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121 Resources for

ed leefeldt

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BNET Author Biography
Ed Leefeldt is an award-winning investigative and business journalist who has worked for Reuters, Bloomberg and Dow Jones, and been contributed to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. He is also the author of The Woman Who Rode the Wind, a novel about early flight.
more about Ed Leefeldt »

BNET Resources

A Tale of Two Insurers: There's No Accounting for AIG and MetLife
Is it stranger than fiction when one major insurer reports a loss that is actually a gain, while another reports a gain that is actually a loss? That's exactly what happened in the second quarter. And no one is to blame but the accountants. On Friday American International...
Tags: Accounting, Investment, American International Group Inc., Derivatives, MetLife Inc., Earnings, Financial Services, Operational Accounting, Insurance, Finance, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-08-12
Insurers Have 'Cash for Clunkers' Program, But It's Not by Choice
Insurers are finding out that they too have a "Cash for Clunkers" program. But it's not being offered by them or the government. Policyholders are illegally torching their cars to collect. The National Insurance Crime Bureau's latest reports of dubious insurance claims show that suspicious car fires...
Tags: Car, Insurance Company, National Insurance Crime Bureau, Insurance Scammer, Insurance, Financial Planning, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-10
Can the California Insurance Commissioner Stop 'The Terminator?'
California is a cauldron where new ideas bubble up and then spread across the nation. That's why a legal wrangle between Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration could have larger implications than simply a battle between one man who wants to be governor and one who is...
Tags: California, Insurance Company, Worker, Governor, Arnie, Insurance, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-10
Gunning for AIG's Joe Cassano? Good Luck!
Better late than never. Today's Wall Street Journal reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice will take aim at former American International Group Financial Products boss Joseph Cassano. "Federal prosecutors, capping an 18-month investigation, are preparing to impanel a grand jury in...
Tags: American International Group Inc., Fraud, Litigation, Business Operations, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-11
Can the Elephant Stomp on the Gecko, Farmers and Progressive?
Insurers that "direct" market their auto and home insurance products to consumers through television ads, thus cutting out insurance agents, are doing quite nicely in the U.S. even during the recession. All you need to see is the success of GEICO's "Gecko." But the lovable lizard could soon find itself...
Tags: U.S., GEICO, Elephant, Farmers, Insurance, Financial Planning, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-15
Moody Blues: Insurance Regulators May Bypass Rater After Snub
Once known for its creampuff reputation, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is mad as hell and not going take it anymore. Moody's Investors Service, one of the big three credit rating agencies, apparently will not attend the September 24 hearing that the NAIC is holding to review...
Tags: Regulator, Moody's Corp., Empire State, Insurance, Financial Planning, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-20
Are AIG's Enemies Becoming Frenemies?
What happens when you look at embattled insurer American International Group through rose-colored glasses? Your enemies become "frenemies." U.S. Rep. Edolphus Towns NY said through an aide that he may talk with the U.S. Treasury Department to modify the $182 billion bailout package that AIG received last...
Tags: American International Group Inc., Insurance, Financial Planning, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-21
Bye-Bye Bermuda: Willis Group Is on the Move Again
Willis Group Holdings CEO Joseph Plumeri is known for seizing any opportunity that comes his way. He took over the world's third largest insurance broker  after a street corner conversation with Henry Kravis of the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Now, Plumeri is on the move again. He's packing...
Tags: Aon Corp., Commission, Bermuda, Insurance Company, Taxes, Insurance, Free Trade, Financial Planning, Personal Finance, Finance, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-22
Buyer Beware! WSJ Says AIG Run Up Due to 'Speculators'
The rise in American International Group shares since August is a mystery to every rational investor. Even the General Accounting Office, points out that while AIG now has survivability, its long-term ability to pay back what's owed on its $182 billion bailout package remains in doubt. And as everyone knows,...
Tags: Wall Street Journal, American International Group Inc., IPO, Investment, Financial Services, Financial Accounting, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-23
Life Insurers Want Looser Standards for Home Mortgage Holdings
Those life insurers never stop trying. First they asked for an $18 billion relief package back in January. Then they rattled their tin cups for the Treasury, begging to get in on the TARP program. Ultimately Lincoln National and Hartford Financial received nearly $6 billion. Now their latest request has...
Tags: Regulator, Insurance Company, Standards, ACLI, Insurance, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-23
Free Hank! Former AIG Boss Greenberg Wants Spitzer's Charges Dropped
Let's set the record straight. Former American International Group CEO Hank Greenberg isn't languishing behind bars, living on bread and water and rooming with Bernie Madoff. Rather, he's surrounded by expensive Chinese art work in his plush New York City office at Starr International, a company he controls. ...
Tags: American International Group Inc., Eliot Spitzer, Insurance, Operational Accounting, Financial Services, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-24
Why Should Regulators Give Foreign Insurers a Break?
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has been fired up of late, taking on the credit rating agencies in today's high-profile fight and, in a lower-profile but equally important decision, letting foreign reinsurers slip across the border and do business more easily in the states. The NAIC...
Tags: Regulator, Insurance Company, Insurance, Financial Planning, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-24
Property Insurance Outlook: Dull But Stable
No one really finds insurance interesting, not even insurers. In fact, insurers like it to be dull: no hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, wildfires, tornados. Instead of stories on the morning news, insurers prefer to quietly collect their premiums and drop them in the bank. Thus, two reports from the property casualty...
Tags: Microsoft Outlook, Insurance Company, Property Insurance, Insurance, Financial Planning, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-24
Consumer Group Says Insurers' Use of Credit Scores Has Flaws
Credit scores are one of property insurers' favorite tools to separate the sheep, those who will get car and homeowners' insurance policies, from the goats, those who will be rejected or charged more. Most states allow insurers to do this, albeit with some restrictions and many misgivings....
Tags: Credit Score, Flaw, Insurance Company, Insurance, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-25
Are Reinsurers Really in Trouble?
Reinsurance companies, the deep pockets into which regular insurers dig when they get into trouble, were in Monte Carlo this week, and, in between speeches, were living it up in one of the world's richest playgrounds. Of course there were a few pessimists. Fitch Ratings, whose 2009-2010...
Tags: Insurance Company, Fitch Ratings, Insurance, Financial Planning, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-09
'Steering' Cars Should Be Illegal, Connecticut Attorney General Says
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is a frequent crusader against insurance abuses. In his latest well-publicized battle with auto carriers, he certainly has a point, perhaps a bigger point than even he knows. Blumenthal is asking his federal counterpart, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, to investigate reports...
Tags: Car, Richard Blumenthal, Insurance Company, Attorney General, Insurance, Financial Planning, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-09-06
Investors Love AIG, But Does It Love Them Back?
Right now incoming American International Group CEO Robert Benmosche could probably hold a town hall meeting and get a better reception than President Obama. On August 3, as the curtain rose on the Benmosche show, the stock also rose and it gained steadily on heavy volume for more...
Tags: American International Group Inc., Investor, Financial Accounting, Personal Finance, Insurance, Financial Planning, Finance, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-08-14
'Morefar' Is Too Far - Unless You're Hank Greenberg
Today's New York Times again seeks to whip up populist anger against American International Group, the once-mega insurer that has fallen on hard times. Well, most of it anyway. But bits and pieces of what was once a trillion-dollar empire are still doing quite nicely, including employees who...
Tags: American International Group Inc., Investment, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-08-17
Look What Happens When Insurers 'Run Naked'
Given the uproar at town hall meetings on health care, it's interesting that Americans seem to be mute on other kinds of government insurance, particularly the type that protects million-dollar beachfront properties. A recent story in ClimateWire says that public insurance programs in several coastal states are...
Tags: Insurance Company, Reinsurance, Insurance, Financial Planning, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-08-19
AIG: The Optimistic View from Croatia
The newest CEO of American International Group, Robert Benmosche is vacationing in Croatia where he owns a "breathtaking" million-dollar villa. But that didn't stop him from hyping his new company and boosting its stock price, perhaps a bit more than he should have. Benmosche told Bloomberg News...
Tags: American International Group Inc., Insurance, Investment, Business Operations, Corporate Insurance, Finance, Ed Leefeldt
Blog posts 2009-08-21
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