Fairfax bets on low inflation

Fairfax Holdings spent about $175 million this year, betting that prices won’t rise much over the next decade, and has already made $100 million on the deal. WSJ has details (sub. req.): Fairfax paid $174 million in upfront fees to protect $22 billion of its investment portfolio against the possibility of deflation over the next [...]

CNA throws the asbestos yoke

One of my favorite insurance stories begins in the 1950s when CNA got $80,000 for a general liability policy written without an aggregate limit. (To the lay reader, that means that no matter how many claims were made, CNA would continue to pay them. Normally, an insurer places an aggregate limit on the policy, so [...]