Posted On: October 10, 2008, 2:46 pm CDT

Posted By: Cheminsurance

We have always received fair and ethical treatment from our AIG underwriters and virtually ALL of our underwriters from competing carriers. But ethics is entirely about up-front expectations. Our underwriters know that we are very exacting in our standards and that we are holding ourselves out to our clients and target markets as industry experts. We simply will not accept some of the practices that "Big Dog" mentioned had become so prevalent among the big 3 brokerages he mentioned. Unfortunately, shareholder greed pushes the same motivations and standards to other large, publicly traded agencies, including bank-owned agencies across the country (how impressed are you with the profit-driven decisions made by banks lately?) It really calls into question whether the traditional definition of an "independent agent" actually applies to agencies of this structure. Too many agencies have forgotten that they are not supposed to be beholden to shareholders...AT ALL. Their moral and fiduciary obligations are to the insured. Note that I did NOT say, "to the insurer." If we do not TRULY represent the client's interests through the complex process of risk management and coverage placement, not to mention claims advocacy - who will?