Insurance Journal - The global insurance system has the financial strength to handle the losses from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.). Insurance losses from the attacks will be shared throughout the worldwide insurance and reinsurance system and not be borne by any single company. Insurance coverage on large risks such as the World Trade Center and airlines traditionally are insured by a number of insurance companies, which, in turn, share their portion of the risk with reinsurance companies, explained Dr. Robert Hartwig, I.I.I. vice president and chief economist. "The global insurance and reinsurance industry has the financial structure and strength to absorb a catastrophic loss such as occurred yesterday," Hartwig said. "There is layer upon layer of coverage so that no single company bears the brunt of the loss alone."

Insurance Journal - While a myriad of businesses called the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center home, insurance companies were particularly hard hit with Tuesday‘s terrorist attack on the 110-story landmarks. The following is a list of some of the companies and which floors they were situated on: North Tower - Kemper Insurance Companies (Floors 35-36); Hal Roth Agency Inc. (77); Daynard & Van Thunen Co. (79); RLI Insurance Company (80); Metropolitan Life Insurance Co, (89); Marsh USA Inc. (93-100). South Tower - SCOR U.S. Corp. (23-24); Allstate Insurance Co. (24); Hartford Steam Boiler (30); Frenkel & Company Inc. (35, 36); Guy Carpenter (47-54); Fireman‘s Funds Insurance Co. (47-48); Seabury & Smith (49); AON Corporation (92, 99, 100); Continental Insurance Co.

National Underwriter - Marsh, the world's largest insurance brokerage, is struggling to ascertain the number of surviving employees based at the World Trade Center following yesterday's devastating attack by terrorists. A spokesperson for Marsh & McClennan Co. could confirm only that approximately 1,700 employees were housed in both One and Two World Trade Center, the twin towers leveled by the apparent suicide plane crashes. She indicated that the actual number of employees accounted for is not yet available. Alfred J. Modugno, vice president of Marsh, confirmed that corporate president Jeff Greenberg is "alive and well" in his uptown headquarters on the Avenue of the Americas. Yesterday Marsh set up a hot line for its employees to call "on an emergency basis." The spokesperson said that there are "numerous phones" and that calls had been coming in on a 24-hour basis.

National Underwriter - The National Association of Independent Insurers and AON, one of the world's largest insurance brokerages, are among those affected by yesterday's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. The NAII, based in Des Plaines, Ill., said that several of its member companies had offices at the destroyed twin towers. At the same time, AON is struggling to communicate with the approximately 1,100 employees who were based at the WTC. Joseph J. Annotti, NAII assistant vice president of public affairs, reported that SCOR Reinsurance was its "biggest member" at the WTC. SCOR subsidiaries General Security Indemnity and General Security Property & Casualty also had offices at the twin towers.

Insurance Journal - Lloyd‘s of London cleared its offices in the traditional financial center in the City of London following terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. Reuters reported that the staff of other large financial institutions were ordered to vacate building in the city‘s new financial district, Canary Wharf, as a precautionary measure.

Insurance Journal - RLI Corp.‘s New York City office, housed in the North Tower of the World Trade Center, has closed due to this morning‘s damage to that building. All RLI personnel operating from that office have been accounted for, according to the company‘s vice president, administration, Michael E. Quine. "We have been in contact with our people in New York City and are extraordinarily relieved that all RLI employees have been evacuated from the building. We hope that many others have also been as fortunate.' Business calls related to the company‘s New York-based Executive Products Group and surety personnel are being handled by RLI‘s corporate offices at (309) 692-1000 or (800) 331-4929. When New York telephone lines are functional, they will also be routed to RLI Corp.‘s home office.

Insurance Journal - The New York Stock Exchange indicated that it would not resume trade on Wednesday. Reuters reported that U.S. stock markets had been shut down in the wake of terrorist attacks on New York‘s World Trade Center and the U.S. Pentagon near Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11. European stock markets, and especially insurance shares, were particularly hard hit following the terrorist attacks. At the same time that insurance stocks were falling, oil stocks were gaining, according to Reuters. Overall, the insurance sector reportedly dropped 11 percent, while Swiss Re fell 15.7 percent, Axa plummeted 13.3 percent, and Royal & Sun Alliance dropped 14.44 percent.

National Underwriter - Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., which had offices in both towers of the World Trade Center, has established an emergency call room at its midtown Manhattan headquarters. Marsh employees who have left the World Trade Center should call the following number immediately: (212) 345-6000. Chicago-based Aon Corp., which also had employees working in the World Trade Center complex, is asking WTC employees who are able to call to check in at a toll-free telephone number--866-256-4154--as soon as possible. "We are collecting information on the safety of our employees, and would like to get home contact information for all of our employees," Aon said in a statement. Aon is putting news updates about its situation for employees at 866-946-4357.

National Underwriter - The Florida Bar is considering whether control by insurance companies over the defense of lawsuits against insureds constitutes the unlicensed practice of law. The bar association's Standing Committee on the Unlicensed Practice of Law (UPL) held a public hearing on the issue in Orlando on June 22, 2001. The hearing stems from complaints from defense attorneys about non-lawyer insurance adjusters who direct defense strategy much in the way that non-physician clerical workers try to control how HMO physicians can treat patients. The adjusters decide when defense attorneys can hire expert witnesses, take depositions and engage in court hearings, say the attorneys, who also object to insurer demands that legal bills be sent to outside fee auditors.

National Underwriter - "The bad news is that there is a whole new world of [privacy] compliance and you have to figure out the rules," said attorney Scott Sinder in a recent panel discussion. "The worse news is that it's only the beginning." Mr. Sinder, a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Collier Shannon Scott, PLLC, reflected the views of his fellow insurance experts on the topic "Privacy: The Raging Consumer Issue." The CPCU Society and the Insurance Institute of Canada's Chartered Insurance Professional Society presented the wide-ranging discussions on notice issues and the practicalities of implementing privacy mandates in a live satellite broadcast from Washington, D.C. on May 17.