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In an agenda released on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve and other regulators outlined what issues they plan to focus on as they consider rules for how banks interact with cryptocurrencies. Their priorities include weighing custody, crypto-backed loans and the possibility of capital standards, according to a joint statement.

In this segment of the series, the authors examine the role M&A will play in the industry’s adoption of insurtech—and more generally, the need for established carriers to adapt to the increasingly innovative and service-based product and service offerings new entrants bring to bear.

When Americans gather around the Thanksgiving table this week, the blistering rally in technology, electric vehicles and crypto-related stocks is likely to be a part of their conversations.

The transformation of consumer-focused technologies is forcing providers to adopt new tools to keep up. However, many of these tools are not built with user-friendly experiences that meet customer expectations, and therefore, they suffer from low engagement and adoption.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. is sticking with a hybrid work model as the best way to attract staff in the post-pandemic era, having just opened a major office overlooking Boston Harbor.

In other news: Liberty Mutual launches insurance agency; Neptune Flood releases carbon-neutral plan; New York Life announces CEO-elect.

Electric vehicles fare poorly in the latest reliability study from Consumer Reports, with Tesla Inc. and its battery-powered lineup finishing second to last for the second-straight year. Only Ford Motor Co.’s Lincoln division was worse, the organization said Thursday at the Automotive Press Association in Detroit.

Apple Inc. venturing into cars might shake up the electric vehicles market in the same way the iPhone revolutionized the mobile communications industry in 2007. So says Morgan Stanley.

Today’s clients are looking for financial guidance and product recommendations that account for their entire financial lives. Unfortunately, because of legacy technology in place, most insurance advisors can’t credibly weigh in on the whole picture.

Willis Towers Watson Plc is adding four new members to its board after activist investors pushed for changes at the insurance brokerage following the collapse of a $30 billion planned sale to Aon Plc.

A total of 63.6 million shares were sold for C$22 apiece, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company said in a release late Wednesday, the top end of the range it had targeted. The company is also selling another C$700 million in shares in a private placement to the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and Swiss Re.

UPS, which tested autonomous delivery vans with Waymo in the Phoenix area beginning last year, will expand that partnership to include big rigs, Waymo said in a statement. The courier first began testing autonomous technology on 18 wheelers with TuSimple in Arizona after taking an equity stake in the startup in 2019. The Waymo tests will be done for UPS’s North American Air Freight unit for delivery routes between Dallas and Houston.

American International Group Inc. and other insurers avoided steep losses from a spate of extreme weather this year thanks in part to the reinsurance industry. But increased reliance on those policies probably means price hikes are coming.

A list with the names of about 100 global investors has been shared with the 10 banks working on the deal and the institutions will approach different sets of investors, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named as discussions are private.

Cryptocurrencies have faced a bumpy road to gaining acceptance from the U.S. financial system.

The acquisition is a win for Lemonade’s recently launched car insurance product. Metromile has a decade of driving data based on its usage-based model and it operates licenses in 49 states, all of which will be merged into a single company, if the deal goes through.

The stay-at-home mandates, school and business closings, and increased remote work arrangements emanating from COVID-19 resulted in a significant decrease in motor vehicle accident frequency in 2020, with that trend continuing into 2021. There are many other, less obvious forces that actuaries and company management should consider as 2021 year-end reserves are analyzed.

Amazon says it isn’t legally culpable because the driver worked for Harper Logistics LLC, one of thousands of small businesses launched in recent years specifically to deliver Amazon packages. By focusing on the key role played by the algorithms, Rana’s attorney, Scott Harrison, is looking to prove that the company controls the operation, managing everything from how many packages drivers must deliver to whether they should be kept on or fired.

The to-do list for the electric-vehicle maker will be funded in part by its IPO -- the sixth-largest in U.S. history. Rivian shares soared 22% Thursday in their second day of trading, creating a stock-market value of more than $100 billion. Two months after delivering its first pickups, largely to employees, Rivian now has a market valuation exceeding that of General Motors Co.

The Japanese automaker premiered its Solterra, built on the new “e-Subaru Global platform,” at a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday. The platform, developed in conjunction with Toyota, is dedicated to battery-electric cars. The model will be sold in the U.S., Canada, Europe, China and Japan by the middle of next year, along with Toyota’s bZ4X.