Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Rusbuldt on McKinsey 2: Agent-Carrier Relationships Make a Difference
Oct 29 2013 // Bob Rusbuldt, president and CEO of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America – the Big “I”- takes issue with a McKinsey report that claims local independent agents will soon be extinct. In this...
Marsh & McLennan Climbs to Post-Spitzer High
Oct 28 2013 // Marsh & McLennan Cos., the biggest insurance broker by market value, has climbed to a 9-year high, bouncing back from the plunge that followed then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s lawsuit against the...
Why McKinsey’s Prediction of Demise of Independent Agents Is ‘Dead Wrong’
Oct 28 2013 // A recent report from McKinsey & Co. had some bad news for local property/casualty insurance agents— many of them will be out of business within the next five to 10 years. McKinsey contends that “the economics...
Illinois Insurance Brokers Frustrated with Health Care Law
Oct 25 2013 // Insurance brokers in Illinois vented their frustrations recently with the troubled rollout of President Barack Obama’s health care law and the crippled federal website, HealthCare.gov. Dozens attended a meeting with...
Eyeing Affluent Market, Crestbrook Ready to Launch in Illinois
Oct 24 2013 // Well-to-do Illinois residents and their insurance agents can soon look forward to another option when it comes to protecting their assets. Crestbrook Insurance has selected Illinois for the launch of what is essentially a...
Aspen Re Forms Rock Re in U.S. for Facultative Brokered Property
Oct 23 2013 // Bermuda-based Aspen Reinsurance, the reinsurance segment of Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited has formed Rock Re, a new dedicated brokered property facultative unit within its US operation. Rock Re “builds on Aspen...
Willis to Allocate Share of London Business to Pre-Selected Insurers
Oct 22 2013 // Willis Group Holdings Plc, the third-largest insurance broker by market value, agreed to allocate as much as 25 percent of premiums from the London corporate specialist market to pre-selected insurers. Underwriters in the...
Two Legacy Network Executives in Idaho Sentenced
Oct 22 2013 // The former founder and chairman of the board of The Legacy Network, an insurance brokerage agency in Rexburg, Idaho, and his son were sentenced on Wednesday in United States District Court in Pocatello. The sentencing was...
Selling Value
Oct 22 2013 // Selling Value not Price As a consumer, do you always buy the cheapest product or service you can find? If you are like most people, probably not. Do you gravitate towards the most expensive item you can find? Unless you...
Integro Acquires UK-Based Broker Doodson
Oct 22 2013 // International insurance brokerage and risk management firm Integro announced it has acquired Doodson Broking Group, a UK-based entertainment and sports specialist that also provides full service commercial and private...
GEICO Success Highlights Advertising Dollars vs. Agent Commissions Debate
Oct 22 2013 // Direct writer GEICO’s success in auto insurance sales is due to spending dollars on effective advertising rather than on agents, according to recent research from analysts at Nomura Equity Research, which notes that...
3 Scary Things About Insurance Marketing
Oct 21 2013 // IJAM welcomes guest blogger Charles Wasilewski, vice president of marketing communications for Aartrijk branding firm. It’s October, and I’m a bit nervous about hurricane season – and Halloween. After all,...
8 Ways to Organically Grow Your Independent Agency
Oct 21 2013 // Organic produce is popular. Free-range chicken is chic. So, why not get trendy and organically grow your agency? Naturally, inorganic growth is faster because it involves the buying of agencies, hiring producers with books...
Decreasing Agency Balance Sheet Value: A Positive Impact?
Oct 21 2013 // Despite significant optimism about key market fundamentals, year-over-year agency valuation increases and agency performance metrics, ownership perpetuation continues to be the biggest long-term challenge to...
How Being an Agent Prepared Tennessee Sen. Ketron for Politics
Oct 21 2013 // Insurance was a great training ground for now State Sen. Bill Ketron, who has been a member of the Tennessee Senate since 2002 while also serving as president of his own independent agency founded by his late...
Massachusetts DOI’s New Bulletin Says Producers May Charge Fees
Oct 17 2013 // Massachusetts regulators this month issued a bulletin announcing that producers for all lines of insurance may charge their clients fees in connection with the sale of insurance products. A statewide independent agent...
N.Y.-Based Vanderbilt Properties Insurance Brokerage Names CEO
Oct 17 2013 // Vanderbilt Properties Insurance Brokerage and Risk Management LLC, a New York-based specialist in insurance program administration for the real estate industry, promoted Alnoor S. Ladha to president and chief executive...
BrokersLink Changes Status to ‘For Profit’ to Enhance Growth
Oct 17 2013 // BrokersLink, one of the world’s largest independent insurance broker networks, announced that it is “changing its constitution from a not-for-profit association to a for-profit global broking company to...
A.M. Best, Fitch Explain Recent Downgrades of Tower Group
Oct 16 2013 // Rating agencies have downgraded Tower Group following the insurer’s announcement of loss reserve and goodwill charges in excess of what was expected. Tower has said that the company’s board of directors is...
State Regulators Warn on Misleading Health Insurance Websites
Oct 15 2013 // Insurance regulators and an industry trade group are warning that this month’s roll-out of the health insurance marketplaces created by federal law opened the door for bad actors at the same time that it has given...
