Latest Agencies Headlines

All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Transforming Your Customer Experiences in a Lean Environment

Dec 2 2013 // Toyota Motor Cars, Toyota Production Systems, and Taichi Ohno have nearly perfected lean manufacturing techniques. TPS has been in constant pursuit of perfection since the concept of lean was introduced by Sakichi Toyoda...

Ohio Agent Sentenced to 2 Years’ Probation for $7,700 Theft, Insurance Fraud

Nov 27 2013 // Ohio Lieutenant Governor and Insurance Director Mary Taylor announced that former life insurance agent Russell Lowery, of Olmsted Falls, was sentenced in Cuyahoga County Common Plea Court to two years of probation for...

All Risks Launches Down Hole Tool for South Central Onshore Oil, Gas Industry

Nov 27 2013 // The South Central offices of All Risks, Ltd. have designed a “down hole specialty rental tool” insurance product for Lost In Hole (LIH). This coverage is available to oil & gas drillers and operators as...

Combined Agents of America Expands in Kansas with New Member

Nov 26 2013 // Combined Agents of America LLC (CAA) has added a new member agency, Kansas-based Fouts, Davidson, Burks Agency LLC. CAA now has 53 insurance agency members. Fouts, Davidson, Burks Agency LLC. is a family owned and operated...

U.S. Labor Dept., N.Y. Agencies Team Up to Target Misclassification of Employees

Nov 26 2013 // Officials from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, the New York State Labor Department and the New York State Attorney General’s Office recently signed memoranda of understanding to work...

Applied Systems Acquired by Hellman & Friedman from Bain Capital for $1.8B

Nov 26 2013 // Applied Systems Inc., a leading insurance software provider, said it has agreed to be acquired by investment funds advised by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC. The company is being acquired from the global...

Missteps in Employee Hiring Costly for Agencies: MarshBerry

Nov 25 2013 // For most lines of insurance business, commission income is growing and most insurance agents and brokers expect profits to be similar or better in 2013 compared to 2012. That’s according to the 28th Annual Market...

SEC Proposes Fiduciary Duty for Investment Brokers Advising Retail Clients

Nov 22 2013 // Investment brokers advising retail customers should be held to a standard that requires them to recommend products that are in the best interest of clients, according to a proposal from a group advising U.S....

Three Leavitt Group Agencies in Southern California Merge

Nov 21 2013 // The Leavitt Group announced a merger of three of their Southern California agencies. The merger will include the Covina office of Valley Insurance Service, employee benefits agency Leavitt Benefits Insurance Services of...

IIAT: Independent Agents Guide Consumers Through Affordable Care Act

Nov 21 2013 // In a Nov. 14 address on the troublesome roll out of healthcare.gov and the public outcry over the cancellation of less expensive individual insurance policies, President Obama said, “Buying health insurance is never...

FM Global in Rhode Island Appoints Manager of Broker Relations

Nov 21 2013 // Johnston, R.I.-based FM Global appointed Randall Schreitmueller as vice president, manager of broker relations, a newly created position at the company.Randall SchreitmuellerSchreitmueller is responsible for championing...

Independent Insurance Agents of Indiana Installs Officers for 2014

Nov 20 2013 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Indiana Inc. (Indiana Big “I”) has installed its slate of officers for 2014. The executive committee leadership team for the Indiana Big “I” for 2014 is:...

Connecticut Regulator Revokes License of Broker Mired in Insurance Controversy

Nov 19 2013 // Connecticut’s insurance department last week revoked the insurance licenses of Earl O’Garro Jr. and his insurance brokerage firm, Hybrid Insurance Group. O’Garro has been mired in an ongoing insurance...

Insurance Broker Charged With Theft From NYC Jewish Charity

Nov 18 2013 // An insurance brokerage owner is accused of helping a longtime Jewish community leader steal more than $7 million from a prominent New York City charity. Joseph Ross was charged with grand larceny and money laundering. The...

Top 50 Personal Lines Leaders

Nov 18 2013 // About the Personal Lines Leaders: The 2013 Personal Lines Leaders in this special feature are taken from Insurance Journal‘s Top 100 Property/Casualty Independent Agencies as reported in August. This list utilizes...

Carrier Disintermediation of Agencies

Nov 18 2013 // A multitude of forces are causing many carriers to think of ways to disintermediate agencies. Healthcare reform is one. Some benefits carriers have cut commissions to 0 percent and agents are still writing with them. This...

Direct Interested Sales Leads to the Right Agency Employee

Nov 18 2013 // Sales leads arrive at today’s property/casualty agencies from a variety of digital and traditional sources. The former includes social media, websites, blogs, emails, etc. The latter features direct mail,...

Will Hurricane Katrina Legal Issues Be Resurrected in Sandy Claims?

Nov 18 2013 // It has been more than eight years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, and only slightly more than one year since Hurricane Sandy made landfall on or about Oct. 29, 2012. Following Hurricane Katrina,...

AIG Using Science to Define ‘Broker Quality Index’

Nov 18 2013 // AIG’s CEO Bob BenmoscheProperty/casualty insurance brokers who aren’t diligent about the accounts they’re presenting to American International Group risk being discovered through one of the features of...

California Insurance Broker Sentenced For Scamming Tom Hanks

Nov 18 2013 // A Southern California insurance broker who overcharged Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, hundreds of thousands of dollars has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison. City News Service says Jerry Goldman...