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SULLIVAN SUCCEEDS GREENBERG

Martin J. Sullivan has been elected as the new CEO of American International Group Inc., the company has announced. He succeeds former CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, 79. Greenberg will serve in the capacity of non-executive chairman. Sullivan, 50, who has served in a variety of senior positions during his more than 30-year career at AIG, was most recently vice chairman and co-COO.

The Supreme Court of Michigan has ruled that the state's No-Fault Insurance Act forbids health care providers from charging unreasonable fees. The state Supreme Court also left it up to lower courts to determine what is reasonable when a dispute arises. In the case of Advocacy Organization for Patients & Providers v. Auto Club Insurance Association, the trial court ruled the insurers were entitled to review any medical charges and pay only those determined to be reasonable.

COUNTERSIGNATURE STATUTE FALLS

A U.S. District court in March struck down Puerto Rico's statute that prohibits nonresident insurance brokers from doing business on the Island without the countersignature of a resident agent. The ruling is a victory for The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, which has gone to federal court in six states and jurisdictions where countersignature laws remain on the books, arguing those statutes are unconstitutional. Countersignature laws in Florida and Nevada have been struck down, and the West Virginia Legislature rescinded that state's countersignature requirement after legal action from the broker lobby.

FLEET SAFETY BILL PRESERVED

In March, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected amendments to the Transportation Equity Act. The first amendment--known as the "Wal-Mart Amendment" because the chain was supporting the change--would have extended the maximum workday to 16 hours for truck drivers. It was withdrawn in the face of strong opposition from consumer, health, and safety groups. It was defeated by a vote of 226 to 198.

OPERATIONAL RISK IS TOP CONCERN

The majority of securitization professionals cited operational risk as a leading concern in structured finance transactions, trailing only traditional credit risk as the overriding factor potentially affecting a deal's health, according to a study by Standard & Poor's. The "Structured Finance Market Opinion Study" also found that more than two-thirds of respondents cited operational risk as a more important area of risk than legal modeling, interest rate, regulatory and correlation risk.

--Compiled by staff from news and wire reports.

May 1, 2005

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