Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Approves Homeowners Underinsurance Regulations
Dec 31 2010 // California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has approved regulations designed to combat underinsurance and may require insurance agents and brokers to complete additional training. The regulations will take...
Test Your 2010 Insurance News IQ: 25 Questions
Dec 31 2010 // Are you an insurance news hound? Test your insurance news IQ and find out. The following questions and answers (at bottom of the page– don’t cheat!) were developed based on news stories published by...
Top 5 Things Affecting Excess & Surplus Market in 2011
Dec 30 2010 // It has been a challenging few years for those in the excess and surplus (E&S) lines insurance market. An endless soft market, extreme competition from the standard markets, and a bad economy left wholesale and retail...
Calif. Commissioner Poizner: Insurance Agent Advice Critical
Dec 30 2010 // As California’s third elected insurance commissioner, Steve Poizner has had a wealth of accomplishments. Among other things, he: reduced the Department of Insurance’s operating budget by 13 percent, which...
People’s United Merges Its Insurance Agencies
Dec 28 2010 // Connecticut-based People’s United Bank said it will combine all of its insurance agencies into a single business entity — People’s United Insurance Agency — that will be headed by one management...
12 Days of Riskmas: An Insurance Broker’s Story
Dec 23 2010 // In giving her Christmas gifts for 12 straight days, a true love inspires his girlfriend to build a whole new life. It’s a joyful story for the holidays but one that comes with risks. According to the popular...
New York Agents Plan Court Appeal over Pay Disclosure Rules
Dec 23 2010 // Two New York agents’ groups said they have taken the first steps to appeal a decision by state court judge allowing state insurance regulators to force brokers to reveal their commissions. The Independent Insurance...
Insurance Year in Review: East Edition
Dec 23 2010 // The touchy subject of agents’ commissions dominated headlines in 2010 — particularly in New York where regulators unveiled new rules that will force agents to reveal to clients how much they are paid. That...
2010’s Top Insurance Stories in the West
Dec 23 2010 // In 2009, independent insurance agents and brokers faced a “perfect storm” with the economic downturn, premiums at a fraction of what they used to be, and unemployment and home foreclosure rates up, said Kevin...
Big ‘I’ Markets, ARMR Launch Storage Tank Product
Dec 22 2010 // The Independent Agents and Brokers of America Big “I” Markets launched a new insurance policy option with American Risk Management Resources Network, LLC (ARMR.NET) for above and below ground storage tank...
Heffernan Insurance Brokers Names Gailey Assistant VP in Portland
Dec 22 2010 // Heffernan Insurance Brokers has added atthew Gailey in its Portland, Ore., office as assistant vice president. He will focus on property and casualty insurance, and directors and officers liability for property management...
12 Days of Riskmas: An Insurance Broker’s Story
Dec 22 2010 // In giving her Christmas gifts for 12 straight days, a true love inspires his girlfriend to build a whole new life. It’s a joyful story for the holidays but one that comes with risks. According to the popular...
Top Brokers, Munich Re Pool Efforts to Expand Insurance for Oil Drilling
Dec 22 2010 // The world’s top three insurance brokers have joined reinsurer Munich Re to promote a major expansion in risk coverage for deepwater drilling in the wake of BP’s disastrous Gulf of Mexico spill last April. Their...
Why Top Performing Agencies Focus on Compensation Expenses
Dec 20 2010 // There are a lot of performance benchmarks to focus on to become a top performing insurance agency and to achieve high profitability. One of the areas agencies need to focus on is compensation expenses. With a struggling...
The Agency Salary Blues
Dec 20 2010 // Independent agency salaries maintained or decreased slightly in 2009, but employee morale may be registering at an all time low. And agents don’t expect things to change, at least not anytime soon. Half of all...
Fact or Fiction? Insurance Tidbits of Known and Little-Known Information
Dec 20 2010 // Have you ever wondered what big events helped shape regulation of the current U.S. insurance industry? Or if drivers of certain cars have more risk? What about the most attractive insurance job in the industry? These are...
It Figures
Dec 20 2010 // 4,000 The number of independent agencies founded in 2008, 2009 or 2010, which represents approximately 11 percent of the more than 37,500 total independent agencies in the United States today, according to the 2010 Agency...
Young Agents Survey:
Dec 20 2010 // Why Young Agents Stand by Their Career Choice Most enter the insurance business by accident but for young independent insurance agents, the decision to stick with insurance as a permanent career is a matter of choice. A...
Music and Producer Development
Dec 20 2010 // How to Set the Tune for Sales Success in an Agency Great music combines so many elements. When terrific lyrics are combined with an awesome arrangement, the result is powerful. And sometimes if you separate the two, the...
Reader’s Choice
Dec 20 2010 // Never lose sight of what the reader wants. That has been the motto for Insurance Journal throughout its 85-year history of publishing news and information for our most important customers — independent agents and...
