Crypto Crime Escalates With Kidnappings, Cons and Human Coercion
After a year of kidnappings, assaults and armed home invasions targeting cryptocurrency holders, the industry is racing to harden its defenses. Conferences are beefing up security. Private firms serving crypto holders say demand has surged. Exchanges are protecting their executives. …

Viewpoint: Insurers Cautiously Navigate the Next Steps in AI Adoption
As more and more companies embed AI into select functions, only a portion indicate that they have used AI to change how an overall enterprise runs. It illustrates one of the key takeaways drawn from a recent industry survey by …

Bank CEOs’ AI Obsession Collides With Warning From Watchdogs
As bank executives increasingly tout the promise of artificial intelligence to slim down workforces, regulators are warning them not to get carried away. The European Banking Authority, the rulemaker for financial firms operating in the region, has been meeting with …

Insurance Agent, Former Lawmaker in Runoff in Georgia Insurance Commissioner Race
Two Democrats, one a longtime insurance agent, will face each other in a June 16 runoff election that will determine who will be on the November general election ballot for Georgia insurance commissioner. Keisha Sean Waites, a former state legislator …

Three New HO Carriers and an Improving Condo Market in Florida, Reports Show
Three new property insurance companies have entered the Florida market this spring, bringing to 20 the number of new carriers since Florida lawmakers ended assignment-of-benefit agreements and one-way attorney fees in 2023. “To date, these new companies since the legislative …

NC Commission Warns About Workers’ Comp Scam Impersonating Officials
Scammers have been targeting Spanish-speaking workers, trying to trick them into paying fees to access workers’ compensation benefits around the South and West, officials said. The North Carolina Industrial Commission, which oversees workers’ comp in the state, warned in a …

South Carolina Law Adds Workers’ Comp Stroke Presumption for Some Firefighters
Municipal workers’ compensation insurance pools in South Carolina now have another firefighter health condition presumption to consider, after the state’s governor signed House Bill 3163 into law. The law, which took effect upon Gov. Henry McMaster’s signature last week, adds …

Report: California Independent Medical Review Overturned Most Treatment Requests
Nearly nine-in-10 workers’ compensation treatment request denials in California were overturned by independent medical review, a new report shows. The California Department of Industrial Relations and its Division of Workers’ Compensation released the annual report on the department’s IMR program. …

New Mexico Politicians Grapple With Oil Windfall From Iran War That’s ‘Awesome’ And Awkward
The global oil bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz has generated an enviable—and politically sensitive—financial windfall on the other side of the world in New Mexico, a rare Democratic-dominated state where fossil fuels are a bedrock of progressive social services. …

Sands Point Risk Acquires New Jersey’s Launch Environmental Underwriters
Sands Point Risk, a multi-program managing general agency platform, has acquired Launch Environmental Underwriters, a provider of environmental general liability insurance. Jersey City, New Jersey-based Launch focuses on complex risks across the energy, infrastructure, construction, chemical, mergers and acquisition, and …