Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Louisiana Insurance Agent Arrested for Alleged Fraud, Forgery
Nov 7 2011 // A Shreveport, La., insurance agent has been arrested on charges of insurance fraud and forgery. The Louisiana State Police Insurance Fraud/Auto Theft Unit arrested Stephanie Losey, 57, on one count of insurance fraud....
Mass. Agents Drop Ballot Effort on Credit Ban
Nov 7 2011 // The Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents (MAIA) has agreed to a request from state lawmakers to withdraw the ballot initiative it filed in August to prohibit the use of credit scoring, education, and occupational...
Rental Properties Offer a Lucrative Niche for Insurance
Nov 7 2011 // Dark clouds continue to hang over the U.S. housing market with prices still well below their peak and foreclosures high in many parts of the country. But there is a silver lining — great bargains on rental properties....
Independent Agencies Showing Signs of Recovery, Better Profitability, Study Reveals
Nov 7 2011 // Things are looking better for the nation’s property/casualty independent insurance agencies. Organic growth for these agencies improved somewhat last year and their profitability held constant across most of the six...
People
Nov 7 2011 // Florida insurance broker Kuykendall Gardner has tapped Nicholas Carbone to serve as a vice president of transactional risk. In this role, he will assess, mitigate and transfer risk through insurance and other business...
People
Nov 7 2011 // Westfield Insurance, headquartered in Westfield, Ohio, selected Dennis Baus to lead the company’s surety operations. Baus assumes the national surety leader responsibilities on Jan. 1, 2012, replacing Rick Kinnaird...
2011 Agency E&O Survey
Nov 7 2011 // Agency owners have a lot to protect. Of course, first and foremost they must protect their clients. But they must also protect their book of business. They must protect their relationships. They must protect their...
Predictive Analytics Being Used to Manage Agencies, Curb Fraud
Nov 7 2011 // Earlier this year, experts at WallStreet & Technology (wallstreetandtech.com) identified predictive analytics and cloud computing as two of six hot technologies that will transform the insurance industry in 2011 and...
People
Nov 7 2011 // Novato, Calif.-based Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. has named David Zona as chief underwriting officer and Kathleen Zortman as chief field executive. Zona is responsible for setting the direction and priorities for...
Association Founder Urena Still on Mission to ‘Latino-ize’ Insurance
Nov 7 2011 // The narrative of Andre Urena’s life is told in a series of lessons, many handed down from his peasant-turned-bank president father Alvaro. His father died in December-but not before having a heavy hand in shaping his...
People
Nov 7 2011 // Jim Donelon has been re-elected commissioner at the Louisiana Department of Insurance. Donelon, a Republican from Metairie, on Oct. 22 defeated Democrat Donald Hodge. Donelon has been insurance commissioner since...
Procedural Consistency: A Good Defense for Agency E&O
Nov 7 2011 // I have often been asked why procedural consistency is important for reducing errors and omissions (E&O) exposures. Another way of asking the question is, “Why is inconsistency an issue?” Let’s first...
McLeod Joins Smart Choice as President
Nov 4 2011 // Chris McLeod has been named as president of the High Point, N.C.-based Smart Choice Agents Program. She will take over as president effective November 16. McLeod brings more than 40 years of industry experience to her new...
Colorado Allstate Agents Hiring Announcement Follows Lackluster Jobs Report
Nov 4 2011 // In the wake of lackluster unemployment figures released on Friday a large insurance company is trying to draw attention to opportunities within Colorado in the industry and its firm. Friday’s report from the U.S....
Broker/Analyst Cheuvreux Urges Buffett to ‘Come to Europe’
Nov 4 2011 // Warren Buffett should come to Europe to tap regional champions at knock-down valuations, including in his favored sectors, Cheuvreux analysts said in an open ‘letter’ to the billionaire U.S. investor detailing...
Gorin Named Network E&S Insurance Brokers President
Nov 3 2011 // David J. Gorin has been named president of Network E&S Insurance Brokers LLC, a Simi Valley, Calif.- based managing general underwriter and wholesaler. Gorin’s immediate responsibility will be to establish and to...
Pennsylvania, Delaware Agent Groups Part Ways With PIA National
Nov 2 2011 // Two independent agent associations in the northeast said they will discontinue their affiliations with the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA). The Insurance Agents & Brokers of Pennsylvania...
Swett & Crawford Adds Casualty Broker in Pennsylvania
Nov 2 2011 // Atlanta-headquartered wholesale intermediary Swett & Crawford hired Chris Hendrix as a new casualty broker at its Philadelphia-North office. Hendrix comes to Swett from Southern Cross Underwriters (CRC) where he spent...
Agent Tax Lien Program Returns $2M to Ohio and its Citizens
Nov 1 2011 // A tax lien program that has collected more than $2 million in unpaid income tax, sales tax and workers’ compensation premium payments, Ohio Lt. Governor and Dept. of Insurance Director Mary Taylor announced. The...
New York AG’s Securities Fraud Lawsuit Against Charles Schwab Tossed
Nov 1 2011 // A lawsuit against Charles Schwab Corp. over auction-rate securities that was filed by former New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was thrown out by a state court judge. The 2009 lawsuit accused the San Francisco-based...
