Risk Management; New York

Fun and Games

The author grew up in a time right before the advent of cable television, missing kids on milk cartons, class action lawsuits, McMansions, suburban sprawl, mobile telephones, play dates and everything else that seems to have sucked the fun out of being a kid these days. When the author and his wife heard tag had been outlawed -- mainly because recess itself could not be -- their first thought was to organize a tag game at school so big that the kids couldn't all be put in detention for it. Wh...

Predicting the 2010 Hurricane Season

Five years after Katrina and the record-shattering 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, the public's concern about storms has seemed to wane in direct proportion to the relative mildness of every subsequent season. Last year was no exception. The quietest since 1997, the 2009 hurricane season, saw only nine named storms and three hurricanes, totaling about 580 million in damages. Many researchers are predicting an active hurricane season in 2010. As early as December of last year, researchers at C...

Yelp Faces a Legal Review

For five years the review site Yelp.com has been operating as a guide to help users find restaurants, bars, stores and services of all types. Users rate each business on a five-star scale, complete with detailed, and sometimes brutally honest, comments. Recently, however, Yelp's business model has gotten the online enterprise into trouble. The company turns a profit by selling online advertising to local services and businesses within those markets. However, some businesses that chose not to ...

Exporting Credit Risk

During his State of the Union address in January, and on several occasions since, Pres Obama called for a doubling of American exports within the next five years. Increasing exports would help create an estimated two million jobs and ensure the US' place in a growing global economy, according to the administration. The potential is indeed enormous. More than 95% of the world's population and 75% of the world's spending power is now located outside the US. To underwrite trade credit risk, insu...

Using Letters of Credit

In an insurance contract, carriers typically require the insured company to provide collateral as a guaranteed source of funds, with three of the most commonly accepted forms being letters of credit (LOC), marketable securities and cash. Letters of credit are generally the most widely used and accepted form because they represent an irrevocable guarantee of payment in a specified amount. For companies that use letters of credit, however, the job is never entirely done. Risk managers must, at ...

Q&A: Disaster Planning

In an interview, Chuck Wright, director of the upcoming 20th World Conference on Disaster Management from June 6 to June 9 in Toronto, discussed the risks people face and provides some guidance for companies on how to stay ready. Industry professionals agree that the Haitian people demonstrated tremendous resiliency. In the face of a tragedy that took the lives of their loved ones and community, they never lost hope. In fact, it fueled their energy to overcome the situation. Residing in a cou...

Class Actions: Going Federal

The Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) was signed into law by Pres Bush in 2005. Touted as a major component of tort reform, Congress primarily intended CAFA to curb the practice of "forum shopping," in which plaintiffs' file large class action lawsuits in state courts known for awarding huge jury verdicts even if that state had little or no connection to the case. As with the expansion of federal jurisdiction and the new removal rules under CAFA, the true effects of these new consumer protecti...

Auto Safety

Come Together

The impending merger between media and television conglomerates NBC and Comcast is a prime example of a deal where both companies are opening themselves up to new risks. Merging two major companies is no simple task to begin with, and the risk management process is further complicated by the fact that both players belong to the media industry -- a sector rife with liability exposure. Whether dealing with nationwide television powerhouses or smaller-scale outlets, anyone tasked with navigating...

The Failed Merger of Aol/Time Warner

Ten years ago, Internet behemoth America Online and media conglomerate Time Warner joined forces in what was -- and still is -- the largest merger of all time. Valued at $350 billion, the deal was expected to create a super company capable of dominating the media landscape in both the traditional, physical world of the past and the limitless, cyberspace dream world yet to come. But as people now know, the deal was a calamity. Time Warner finally cut ties with AOL last year, with the independe...

Google Buys Youtube - and a Ton of Liability

When Google paid $1.65 billion to purchase YouTube in 2007, it knew it was acquiring the world's pre-eminent online video distributor. What it may not have known, however, is that it was also buying a ton of legal liability. YouTube's servers are estimated to host more than 100 million videos, and the dispute that some content creators have with the platform is that many of the videos it freely distributes violate copyright laws. It is YouTube's policy to take down any videos that are reporte...

Developing Effective Workplace Safety Programs

Over the past year, employers nationwide have been lamenting a shift in focus at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from education, outreach and partnership to one that emphasizes enforcement, compliance and penalties. The administration has sent a message to employers that it plans to crack down on OSHA violations with a one-two punch: first, by stricter enforcement of existing laws; and second, by passing legislation that would amend OSHA rules to expand coverage to mo...

Filthy Lucre: Confronting the Risks of Money Laundering

The lesson to be learned from the demise of Riggs Bank is that financial institutions that fail to comply with money laundering and terrorist-financing laws, or that fail to implement and adhere to effective systems of governance, internal control and audit in these areas, expose themselves to significant regulatory, legal and reputational risks. There are a variety of adverse consequences that may result from a breach of existing anti-money laundering laws or regulatory requirements: formal ...

Climbing the Erm Tree

Enterprise risk management (ERM) emerged from the fundamental roots of risk management itself: preserve assets, protect people and comply with laws and regulations. And like a young tree, ERM has developed a strong trunk with several distinct branches, each representing a different approach. The lowest branch on the tree, closest to the base, represents the earliest ERM efforts. These were centered around integrated risk programs, such as those created by Honeywell and United Grain Growers in...

Riskiest Cities for Cybercrime

In this modern, electronic world, it is not surprising that cybercrime is on a constant rise. There are a frightening number of security breach incidents reported daily on DataLossDB.org, a database of breaches updated in real time. Symantec partnered with Sperling's BestPlaces to come up with the 50 riskiest cities for cybercrime. Seattle snagged the number one spot, followed by Boston and Washington, DC. Rounding out the top 10 were San Francisco; Raleigh, NC; Atlanta; Minneapolis; Denver; ...

The Uk Seen As High Risk

The Bbb Is Keeping Busy

Executives See Jobless Recovery

Crybabies

The day after the House of Representatives passed the health care reform bill, Sen John McCain expressed his displeasure on an Arizona radio station. There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year, said McCain. Regardless of how you feel about the legislation this response strikes the author as extremely petty, if not an actual affront to anyone who elected these people to office. Unfortunately, McCain and company are not the only sore losers to make headlines recently. The art of losi...