M&T Bank launched its Virtual Spotlight Shop. The feature links to the company’s website, which draws 10 million visitors a month.
Delaware businesses included in the spotlight:
- SoDel Concepts
- TWIST Juice Bar & Cafe
- The Delaware Growler
- Unique Image
- Sleeping Bird Coffee
- Bloom Daily Planners
“M&T is a bank for communities – including the communities of local businesses throughout the areas we serve that have shown remarkable resilience and determination to serve their customers during the pandemic,” said Eric Feldstein, M&T’s head of business banking. “We want to support their recovery and growth by exposing them to the nearly 10 million visitors our website gets each month.”
This is the third consecutive year M&T has featured some of its business clients in a Spotlight Shop – but the first it’s been open to businesses throughout M&T’s footprint. The bank tested the concept in Baltimore during the past two years.
In 2019, M&T launched its Spotlight Shop in a modular pop-up shop located in downtown Baltimore that featured 12 local retailers rotating through the space every two weeks for six months. Last year, M&T moved the Spotlight Shop online – a pandemic-inspired adaptation of the original concept – and again featured more than a dozen of its Baltimore-area business customers, including Boordy Vineyards, a 76-year-old family-owned business that returns to the Spotlight Shop for its third year.
A brand refresh for Hotel Du Pont
Wilmington’s historic Hotel DuPont has refreshed its brand that works to blend the old and the new.
Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro, chair of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Antifraud Task Force, announced the successful creation of the Improper Marketing of Health Plans Working Group.
“Robocalls, search engine advertisements, mailers, and endless telemarketing efforts aim to steal from those seeking comprehensive health insurance. All across the country we have seen scam artists build out networks of communication that center around selling insurance plans that do not offer residents adequate protection. They are merciless in their efforts, and they trick consumers into thinking they will have the coverage they need for their medical care” said Navarro. “There’s no need to sugarcoat it – there is deception occurring, and its being directed towards some of the most vulnerable residents. Covid-19 rightfully increased consumer concerns and led more people to seek out affordable insurance – but this concern has been manipulated by scammers. This Working Group will make headway towards ending these efforts to exploit residents.”
The Working Group is a new approach to address concerning increases in consumers being marketed away from Affordable Care Act-compliant plans to other products that do not offer comprehensive coverage for things like preexisting conditions or hospital visits. Many improperly marketed health plans claim to be compliant, or advertise under look-a-like naming that deliberately creates confusion, such as “Bidencare,” or “Healthcare.com.”
These products may be inadvertently found by consumers searching for legitimate coverage, or on websites where a fraudulent entity has purchased advertising.
The products offer lower rates, but are sometimes known as “junk insurance” because they don’t cover pre-existing conditions.
