Regulators close small bank in Maryland; brings US bank failures to 15 in 2014 + MORE Oct 18th

WASHINGTON – Regulators have closed a small lender in Maryland, bringing U.S. bank failures this year to 15 after 24 closures in all of 2013.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday that it has taken over NBRS Financial Bank of Rising Sun, Maryland.
The bank, which operated five branches, had about $188.2 million in assets and $183.1 million in deposits as of June 30.
Howard Bank of Ellicott City, Maryland, has agreed to pay the FDIC a premium of 1.19 per cent to assume all of the failed bank’s deposits. It also agreed to buy essentially all of its assets.
The five NBRS Financial branches will reopen as branches of Howard Bank during their normal business hours. Depositors of NBRS Financial will automatically become depositors of Howard Bank, the FDIC said.
The failure of NBRS Financial, the second Maryland bank to be shuttered this year, is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund about $24.3 million.
U.S. bank failures have been declining since they peaked in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis and the Great Recession…

A pre-existing health condition can be enough to void your insurance coverage – but life and health insurers shouldn’t be asking those looking to buy a policy to undergo genetic testing, says Canada’s privacy watchdog, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Nor should it have access to any existing genetic test results.
Such tests, which are becoming widely available, can be used to see whether someone is at increased risk of certain medical conditions based on their genomic data.
Just last week, California-based 23andMe announced that it would start selling its $199 genetic test kits in Canada, providing information on more than 100 health conditions gleaned from a saliva sample.
But a growing number of critics fear that such access could have serious consequences for the public, allowing insurers and employers to use that information to deny coverage and benefits.
Also Read: Why Travel Insurance Claims are Denied>
Denied Insurance Coverage A Major Concern
The Coalition for Genetic Fairness, a group of 15 organizations devoted to patients with diseases that have genetic components, maintains some people are already being denied insurance because they have a predisposition for a particular disease…

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HALIFAX – Pooled registered pension plans would be available for people in Nova Scotia under legislation introduced by the provincial government.
Finance Minister Diana Whalen says the government’s goal is to provide a low-cost, regulated pension option given that only 40 per cent of working Nova Scotians have a pension and less than 20 per cent contribute to a registered retirement savings plan.
The plans would be available to people who are self-employed and people without a participating employer.
Whalen says participation would be voluntary in plans that are administered by large financial institutions such as insurance companies.
She says Quebec has made pooled plans mandatory while Nova Scotia is joining three western provinces that have made their plans voluntary.
Whalen says the federal government has also passed legislation to enable pooled plans for federally-regulated industries.
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