Yearly Archives: <span>2004</span>

R&SA Posts $ 255 Million Operating Profit

Royal & Sun Alliance Group Plc., the U.K.’s second-largest general insurer, announced an operating profit of £140 million ($255 million), down from £226 million ($411 million) in 2002, a 38 percent drop. The result was at the low end of …

MBIA Opens Representative Office in Milan

MBIA Insurance Corp., the world’s largest financial guarantor, announced it is opening a representative office of MBIA Assurance S.A. in Milan, Italy to meet growing market needs in Europe. Luigi Stefano Cuttica, a vice president, is in charge of the …

SEC Investigating ING, Aegon for Market Timing

The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a probe into possible market timing related violations by The Netherlands two insurance and financial services giants ING Group and Aegon. According to news reports from Reuters and Dow Jones Newswires, the two …

Virginia Senator to Address Agent Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) will speak to members of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America during their National Legislative Conference next month. Allen will speak at a breakfast April 22 to more than 900 independent agents and brokers …

Mass. Eyes Fla.-style Hurricane Fund to Ease Coastal Crisis

Massachusetts officials, hoping to ease a homeowners insurance availability crisis on Cape Cod and other coastal areas, are studying Florida’s tax-exempt reinsurance fund for answers. In 1993, after the devastation of Hurricane Andrew, lawmakers created the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund …

Agent Leader Decries ‘Two-Tiered’ Agency System in Massachusetts Auto System

The current Massachusetts auto insurance structure encourages unequal access to the residual market, creating a “two-tiered agency system” that disadvantages voluntary agents, according to the leader of the state’s agents association. “ERPs are growing and voluntary agents are shrinking,” Frank …

Western Mich. CPCU Chapter Sponsors Legal Workshop

The Western Michigan chapter of the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters Society (CPCU) is co-sponsoring a half-day workshop March 30 that is worth four continuing education credits in Michigan, three in Wisconsin. The workshop, called “Hidden Coverages: Surprises in Court!” …

First Financial Buys Ind. Agency

Hamilton, Ohio-based First Financial Bancorp has purchased an insurance agency operation in Highland, Ind. The purchase arrangement was completed Feb. 1, 2004, and the agency is now operating as a full-service unit of Flagstone Insurance and Financial Services. The purchase …

Gallagher Acquires Iowa Agency

Itasca, Ill.-based brokerage giant Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced the acquisition of Don Laster Agency Inc. of Urbandale, Iowa. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. In business since 1983, the Don Laster Agency offers a wide range of …

Midwest Insurance Law Firms Announce Merger

The Midwest law firm of Dykema Gossett PLLC has added Jones & Blouch LLP to its corporate finance practice group. Jones & Blouch has provided securities and corporate legal services to many of the country’s most well known insurance companies, …