Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Agents’ Top-Rated Carriers Make Fast Adjuster Contacts
Jun 7 2010 // Survey Shows the Amount of Time It Takes an Adjuster to Contact Insured Matters Most Independent agencies and their carriers perform a huge variety of tasks for policyholders when originating and servicing policies, but...
What Agencies Should Do When Key Employees Leave
Jun 7 2010 // Protecting Trade Secrets, Confidential Agency Information Critical, Attorney Hirshfeld Says The insurance industry is a highly competitive market, even when it comes to its work force. There’s a shortage of highly...
Sales Strategies in Difficult Times
Jun 7 2010 // Price, Renewals, Cross Selling and More The weak economy and continued soft market still has a stranglehold on insurance agents. Most agents are doing a good job on retention. However, lower premiums (and commissions)...
Nautilus Insurance Group Receives Managing General Agents Award
Jun 4 2010 // Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Nautilus Insurance Group, comprised of W.R. Berkley Corp. member companies Nautilus Insurance Co. and Great Divide Insurance Co., has been recognized with community service, advertising and...
Rating Agencies React to BP’s Oil Spill; Best Revises Jupiter Outlook
Jun 4 2010 // The mounting financial costs for British Petroleum from the multiple impacts of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have placed its formerly strong ratings in peril. Financial rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s have...
Schiappa Joins Maclean, Oddy & Associates
Jun 3 2010 // Excess and surplus lines broker Maclean, Oddy & Associates Inc. (MOA) has appointed Sharon Schiappa as vice president and producer. Schiappa is based in Houston. Schiappa brings more than 25 years of marine and energy...
Texas Agents Group, Tarrant County College Launch IRC Program
Jun 3 2010 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) and Tarrant County College have initiated the Insurance Representative Certificate (IRC) program. The self-study, self-paced virtual program prepares individuals for the...
Insurance Journal Searches for Top 100 Agencies
Jun 3 2010 // Insurance Journal is on the search for leading privately-held property casualty independent agencies and brokerages for its annual Top 100 Property/Casualty Independent Insurance Agencies report. Top Overall Independent...
Oklahoma Agent Announces Run for Insurance Commissioner Post
Jun 3 2010 // Mark Croucher, an insurance agency owner in Jenks, Okla., has announced his candidacy for the office of state insurance commissioner. Croucher, who specializes in health, life and senior oriented insurance products, began...
Eisenrich Elected President of Texas-based Combined Agents of America
Jun 2 2010 // Combined Agents of America LLC (CAA), headquartered in Austin, Texas, announced its newly elected 2010 management committee, including CAA’s new president, Lloyd Eisenrich, president of The Weatherby-Eisenrich Inc....
Brakke-Schafnitz Insurance Brokers’ Brakke Retires
Jun 2 2010 // Signature Insurance Group of Laguna Niguel, Calif., announced that Jim Brakke co-founder of Brakke-Schafnitz Insurance Brokers Inc., is retiring after 40 years of service. Brakke stated, “I am looking forward to...
Flood Insurance Program Suspended Until June 7 or Later
Jun 1 2010 // The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which expired at midnight on May 31, is not expected to be able to issue new policies for a week or longer. As reported by Insurance Journal last Friday, Congress left town for...
Judge Rejects Fraud Charge, Says Rating Agencies Not Underwriters
Jun 1 2010 // A Manhattan federal judge said on Tuesday that it was unfair to hold Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s liable as “underwriters” on securities offerings needing their ratings, as he...
New Insurance Producer Association Forms in California
May 28 2010 // A new nonprofit insurance producer association has formed in California. The Insurance Agents & Brokers Association of California said it is unlike any producer association in the state as it will be completely managed...
Ag States Group Named Agency of the Year by Minnesota Agents Assoc.
May 28 2010 // Ag States Group, the insurance subsidiary of CHS Inc., a Fortune 100 energy, grains and foods company, has been honored as Agency of the Year by the Minnesota Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers (MIIAB)...
Washington’s Berend Named FloodSmart Agent of the Year
May 28 2010 // Brian Berend, of Brian Berend Agency in Auburn, Wash., has been named FloodSmart Agent of the Year for 2010. The FloodSmart Award recognizes an agent who has made an outstanding effort to promote the National Flood...
Massachusetts AG Wants New Regulations for Insurers, Agents
May 28 2010 // Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is proposing new regulations that she says will rein in sales and underwriting practices for auto insurers and agents in the state. The regulations come in response to a report...
Smart Choice Agency Market Program Expands to 6 More States
May 27 2010 // The North Carolina-based Smart Choice Agents Program, which says it currently provides personal and commercial lines markets for some 3,000 independent agencies in 32 states, is expanding into six additional states. The...
Trade Groups Sue New York over Pay Rules
May 26 2010 // Two trade groups for New York insurance agents are suing the state’s insurance regulator over new rules that will force them to reveal to clients how much they are paid for a particular transaction. The Independent...
Survey: Agents Seek More Real Time Options from Carriers
May 26 2010 // Independent agents and brokers want more carriers to offer real-time functionality, according to a new industry survey. Agents believe those carriers will deliver the greatest benefit in making real time the predominant...
