The insurance industry will undergo increasing consolidation as part of the fallout from government intervention and potential tax law changes following the financial crisis, a top consulting firm predicts.

Florida's year-long, acrimonious battle with State Farm over its threat to leave the state's homeowners insurance market ended last week with the company winning a 14.8 percent rate increase and permission to drop 125,000 policyholders.

If there was a listing of individually initiated financial disasters, the depredations of Ponzi-schemer Bernard Madoff might rank at the top, but opinions may differ on how much of an insurance catastrophe he has created.

The United Nations Climate Change conference in Copenhagen is a reminder of the range of new insurance products and services available to people interested in "going green," according to the Insurance Information Institute.

PineBridge Investments, the renamed American International Group unit, has delayed its $500 million sale to Pacific Century Group for a month to provide more information to clients, a spokesman said.

Experts in fighting insurance fraud say scams that historically escalate in a poor economy will increase in 2010, with health-related activity at the top of the list and with smaller firms as favored targets

Florida's acrimonious battle with State Farm over its effort to leave the state's homeowners insurance market has ended with the company winning a 14.8 percent rate increase and permission to drop 125,000 policyholders.

The American Tort Reform Association has released its "Judicial Hellholes List" with South Florida including Miami-Dade County at the top of the rankings.