Printed from BusinessInsurance.com

MF Global insurance coverage led by HCC Holdings

Posted On: Nov. 11, 2011 12:00 AM CST

HOUSTON—HCC Holdings Inc. is the primary directors and officers insurer for MF Global Holdings Ltd., the securities firm that had been headed by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine that is now in bankruptcy.

MF Global has $250 million in coverage, and the insurer has posted $25 million in connection with the account, according to a market source. A unit of Willis Group Holdings P.L.C. is the broker, the source said.

Doug Busker, HCC's director of investor relations, said the insurer does not comment on individual insureds. A spokeswoman for Willis declined to comment.

This month, HCC reported it had increased its loss reserves in the third quarter by $28.2 million because of increases in its 2011 accident year loss ratios, virtually all of which was related to its diversified financial products line of business.

At least one firm, Boston-based Block & Leviton L.L.P., has filed a purported class action suit in connection with the bankruptcy, charging violations of securities laws on behalf of MF Global' s common stockholders from May 20, 2011, through Oct. 28, 2011.

The lawsuit says Mr. Corzine, the firm's former chairman and CEO, and other top officers “engaged in a scheme to deceive the market and a course of conduct that artificially inflated the company's stock price, and operated as a fraud or deceit” with respect to its common stock buyers.