FOUR INSURERS SETTLE NEW YORK PROBE FOR $120M

Ace Group, Zurich America Insurance, CNA Financial and PMA Insurance Group have agreed to pay a combined $120m to settle allegations in New York that they overcharged workers' compensation insurance customers. Under the settlement, Ace is paying $70m, Zurich $37.5m, PMA $5.9m and CNA $5.75m. The settlement was announced by state attorney general Andrew Cuomo on December 31, his last day in the post before being sworn in as governor. Mr Cuomo's office said that the companies collected excessive surcharges from customers. The overcharges stemmed from a change, instituted in 2000, in the way the state Worker's Compensation Board calculates the annual fees that it collects from insurers, costs that insurers in turn pass on to policyholders as surcharges. In 2009 and 2010, the state budget included provisions that barred overcharging and empowered the state to recover any excesses. "These four groups of insurance companies have done the responsible thing by agreeing to resolve their disputes with the state", said Mr Cuomo. Ace issued a statement Monday expressing its pleasure "to resolve this issue", noting that it had "reserved specifically for this eventuality".