Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Agents’ New Lobbying Agenda
Dec 6 2009 // The 2,074-page health care bill includes a range of items that some say could be time bombs in waiting for some agencies – or new opportunities. Until this year, health care was a minor blip on the radar of insurance...
Ohio AG Sues National Ratings Agencies Over Securities Information
Dec 6 2009 // Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray has filed a lawsuit against national securities and credit ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch over what the AG’s office called “false...
Top 7 High-Growth Industries and Their Unique Insurance Needs
Dec 6 2009 // According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the seven fastest growing industries between now and 2016 are: Management, Scientific and Technical Consulting Services; Individual and Family Services; Home Health Care...
Captives Fuel Growth and Income for Agency Owners
Dec 6 2009 // Now is the Time for a Captive: Don’t Wait for the Next Hard Market In times likes these, where the insurance industry is now in its fifth year of a soft market, the use of an agency captive insurance company can...
How and Why Agencies Should Have Codes of Honor
Dec 6 2009 // Many businesses have created a mission statement or company vision describing why they are in business and where they want to go. When properly crafted and incorporated, these statements are a guiding light for defining...
Top Personal Lines Agencies
Dec 6 2009 // Correction: Top Personal Lies Agencies The Top 2009 Personal Lines Agencies list that was published in the Nov. 16 issue of Insurance Journal was incorrect. Unfortunately, columns of spreadsheet data shifted in the process...
West Virginia Court Sides with Insurer on Antitrust Claim by Cancelled Agent
Dec 4 2009 // An insurance company has won a victory over one of its former West Virginia agents who claimed the insurer violated state antitrust law when it cancelled his contracts to sell its life and property/casualty insurance...
Reno Agent Pleads Guilty to Writing Fake Policies
Dec 4 2009 // A 38-year-old insurance agent in Reno has pleaded guilty to felony insurance fraud after he was accused of writing fake policies for friends and relatives who were unaware of what he was doing. Bradley Buchanan admitted to...
Insurance Agents Urge Reform of Estate Tax
Dec 4 2009 // Insurance agents are pleased that the House of Representatives is paying attention to the estate tax but want lawmakers to seize the opportunity to reform the tax rather than simply extend current provisions. Yesterday,...
Minnesota Fines Agent $250K
Dec 4 2009 // The Minnesota Department of Commerce has issued a $250,000 fine against Michael Antonello, an insurance agent the department previously accused of insurance fraud. It is the largest fine levied against an individual by the...
Louisiana Issues Additional Fines Against Marksville Agent and Agency
Dec 3 2009 // A Marksville, La., agent and her agency who was fined by the Louisiana Department of Insurance in November for allegedly allowing employees to conduct insurance business without a license has been fined again for similar...
Two Pennsylvania Insurance Agencies Merge
Dec 2 2009 // Pennsylvania insurance agencies, The Securus Group and The Dunlop Agency, have merged in a move they say is aimed at bolstering their market share in the Lehigh Valley and South Central regions of the state. The merged...
House Committee Passes Federal Insurance Office Act
Dec 2 2009 // The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has passed a measure to create a scaled-back federal office that would be a national insurance information agency with some authority in the area of international insurance...
Insurance Agent Accused of Peeping Pleads Not Guilty
Nov 24 2009 // An Illinois insurance executive accused of secretly making nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews pled not guilty during his arraignment in a Los Angeles federal courtroom on Monday. Michael Barrett is charged with one...
Kelley Named to Colorado’s Regulatory Agencies Department
Nov 23 2009 // Gov. Bill Ritter has appointed attorney Barbara J. Kelley of Denver to be the new executive director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, effective Dec. 1. She replaces Rico Munn, who became the executive...
M&A Wrap-Up: Insurance Brokerage Mergers Took a Third Quarter Vacation
Nov 23 2009 // Deal making wasn’t at the top of the list of summer activities this season, but deal vacation was. Third quarter merger and acquisition (M&A) activity continued declining to just 30 announced transactions...
Indiana Agents Group Names State Auto Company of the Year
Nov 23 2009 // Columbus, Ohio-based State Auto Insurance Group has been named 2009 Company of the Year by the Independent Insurance Agents of Indiana (IIAI). According to the IIAI, this award recognizes the company that most demonstrates...
Health Care Reform Dominates Trade Group’s Lobbying Agenda
Nov 20 2009 // Until this year, health care was a minor blip on the radar of insurance agents’ policy efforts in D.C. But with a major reform bill imminent, key trade groups are devoting nearly all of their time to try and tweak...
Ohio AG Sues National Ratings Agencies Over Securities Information
Nov 20 2009 // Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray has filed a lawsuit against national securities and credit ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch over what the AG’s office called “false...
North Carolina FAIR, Beach Plans Get New Board Members
Nov 20 2009 // North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin announced the appointment of five new members to the N.C. Joint Underwriting Association and the N.C. Insurance Underwriting Association, better known as the FAIR and...
