What’s new: In brief (February 21, 2005)

A bill to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) two years past its December 31, 2005 sunset has been introduced in the U.S. Senate, crafted by Sens. Robert Bennett and Christopher Dodd. The same two men had introduced a similar bill during the last Congress which never made it to a vote. Also on Friday, President George W. Bush signed the Class Action Fairness Act which, among other things, removes certain multi-state class actions to federal court into law.

Standard & Poor’s has placed the “A+” financial strength rating of Zurich Financial Services on “credit watch” with negative implications following the Swiss company’s announcement that it was increasing reserves by US$1.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2004. This brings ZFS’s total 2004 reserve additions to US$2.6 billion, which S&P notes is largely for U.S. worker’s compensation and liability lines. S&P says the reserve additions exceeded expectations, and that it may, following a review, downgrade ZFS by one notch, although the U.S. operation could be downgraded by two notches. However, A.M. Best has affirmed the company’s rating, noting Zurich’s 29% earnings increase, and saying it does not expect further significant reserve strengthening in 2005.

Perceptions of credit card fraud may be worse than the reality, according to a survey by Ipsos-Insight in the U.S. While 20% of Americans say they know someone who has been a victim of online credit card fraud, only 4% of Americans report they have been a victim of this type of crime. Similarly, for offline credit card fraud, while 44% say they know someone who has been a victim, only 12% of Americans report having been victimized this way.