Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Keys to surviving it and thriving from it
Feb 25 2007 // To some outsiders, insurance agents are threatened with obsolescence. Commoditized products, the information available online and the decreasing value placed on personal relationships could lead insureds to devalue the...
People
Feb 25 2007 // The National Association of Insurance Commissioners named its 2007 committee chairs and vice chairs. The new committee assignments are for one year. International Insurance Relations Committee: Chair Diane Koken,...
Washington’s 2007 Legislative agenda targets license reform
Feb 25 2007 // The commissioner’s office feels the current process for licensing insurance agents and brokers in Washington is an antiquated, paper-dependent system lacking efficiency and interstate consistency rooted in a...
News Currents
Feb 25 2007 // Agents welcome windstorm debate; insurers warn against subsidies The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (the Big “I”) says the debate over windstorm coverage is crucial for consumers and...
Morris Chavez, New Mexico, State Insurance Superintendent
Feb 25 2007 // After replacing two insurance superintendents in less than a year over allegations of questionable activities, New Mexico’s Insurance Department seems to sorely need some ethics training. The latest appointed...
8 Agents welcome windstorm debate
Feb 25 2007 // Insurers warn against subsidies 10 Safeco to cut homeowners, commercial rates 200,000 Calif. customers to benefit, company says 10 Ariz. lawmakers move to raise burden of proof on ER suits Identical bill vetoed by Gov....
Congress gets bipartisan bills to repeal insurance antitrust immunity
Feb 25 2007 // News Currents Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, joined with Senate Democratic and Republican leaders earlier this month to introduce a bipartisan bill that would strip the insurance industry...
Five casual ways to pump up CSR sales
Feb 25 2007 // CSR selling doesn’t happen by decree. Principals can’t simply declare a sales quota and expect instant results. It is a long-term process getting customer service representatives involved in selling. Management...
Coming To The Rescue
Feb 25 2007 // Bernd (Bernie) G. Heinze, executive director of the American Association of Managing General Agents (AAMGA), recalls a perfect example of the regulatory difficulties the surplus lines industry faces. A colleague at a...
D&O experts show little tendency to drink from a glass ‘half full’
Feb 25 2007 // Things are about as good as they can get right now in the directors and officers liability environment but that doesn’t necessarily comfort D&O brokers and underwriters in this high-profile segment; instead it...
A new direction for directors and officers coverage
Feb 25 2007 // Even though they may not be compelled by law to buy locally admitted D&O insurance, many companies may find that the global solution they’ve purchased for years is no longer satisfactory. A company that acquires...
IMS Starts New Healthcare Wholesale Division
Feb 23 2007 // Houston-based Wholesale broker IMS Insurance Market Solutions has started a Healthcare Division. Leading the division is Linda Morse, who most recently was vice president and Houston Healthcare manager for U.S. Risk...
Progressive Drops ‘Drive’ Brand Name…Except in Calif.
Feb 23 2007 // The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies today announced a change in its brand names for products sold through its agents. The company said it is putting the Progressive name first in the names of all of the products...
Accredited Adviser Seminars To Be Held in Washington
Feb 23 2007 // The American Institute for CPCU and the Insurance Institute of America (AICPCU/IIA) have signed an agreement with the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of Washington (IIABW) to give seminars based on the...
N.Y.-Based Brokerage Kinloch Names Iacono as General Counsel
Feb 22 2007 // New York-based Kinloch Holdings, Inc., an insurance brokerage holding company formed in 2006, has named John P. Iacono as its general counsel. Iacono brings 32 years’ insurance and legal experience to Kinloch. Prior...
Agents Could Benefit from Incentive Pay Plans Replacing Contingent Income
Feb 22 2007 // Incentive pay plans for agents that some insurers are implementing to replace discontinued contingency compensation could work out better for agents than the programs they are replacing. A handful of major carriers banned...
Final Call to Participate: Who’s Worth What in the Independent Agency System?
Feb 21 2007 // Insurance Journal is polling insurance agents and brokers nationwide in its quest to find out who’s worth what in the independent agency system. More than 1,000 agencies nationwide have already responded to Insurance...
Smart Choice University Formed; Quinn Named Director
Feb 20 2007 // The Smart Choice Agents Program, which currently serves more than 2,300 independent agencies across the country, has announced the formation of Smart Choice University and the selection of Mary Quinn as its first Director...
CII Launches Broker Academy
Feb 16 2007 // The U.K.’s Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has launched a A new learning facility, the “Broker Academy,” under the direction of its Faculty of Insurance Broking.” David Slade, Chairman of the...
InsurBanc Introduces Equipment Leasing Program
Feb 16 2007 // InsurBanc, a federally charted savings bank serving independent insurance agents, brokers and their clients, is rolling out its Agents’ Express Leasing program, a new equipment leasing plan for agencies and their...
