Risk & Insurance Online

NAIC SALARIES RELEASED

Rig Owner May Be Spared Billions in Gulf Oil Spill (Newsday) (01/30/12)
Conoco Says It's Reached a Deal for China Spill (Associated Press) (01/30/12)
Ex-Security Chief at Mine Convicted of Impeding Investigation into Blast that Killed 29 (Washington Post) (10/31/11)
School Shootings Offer Grim Risk Management Reminder (03/06/12)
Renewing an Alternative (11/01/11)

Salaries for the highest-paid executives of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners ranged from $188,657 to $331,390 in 2005. NAIC Executive Vice President Catherine J. Weatherford was paid $331,390 last year--up 8 percent from 2004--for serving as the chief executive officer of the Kansas City, Mo.-based organization. Chris Evangel, managing director of NAIC's New York-based Securities Evaluation Office, was paid $276,943, up 5.9 percent.

DAMAGE ESTIMATES UPPED

Reinsurer Goshawk Insurance Holdings PLC in January raised its estimates of claims from U.S. hurricanes this year by a further $25 million and warned that further reserve charges for other exposure might follow, causing its shares to tumble. The company said the reserve increase meant it now had a net aggregate estimated reserve of $130 million for claims resulting from hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

AETNA CHIEF TO RETIRE

Aetna Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive John W. Rowe plans to retire by the end of 2006, and President Ronald A. Williams has been named chief executive officer, effective Feb. 14. Rowe, 61, has been chairman since 2001 and chief executive since 2000. He will serve as executive chairman from Feb. 14 until his retirement. Williams, 56, joined Aetna as executive vice president and chief of health operations in 2001. He was named president in 2002. Prior to joining Aetna, he served as group president of WellPoint Inc.

WINDFALL FOR TOWNS

More than 20 Connecticut municipalities, corporations and individuals will receive more money than they anticipated under Aon Corp.'s $190 million contingent-commissions settlement after the Chicago-based brokerage rectified mistakes made in its original offers.

INSURER EXPANDS DATA

Cigna Inc. is expanding its online pricing data for consumers to include services provided by hospitals, surgical and radiological facilities, and physicians as part of its push to involve consumers more in health-care decision-making, the company said. Cigna will list price ranges for hospitals nationwide for 15 admissions, such as child birth, angioplasty and coronary bypass surgery. In February, the company will publicize prices for surgical facilities.

LITIGATION SURVEY

A new survey by Fulbright & Jaworski finds that 90 percent of U.S. companies are engaged in some form of litigation. For the 2005 Litigation Trends Survey, the firm polled 354 corporate attorneys, drawing from samplings of in-house counsel in the United States and the United Kingdom. For companies with earnings of $1 billion or more, the average number of lawsuits being handled at the same time was 147.

--Compiled by staff from news and wire reports.

February 1, 2006

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