Latest Agencies Headlines

All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Congress Urged to Raise Liability Standard for Credit Rating Firms

Jul 27 2009 // Congress must consider radical reforms to improve the accountability and reliability of credit rating agencies like Moody’s Corp. and McGraw-Hill Cos. Inc.’s Standard & Poor’s, a top U.S. lawmaker...

California Senate Passes Budget, Workers’ Comp Fund Assets for Sale

Jul 24 2009 // The California State Senate passed a package of bills early Friday morning, revising the 2009-10 budget, that was passed in February, with $24.2 billion in deficit reduction solutions and a $921 million reserve; in total...

Progressive Introduces Any Auto Commercial Liability Endorsement

Jul 23 2009 // Progressive introduced a new commercial auto endorsements that might limit an agent’s errors and omissions exposure, the insurer says. Imagine this scenario — a customer has commercial auto insurance for his...

Colorado Independent Insurance Agents Association Seeks Award Nominees

Jul 23 2009 // The Professional Independent Insurance Agents of Colorado (PIIAC) is sseeking nominations recognizing outstanding service to the association or to the insurance industry. The awards recognize individuals in several...

Willis Appointed Broker for Hong Kong’s ‘Largest-Ever’ Rail Project

Jul 23 2009 // Willis Group Holdings announced that it has been appointed as the broker for the” largest rail construction project ever undertaken in Hong Kong by client MTR Corporation Limited (MTR), the operator of Hong...

Survey: Buyers Prefer Agents When Purchasing Medical Insurance

Jul 23 2009 // A recent online survey of more than 1,000 consumers found that those who purchased individual medical (IM) insurance through a professional agent were significantly more satisfied with their health plans than those who...

New York Agents Plead Case for “Common Sense” Disclosure Rules

Jul 22 2009 // Independent agent groups in New York State pleaded with regulators during a meeting yesterday to take a more “common sense” approach to proposed rules requiring agents to tell clients how they get paid. The...

Health Insurance Agents’ ‘Fly-In’ Has Impact on Capitol Hill, But Is It Enough?

Jul 22 2009 // Health insurance advisors, independent agents and brokers, consultants and employee benefit specialists combined forces again recently to voice their concerns over the single most important issue for insurance providers...

The Hartford Rolls Out AARP Auto Product Through Independent Agents

Jul 21 2009 // The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. is now offering AARP-branded auto insurance through select, authorized independent agents. Previously, the insurance was only available directly from The Hartford by phone,...

Navigators Expands Agency Professional Liability Program

Jul 21 2009 // The Navigators Group Inc.’s principal underwriting agency subsidiary, Navigators Management Company Inc., will expand its Nav Pro Professional Liability Division by partnering with Aon Affinity, a subsidiary of Aon...

Wholesalers as Partners When Navigating Market Changes

Jul 20 2009 // We are all painfully aware of the impact of the deep recession our country has been mired in for the past year, and it appears that recovery will take some time. The tightening of credit and decline in consumer confidence...

How Independent Agents View Super-Regional Carriers

Jul 20 2009 // Survey Says Carrier Size Matters But So Does Price, Underwriting and Service When it comes to selecting a carrier partner, size matters. But when it comes to ending a carrier relationship, price, underwriting flexibility...

Insurance Broker Willis Targeted in Second Suit Over Stanford Bank

Jul 20 2009 // A Venezuelan investor has sued global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Ltd over the collapse of the Stanford banking empire, saying he relied on assurances from Willis that Stanford was sound. The lawsuit, filed as a...

Survey: Carrier Size Matters But So Do Price, Underwriting and Service

Jul 20 2009 // When it comes to selecting a carrier partner, size matters. But when it comes to ending a carrier relationship, price, underwriting flexibility and service matter the most. That’s according to the survey —...

New York Eases Compensation Disclosure Mandate for Producers

Jul 20 2009 // Agents Still Say Cumbersome Changes Will Create Problems The New York State Insurance Department this month released a new draft of a rule governing when and how insurance producers must disclose their compensation and...

People

Jul 20 2009 // Colemont Insurance Brokers has named John Cleary as vice president and casualty broker. Cleary will be physically located in New Jersey, but he will be working as part of the Hartford, Connecticut office. He brings over 25...

People

Jul 20 2009 // Wholesaler Colemont Insurance Brokers reports that Bob Black has been promoted to vice president in the company’s Atlanta office. Black joined Colemont in 2004 as an associate broker responsible for marketing all...

Love of Language Leads Enterprising Agent into Successful Niche Market

Jul 20 2009 // At first glance, Kathryn Soderberg would seem an unlikely candidate for an insurance agent whose expertise in marketing to Hispanic customers lands her gigs on radio talk shows and leading Hispanic market training sessions...

Growth Beneath the Radar

Jul 20 2009 // Don’t be fooled by the news headlines: Not all of the insurance industry is in retreat mode. In fact, in some pockets, agencies, brokers and carriers are continuing to pursue downright aggressive growth strategies....

Japanese Agents Tour U.S. Agencies to Learn Best Practices

Jul 20 2009 // Most of Japan’s 300,000 Agencies Are Small, But They Are Dreaming Big ‘I’-Like The owners and producers of Japan’s estimated 300,000 insurance agencies can only dream of the success and freedom that...