2020 0116 - Bloomberg Businessweek - Nobody Makes Money Like Apollo’s Ruthless Founder Leon Black:The private equity CEO with a fearsome reputation skates on the edges of other people’s catastrophes and manages to walk away richer., By Caleb Melby and Heather Perlberg - [link]
<WishList> - 1981 0914 - See The Changing Life Insurers, BUS. WK., Sept. 14, 1981, at 66-69 (discussing effects of increased rates of inflation of past three years on insurance industry)
1982 - LR - Redefining Insurance: Distinguishing Between Life Insurance and Investment Under Volatile Inflation, Yale - 19p
1984 0625 - Businessweek - Upheaval In Life Insurance Hundreds Of Companies May Not Survive The Era Of "New Wave" Policies
1984 0411, 0503, 0510, 0628, 0913 - GOV (House) - Competition in the Insurance Industry - (p694-700)
1984 - An Overview Of The Integration Of Securities And Banking Activities In The United States, James C. Treadway, Jr. - Commissioner (SEC) - 57p
Discussion Paper Presented to International Securities Regulators' Group Meeting. The Stock Exchange, London, England
<WishList> - 1998 0518 - BusinessWeek -
In his Business Week Commentary of May 18, 1998, David Greising discussed both the NationsBank settlements and the need for functional regulation of securities activities at banks.
1999 0625 - GOV (House) - Risky Business in the Operating Subsidiary: How the OCC Dropped the Ball - [PDF-106p,
(p6) - Denise Voigt Crawford, Securities Commissioner, Texas State Securities Board On Behalf Of North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc (NASAA)
2005 0424 - Bloomberg - Watchdogs With Eyes Wide Shut: As investigators pore over the books of AIG, it's becoming clear that for years regulators failed to detect lapses, by By Mike McNamee - [link]
State regulators defend the job they've done.
The problem, they say, is that insurers lied to them.
"AIG has acknowledged misleading the New York State Insurance Dept. several times," says Acting New York State Superintendent of Insurance Howard Mills.
"We take those transgressions very seriously."
States do examine insurers for financial solvency -- but often miss the big picture.
"We need to do more," says NAIC President-elect Alessandro A. Iuppa, Maine's insurance superintendent.
The obvious solution: national regulation. State oversight of insurers is a relic of 19th century finance, until recently defended by insurers. Now, however, the industry is splitting.
Further revelations might force action. Five other big reinsurers, including Swiss Re, MBIA (MBI ), and St. Paul Travelers (STA ), have disclosed that the SEC and Spitzer have subpoenaed records from them. "There's a lot more to come" on insurance companies collaborating to buff up each others' financials, warns a source close to the probes.
The suspect reinsurance deals at AIG bear an eerie resemblance to Chewco Investments LP, the LJM partnerships, and other "special purpose entities" that brought down Enron. Like the SPEs, the reinsurers AIG used were supposed to be independent -- but were in fact closely linked to the parent company.
Rulemakers must also set reinsurance standards that genuinely measure risks insurers transfer.
Insurance is a devilishly complicated business, and the industry often plays by no-holds-barred rules. "Insurance is like the Wild West -- it makes Wall Street seem quite orderly and gentlemanly," says an analyst. It's also an increasingly sophisticated industry in which players take advantage of every international loophole available to move operations offshore in order to decrease scrutiny and cut tax liabilities. In this high-stakes business, regulators can't afford to be caught napping. When they snooze, investors lose.
2021 1129 - Bloomberg - ‘Pension Poachers’ Are Targeting America’s Elderly Veterans, By Nick Leiber - [link]
Larry Eber’s life was derailed when middlemen pledged to help him get supplemental benefits.
Similar tales of alleged manipulation are playing out for thousands of former service members and their families.
Chantelle Smith, an Iowa assistant attorney general in Des Moines, said it is true that many veterans don’t know they’re entitled to certain benefits. What they often don’t realize is there are free alternatives for help with paperwork, including organizations with no financial stake in the outcome—such as nonprofit veterans service organizations and state and local agencies.