Latest Agencies Headlines

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

Former California Insurance Broker Goes to Jail

May 9 2005 // Former Vallejo insurance broker Jimmie Earl Jackson, who pled guilty to felony grand theft in Solano County Superior Court May 5, was sentenced to 180 days in County Jail and ordered to serve three years of formal...

Relative and Absolute Success

May 9 2005 // Family Follows Sinclair ‘No-Quote’ Strategy David Sinclair, founder and president of Sinclair Insurance Group, Inc., is entering a new phase in his business life, relatively speaking. Sinclair has built three...

Keeping Retention Rates High In A Softening Market

May 9 2005 // The success or failure of any organization can be traced to customer retention. Agents and carriers who retain the most customers have greater long-term success than those who consistently lose clients. While many elements...

Mixed Signals on Compensation and Conflicts of Interest

May 9 2005 // RIMS Annual Meeting The risk management community and some of the world’s largest insurance brokers sent mixed signals on the future of contingent commissions for insurance brokers and other potential areas of...

Why Client Complaints Are a Good Thing

May 9 2005 // Insurance is frequently a complicated product to buy as well as to use. So, it’s not exactly shocking when a prospect or an insured complains. These events are a permanent part of the insurance reality. The...

Errors & Omissions for Broker-Dealers

May 9 2005 // Nuts & Bolts: CalSurance enhanced its specialized errors and omissions program for broker-dealers with 75 or fewer registered representatives. The program enhancement now provides each broker-dealer with its own...

A Final Tribute to Tom Johnson

May 9 2005 // The Florida Association of Insurance Agents announced Tom Johnson, its executive vice president from 1948 to 1986 died on April 8. Johnson passed away in his sleep with his family and a few close friends at his...

Purmort Insurance Agency’s Family Tree’s Roots Go Back to 1876

May 9 2005 // When I stepped from the hot sunshine and left the traffic speeding along Sarasota, Fla.’s busy Bee Ridge Road into Al Purmort Insurance Agency Inc.’s cool air-conditioned lobby, it was like taking a step back...

Western Agencies Keep it All in the Family

May 9 2005 // Mom and pop” retail agencies have always been a vital component of the insurance world, and many of them still exist today. Sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters are able to continue family traditions as...

AIG Domestic Brokerage Group Unveils Specialized Practice for Financial Institution Risks

May 9 2005 // The Domestic Brokerage Group of American International Group Inc. (AIG) announced the formation of the AIG Financial Institutions Practice, a new organization dedicated to serving the insurance and risk management needs of...

N.Y. Sen. Seward Urges Restraint in Response to Insurance Broker Scandal

May 9 2005 // New York State Senate Insurance Committee Chairman James Seward (R-Milford) told the Professional Insurance Wholesalers Association Inc. that New York policymakers should employ restraint as they look at, “what, if...

A Rey of Hope in Sleepy Hollow

May 9 2005 // Two Daughters Follow’s in Dad’s Footsteps If Frank Rey ever runs for mayor of Sleepy Hollow again, he’ll have a bit more time to devote to it than the last time he served. “It was hard being a...

SECOND THOUGHTS: Tales of demergers, detours and determination

May 9 2005 // Crying?? There’s no crying in baseball. — Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own Bill Cadenhead had decided to sell his 73 percent stake in Cadenhead Shreffler Insurance in Bedford, Tex. to insurance giant Brown...

How to Own an Insurance Company

May 9 2005 // Purchasing a Shell Could be a Smart Move for Some Profit-Seeking Brokers Oft times, managing general agents, wholesalers and insurance brokers feel they are inadequately compensated for the important services they provide...

Safeco Exec Tells SIAA: Independent Agents Key Value is at Point-of-Sale

May 9 2005 // Insurance companies value the personal knowledge of customers that independent agents have and sometimes this point-of-sale personal touch can override even the most sophisticated of rating technology, according to a...

The Mis-Match Game

May 9 2005 // Roger Thomas of Thomas & Thomas Agency Consultants and Appraisers, Inc. in Livingston, Tex. stresses planning as the key in any successful marriage. For insurance agencies, Thomas narrowed the areas of concern to...

California Legislature Takes Action on Several Insurance-Related Bills

May 9 2005 // The California legislature took action on several insurance-related bills recently, including a controversial bill dealing with the issue of broker compensation. SB 938 (Dunn) would “require that an agent or broker...

Former Calif. Agent, Employee Arrested

May 9 2005 // A former California insurance agent and her employee were arrested for allegedly stealing and not remitting premiums to insurance companies of more than $3,000 from victims purchasing automobile insurance policies. Yvette...

Costa Mesa Insurance Agent Arrested

May 9 2005 // An investigation by CDI resulted in the arrest of a Costa Mesa insurance agent. William Earl Stone was arrested at his Costa Mesa business office and transported to the Orange County Jail by investigators. Stone, president...

On the Issue of Agent/Broker Compensation & Contingencies

May 9 2005 // The PIA Western Alliance has always supported vigorous insurance oversight and penalties should be imposed when agents or brokers break the law. As an association we regularly school our members to make sure their...