New York and Washington

Proposed legislation denying tax deductions for reinsurance premiums paid to offshore affiliates will likely pass through Congress, a Bermuda executive predicted recently, but he criticized the measure as a restriction of free trade.

Speaking at the Standard & Poor's Insurance Conference held in New York in early June, Edward Noonan, chair and chief executive officer of Validus Holdings, Ltd., said the "need for revenue in Washington will probably outweigh the need for principled regulation and taxation," when asked about the potential fate of H.R. 3424, the so-called "Neal bill," sponsored by Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass.