Author: completebodyneeds

KPMG Australia staff shared sensitive information about telecom firm Optus with another internal team bidding for an audit contract for its rival Telstra in a breach of ethics, the firm’s chairman told a parliamentary hearing on Friday. The admission confirms whistleblower allegations that KPMG earlier said were unsubstantiated in previous internal and external investigations. In the second major scandal to hit a Big Four accounting firm in Australia since 2023, KPMG has been under fire after the whistleblower alleged it misused confidential board papers from real estate company Lendlease to support bids for major audit tenders for Westpac, a large…

You’d have to roll back the calendar a few decades to find a time when competitive moves by the nation’s biggest auto and home insurer were described with the phrase, “The big dog is off the porch.” Still, against the backdrop of competition surging in the personal lines insurance market, it was hard for this “mature” journalist not to draw a parallel to the price wars of the late 1990s and AI wars that seem to be revving up in 2026 when reading a recent State Farm media statement detailing the carrier’s “Next Gen Good Neighbor” vision. The statement, as…

Marsh & McLennan Agency has filed suit against brokerage Patriot Growth Insurance Services and eight former members of a surety team over an alleged poaching scheme. Filed early June in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and since remanded to state court, the lawsuit names former employees Keith Wallace Harrelson, Ryan McClendon, Albert Bowen Evans, Jeffrey Cutshall, Rebecca Burrus, Hailee Wesson, Hunter Harper, and Jennifer Barranco–who had each worked at MMA’s Birmingham, Alabama office. The group made up about half of the surety team in Birmingham, said MMA, and most resigned on May 18 by leaving…

In the buildup to 2016’s Brexit referendum, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said the U.S. bank could shift 4,000 jobs from Britain, joining a chorus of executives who warned a vote to leave the European Union would ravage the country’s finance industry. A decade later, the Wall Street giant plans to build a tower in London’s Canary Wharf that it says could house up to 12,000 employees – a commitment hailed as “a multi-billion pound vote of confidence” by finance minister Rachel Reeves. Other signs too suggest the British financial industry has weathered Brexit better than many expected: employment in the…

US efforts to open shipping channels in the Strait of Hormuz will allow a gradual increase in vessel transit, though security remains volatile, Chubb Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Evan Greenberg said. “It’s from day to day, hour to hour,” Greenberg, whose company is a major insurer of commercial shipping, said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. “Mines are the greatest uncertainty” in the strait, Greenberg said, as US and Iranian negotiators held talks in Switzerland on a permanent ceasefire and to lock in free passage through the waterway. “We’re talking more about a war-zone environment,” he said. “Only a narrow…

AM Best has upgraded the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) to A (Excellent) from A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) to “a” (Excellent) from “a-” (Excellent) of Columbia Mutual Insurance Company and its affiliates, collectively referred to as Columbia Insurance Group (Columbia). (See below for a detailed list of companies.) The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) has been revised to stable from positive. All companies are headquartered in Columbia, Missouri. The ratings reflect Columbia’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate…

Brokerage Acrisure has filed a federal lawsuit, accusing a former employee of using employees and intellectual property to peel away at least 50 clients to a company he started–named after one Acrisure acquired in 2016. The Grand Rapids, Michigan-based global broker said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan that Adam DeVone is “actively infringing upon” Acrisure trademarks and is “breaching voluntarily assumed contractual obligations to Acrisure.” In October 2016, Acrisure bought Benefits Exchange Alliance Inc. from founder and chairman DeVone and other owners. The acquisition included all trademark rights and brandings, including…

Platinum Specialty Underwriters, a specialty underwriting platform announced the addition of two experienced property insurance leaders, Bryan McGarry and Adam Berger, to support the continued growth and expansion of its property capabilities with program launch later this summer. McGarry joins Platinum Specialty Underwriters as managing director, Platinum Property Program, while Berger joins as commercial property program chief underwriting officer. Together, they will lead the development, underwriting strategy, and distribution of Platinum’s growing property program portfolio. These strategic hires underscore Platinum’s commitment to expanding its specialty underwriting platform and delivering innovative property solutions to retail agents and brokers nationwide. McGarry has…

Siding with SpaceX and the General Land Office, the Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that environmental groups did not have a right to sue to preserve public access to a beach that has been closed during rocket launches. The unanimous ruling said a trial judge properly dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning the groups could not refile it with changes. The dispute began in 2021 when then environmental group SaveRGV sued the Texas General Land Office, Commissioner Dawn Buckingham and Cameron County, arguing Boca Chica Beach and State Highway 4 — the only access road — had been improperly…

The business jet barreled cockeyed down the dark highway, knocking down one light pole after another, an orange glow of sparks trailing it. From a distance, Ivan Franco thought it must be a car. But as he approached in his tow truck, he saw it was a plane — broken in half, its fuselage resting on its side, bright fire beginning to rise above. He stopped and rifled through the rescue kit his company keeps in the truck, grabbing a sledgehammer as well as three fire extinguishers, which he handed off to police officers. “At that moment, you don’t think…