said came from Causey in recent years, and she provided the ethics…

This edition of International People Moves details appointments at global re/insurers Arch Capital Group and Sompo. A summary of these new hires follows here. Arch Capital Group Ltd., the Bermuda-based provider of insurance, reinsurance and mortgage insurance, announced the promotions of Jerome Halgan to CEO of Arch Global Reinsurance Group and Michael Schmeiser to CEO of Arch Global Mortgage Group. Both will continue to report to Arch President Maamoun Rajeh. Jerome Halgan Halgan joined Arch in 2009. He has served as president and chief underwriting officer of Arch Reinsurance Group since 2024, and as CEO of Arch Re Bermuda since…

Trading platform Nasdaq Private Market alleged that its Vancouver-based competitor Hiive has stolen trade secrets and infringed on its intellectual property in a lawsuit. The suit, filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, adds new allegations of trade secrets to a previous patent dispute against Hiive. According to NPM, Hiive poached two of its staff in part to access confidential information about its operations. “These claims are without merit and designed to intimidate, and we’ll defend ourselves vigorously,” Hiive said in a statement. “We’re proud that talented people choose to build their careers here, and our focus is on the clients…

A teenager thrown to the ground Wednesday when a Central Park carriage horse bolted away from its driver has died, according to police. The 18-year-old was riding in the horse-drawn carriage with three other passengers when the accident happened just before 3 p.m., according to the New York Police Department. At least two passengers were sent flying out of the careening cab. The teenager was initially hospitalized in critical condition. The other passengers refused medical treatment. A representative for the Transport Workers Union, which represents carriage industry employees, said the driver had dismounted to take a photograph of his passengers,…

The Trump administration is dropping near-term plans to dismantle a $386 million federal ocean-observing system after encountering resistance from scientists and Congress. The National Science Foundation said Thursday it will pause efforts to decommission most of the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a network of sensors in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that track climate change, marine ecosystems and coastal flooding. The agency will conduct a review of the system’s future with stakeholders, it said in a statement. The change comes a day after the US Senate passed a bipartisan measure to halt what lawmakers called the “reckless” dismantling of the network.…

A new Lloyd’s market consortium has been launched to provide additional marine war risk insurance capacity for vessels and cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Lloyd’s announced. Chubb will serve as lead underwriter, supported by participating Lloyd’s syndicates and specialist market partners, Lloyd’s said, noting that the consortium brings together leading underwriting expertise with additional Lloyd’s market capacity to support brokers and clients “operating in a complex and fast-moving environment.” The new marine war risk consortium will issue primary policies for vessels and cargo. It will provide up to $200 million of capacity separately for hull and P&I risks, with…

Iran and the United States are about to sign a peace deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil. Oil prices reacted quickly to the announcement of the tentative deal, dropping from highs that had pushed gasoline prices toward record levels in North America. (Editor’s note: This article was originally published on June 18 by The Conversation). The global supply chain, however, will take the better part of a year to recover, and the relief at the pumps may prove more gradual than the relief in oil markets. The…

Hub International Limited (HUB), headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, appointed Paul Collins as Northeast area president, effective July 1. In this expanded role, Collins will continue to lead HUB Northeast while also assuming responsibility for HUB New England. Collins has been in the insurance industry for more than 29 years. He began his career as a producer and went on to hold senior leadership roles at national insurance brokerages before joining HUB. Collins joined HUB in 2017 and has served as president and CEO of HUB Northeast. A series of targeted acquisitions expanded HUB Northeast’s areas of industry and product specialization…

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to thin early on Friday, just a day after a burst of oil flows through the waterway as the US and Iran vowed to lift a dual blockade. No tankers were seen moving outbound from the Persian Gulf on Friday morning, though one very large crude carrier re-appeared off the Omani capital Muscat, suggesting it had crossed the strait. An Iran-linked liquefied petroleum gas carrier and a Norwegian-flagged products tanker made inward transits. Meanwhile, four fully-laden very large crude carriers stuck inside the Persian Gulf appeared to be approaching the strait. Two India-linked…

There’s an increasingly narrow strip of New Orleans marshland that hardly anyone lives on, but without it, hundreds of thousands of people will face far greater risks from storms and floods. The area, commonly called the New Orleans Land Bridge, stretches from New Orleans East to St. Tammany Parish and separates Lake Pontchartrain from the Gulf of Mexico. Like much of Louisiana’s coast, it’s disappearing at a rapid rate. The on-again, off-again effort to restore the land bridge could get a jump-start next year with a $101 million project aimed at reviving a large patch of marsh that protects the…