Author: completebodyneeds

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank on Oct. 14 released a framework for tackling cyber-enabled fraud, as the Thai government underlined the mounting cost of online scams that have roiled the region. The framework, known as the Bangkok Blueprint for Fraud-Resilient Financial Services, is aimed at assisting policymakers, regulators, financial institutions and other stakeholders, but is not formal IMF-World Bank policy guidance “Digital fraud and scams have become a global problem,” Thai Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said at the launch of the framework at the annual IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok. “It has cost the world economy…

Insurers are withdrawing coverage for climate-driven risks and increasingly passing on losses to governments and homeowners, according to a report published by UK-based nonprofit Inside Track. The warning adds to concerns voiced publicly by others in the industry. Last month, Aviva Chief Executive Officer Amanda Blanc said homes being built in the UK today already face uninsurability due to rising flood risks. And Günther Thallinger, a director at Allianz SE, has said that “entire regions” risk becoming uninsurable due to climate change. According to the report by Inside Track, which is based on information provided by two-dozen senior insurance professionals…

Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. will acquire a stake in IDBI Bank Ltd. for 528.78 billion rupees ($5.6 billion), making it the biggest foreign investment in India’s rapidly growing financial services sector. Fairfax Financial will own 60.72% of IDBI Bank, according to Arunish Chawla, secretary at the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, valuing the lender at around 871 billion rupees. The sale is at a 11% discount to Wednesday’s closing price of 90.4 rupees with the Indian government and Life Insurance Corp. set to retain a total of 34% stake in the lender. Fairfax joins…

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has filed a suit against Temu, an e-commerce platform based largely in China, alleging the company uses aggressive and misleading data collection practices that harm Missouri residents’ privacy. Temu incorporates misleading pricing, false statements about product quality, and other harmful business practices, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit alleges that the Temu app is intentionally designed to hack into devices and facilitate extensive data exfiltration. The app can evade detection of this PII theft by reconfiguring itself without the user’s knowledge or consent, even after having been downloaded. Temu also uses large swaths of code from…

XPT Specialty launched its Texas Homeowners Binding Authority program, which gives retail partners in-house authority to place homeowners and dwelling coverage. The program is designed for primary, secondary, seasonal and rental homes across Texas. Targeting well-maintained risks, the program offers Coverage A limits starting at $300,000 ($500,000 for HO-5), total insured values up to $2 million, competitive minimum premiums, and wind-inclusive and ex-wind options tailored to Texas territories. “Texas retailers need responsive capacity and clear guidelines they can bind with confidence,” said Glen Pomeroy, Executive Vice President of Personal Lines, XPT Specialty. “This program combines binding authority with disciplined underwriting…

Porch Insurance Group announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Allied Trust’s insurance carrier and managing general agency. The acquisition is expected to add approximately $200 million of Reciprocal Written Premium and approximately $25 million of Adjusted EBITDA (Excluding Reciprocal) to Porch, the company said. These expected contributions reflect the first full year following closing and planned portfolio optimization. The transaction is also expected to add meaningful scale, more than a decade of claims data, and opportunities to apply Porch’s proprietary property data to improve pricing, underwriting and risk selection over time. Allied Trust is a regional…

Super regional carrier Frankenmuth Insurance announced that it began expanding into Virginia late last year. Frankenmuth is now writing all commercial insurance lines for small businesses, mid-sized companies, and large commercial accounts in the state, through a select group of independent agents. Headquartered in Frankenmuth, Michigan, the 160-year old insurer works with more than 800 independent agencies across 15 states to offer business, home, and auto insurance. It operates as Patriot Insurance Co. in the New England states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. It also sells surety bonds through its subsidiary Frankenmuth Surety in 47 states, excluding Alaska,…

Appointments accelerate XS Brokers’ next phase of growth through production talent acquisition, expanded retail agency partnerships, vertical product specialization and new office expansion John J. Head QUINCY, Mass. – October 12, 2026 – XS Brokers, a privately held national wholesale brokerage, today announced the appointment of John J. Head as Managing Partner – Growth & Strategy. Head will lead the firm’s national growth strategy, with responsibility for recruiting production talent, developing new and deeper relationships with retail agency partners, and building out XS Brokers’ office footprint in key markets. Bryan Sanders The company also announced that Bryan Sanders has joined…

Popular grocery stores owned by Ahold Delhaize in New England, MidAtlantic and Southeastern states are open but online orders and systems have been shut down after a cybersecurity incident. The Netherlands-based company said taking its website and apps offline is a precautionary measure. The physical grocery stores and pharmacies remain open and in-store systems including refrigeration and checkout systems have not been affected. “Our teams are working with urgency to investigate the incident and restore affected systems safely,” the company, which is the fourth largest grocery retailer in the U.S., said in an update on Tuesday. “As they make progress…

A new report looks into how to put more resources into prevention before a wildfire strikes, maintain resilience and direct new investment where it can deliver the greatest value using Napa, California as a case study. The Napa County wildfire resilience study found substantial prevention work already underway in the area, but it identified gaps in long-term funding and maintenance that could limit its effectiveness. The Napa Wildfire Resilience System Phase 1 report, developed by the Darwin Fund with support from CSAA Insurance Group, examines how existing wildfire prevention programs could be coordinated and financed to produce sustained reductions in…