Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Update: Pickleball Explosion in Florida Creating New Hits and Misses for Insurers, Agents
Dec 5 2022 // If the insurance industry hasn’t noticed, the sport known as pickleball is exploding across the country, especially in Florida, where more than 15 indoor clubs, replete with air conditioning, cafes, locker rooms,...
Why Boutique Agencies & Brokers Win
Dec 5 2022 // Professional boutique agencies are the solution, the only real solution, for all those producers who compete against big shops, insurtechs that use bots rather than humans, and those with low price/low quality commodity...
Insurance Agencies Share Recruiting Lessons From 2022
Dec 5 2022 // December is the perfect time to reflect on lessons learned over the last 12 months, and how to apply them in the new year. Hiring and recruiting is universal. We can learn a lot from one another. For this column, I posed a...
Massachusetts Insurance Agent Sentenced for Disability Fraud
Dec 2 2022 // The former owner and operator of an Arlington-based insurance agency was sentenced earlier this month for fraudulently receiving disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Social Security...
KKR Used Equity Rather Than Debt to Fund Acquisition of Broker April Group
Dec 2 2022 // KKR & Co.’s buyout of a French insurance broker is offering a window into the diminishing power of Wall Street’s vaunted leveraged finance machine. The buyout firm agreed to fund on its own the totality of...
Howden Acquires Australian Specialty Broker AlphaXO Risk Partners
Dec 1 2022 // Howden, the London-based insurance broker, announced it has increased its shareholding to 100% in AlphaXO Risk Partners, an Australian specialty insurance broker. Financial details of the deal were not...
Ex-Iowa Insurance Agent Charged With Forgery, Fraud Sales Theft
Nov 30 2022 // Joseph Drahozal, age 57, of Cedar Rapids was charged with one count of Forgery (Class D Felony), two counts of Fraudulent Sales Practice under $10,000 (Class D Felony), and one count of Theft in the third degree...
Insurance Broker BMS Group’s Owners Weigh Its Sale, With £600 Million Valuation
Nov 30 2022 // British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and Preservation Capital Partners are considering a sale of BMS Group that could value the insurance broker at more than £600 million ($720 million), people familiar with the...
Hilb Group Acquires Sharpline Brokerages of Pennsylvania
Nov 29 2022 // The Hilb Group announced that it has acquired Pennsylvania-based Sharpline Insurance Brokerages, expanding its property/casualty presence throughout the Mid-Atlantic. Based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, Sharpline...
Viewpoint: California Regulatory System Hurting Independent Agents and Their Clients
Nov 29 2022 // Millions of California insurance consumers are being adversely affected and incurring higher costs of insurance due to the malfunctioning insurance regulatory system in California. Moreover, the broken regulatory...
People Moves: Tysers Insurance Brokers Names Former Chubb Exec Kendrick as Chair; Tokio Marine HCC Int’l Promotes Herrero as CEO for European Operation
Nov 28 2022 // Tysers Insurance Brokers Names Former Chubb Exec Kendrick as Chair Tysers Insurance Brokers, the London-based broker, announced the appointment of Andrew Kendrick as non-executive chair. The appointment is effective Dec....
Private Equity Firm KKR Nears €2.3 Billion Deal for French Insurance Broker April Group
Nov 28 2022 // French insurance broker April Group said private equity firm KKR & Co. has become its new majority shareholder, according to a statement posted on its website. The statement, which confirmed a Bloomberg News report,...
California Department of Insurance Investigation Leads to Arraignment Bail Agents
Nov 22 2022 // Unlicensed bail agent Jimmy Mai, 35, of Irvine, and licensed bail agent Jonathan Lahmani, 42, of Orange, California, were each arraigned in Los Angeles Superior Court on one felony count of negotiating bail without a...
Special Report: America’s Best Independent Insurance Agencies to Work For
Nov 21 2022 // The votes are in for the 2022 Best Independent Insurance Agency to Work For survey by Insurance Journal. Employees in 2022 highlighted the importance of competitive salaries, employee benefits, training and education,...
To Improve Client Relationships, Agents’ Digital Strategies Should Reflect Authenticity
Nov 21 2022 // Customer relationship-building is one of the greatest value drivers for insurance agents. A benchmark analysis from McKinsey & Co. found agents with deeper customer relationships have higher product density than those...
Carolina Agent, Missouri Attorneys Indicted on Tax, Insurance Fraud Charges
Nov 17 2022 // Two Missouri tax attorneys and a North Carolina insurance agent have been indicted for helping clients set up fraudulent tax shelters, file false tax returns and to defraud an insurance carrier, federal prosecutors...
Open Enrollment 2023 Best Practices for Independent Insurance Agents
Nov 16 2022 // This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. Open enrollment season for benefits, both employer-sponsored and private, is approaching. Brush up on some best practices to make the season smoother at your...
Ambac Acquires New Jersey Commercial Auto MGU and Marine Broker
Nov 9 2022 // Financial services holding company Ambac Financial Group, Inc. announced that it has acquired majority stakes in both All Trans Risk Solutions, LLC and Capacity Marine Corp, both of Mahwah, New Jersey. All Trans is a...
Lloyd’s Broker Servca Acquires MedMal Specialist Medicas
Nov 8 2022 // Independent Lloyd’s retail broker Servca Group announced the acquisition of Medicas, an independent insurance specialist that offers a wide range of medical indemnity, medical malpractice and healthcare liability...
Florida Insurance Agent Charged with Absconding with $41,000 in Premiums
Nov 8 2022 // When a big property owner in Naples, Florida, recently tried to refinance some loans, the owner was surprised to discover that 31 properties had no insurance – despite having paid thousands of dollars in premiums. Late...
