Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Top 5 Insurance Issues for Farmers in a Soft Economy
Feb 22 2009 // Review Exposures, Values and Maximize Insurance Value to Ensure Satisfied Farm Customers Thanks in part to commodity prices that are still higher than average and, thankfully, less volatile than in 2008, the agricultural...
Who’s Worth What?
Feb 22 2009 // Agency Salary Survey: Agencies Trim Payrolls and Raises Independent insurance agencies remain reliable employers even in these rocky economic times, but even they have to cut back occasionally. Whether due to efficiencies...
Eye on Boats and Marinas
Feb 22 2009 // Marine Broker Shares Views on the Current State of the Market The marina and boat industry is a natural fit for John Harvey, founder and president of Voyager Insurance Services in Frisco, Texas. Harvey has been in the...
N. Idaho Insurance Agent Charged After Drug Raid
Feb 20 2009 // An insurance agent and prominent supporter of public schools in the northern Idaho city of Coeur d’Alene has been charged with felony cocaine possession. Idaho State Police say Jerry Carlson could face more charges...
Connecticut Agents’ Group Urges State to Drop Cat-Fund Plan
Feb 18 2009 // A trade group for Connecticut insurance agents is urging lawmakers to abandon plans to create a state natural catastrophe fund. The Professional Insurance Agents of Connecticut (PIACT) said the state’s Insurance and...
Spiro Receives Award from New York Agents’ Trade Group
Feb 17 2009 // A Valley Stream, New York insurance agent has been named the first-ever winner of the “1882 Fellow Award” from the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York (IIABNY). Steven Spiro, president of...
Florida Rejects State Farm Withdrawal Plan; Requires Major Conditions on Citizens, Agents
Feb 13 2009 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has offered a withdrawal plan for State Farm Florida Insurance Co. and its parent company with major conditions that were not in the original plan submitted by the insurer. In...
Marsh Sees Growth in 2009 Boosted by Acquisitions
Feb 12 2009 // Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc , the No. 2 global insurance broker, reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, helped by lower costs, and forecast higher profits in 2009, sending its shares up 16 percent. The...
Former Iowa Insurance Agent Pleads Guilty to $1 Million Fraud
Feb 11 2009 // A former Iowa insurance agent accused of siphoning more than $1 million from clients has pleaded guilty to federal charges. Jack Straw pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud and one count each of mail fraud,...
Wisconsin Streamlines Insurance Complaint Filing, Agent Licensing
Feb 11 2009 // Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Sean Dilweg announced improvements to the state’s complaint and agent licensing processes intended to simplify access to agency services for consumers and insurance...
North Dakota Revokes Fargo Insurance Agent’s License
Feb 11 2009 // North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm has revoked the insurance license of Larry Atkins, a Fargo insurance agent who was charged with 78 felonies in 2008. The revocation bars him from selling, soliciting or...
PGI Commercial Acquires Assets of Michigan’s Underwriters & Brokers
Feb 11 2009 // PGI Commercial has acquired the assets of Underwriters & Brokers, Inc. of Troy, Michigan. PGIC said it will merge the platform and staff of UBI with its existing Michigan office. Underwriters & Brokers, Inc....
New Jersey Agents: Allow Fees for Some Commercial-Lines Services
Feb 11 2009 // A trade group for New Jersey Insurance Agents is applauding proposal that would let agents collect fees from commercial-lines clients for some specialized services. The Professional Insurance Agents of New Jersey (PIANJ)...
Higginbotham Adds 2 in Austin Office
Feb 10 2009 // Independent insurance and financial services firm Higginbotham & Associates added two brokers to its Austin, Texas, office. Higginbotham named Chris Camero an executive vice president for group benefits and Travis...
Senior Market Sales, CalSurance Offer Discounted E&O for Insurance Agents
Feb 9 2009 // Senior Market Sales, Inc. has partnered with CalSurance (Brown and Brown of California, Inc.) to offer errors and omissions insurance at discounted rates for life and health insurance agents who do business with Senior...
Declarations
Feb 8 2009 // No Scapegoats in Mississippi “We will continue to work with all companies in providing an available, accountable and affordable market in Mississippi, and look for solutions, not scapegoats, in solving the insurance...
Dream Agents
Feb 8 2009 // We Insurance Journal writers are fortunate in that we get to speak with a lot of good folks from company CEOs and agency principals to state regulators and experienced underwriters. They come in all accents, ages and...
People
Feb 8 2009 // Former Iowa Insurance Commissioner Therese M. Vaughan, Ph.D., has been named chief executive officer of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), effective Feb. 18, 2009. Vaughan replaces Catherine J....
Cautiously Optimistic
Feb 8 2009 // A recent development may have agents feeling cautiously optimistic that they will have an opportunity go after a larger slice of the mid-sized business pie as Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group shuttles direct distribution...
Systematic Sales Strategy Should Be Priority No. 2 for Agency Managers
Feb 8 2009 // In this hard economy coupled with the soft market, most agencies expect sales and revenues to go down. Even the best performers feel the downward trend in premiums. According to Juan Andrade, executive vice-president for...
