Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
A Brief History of Contingent Commission Agreements
Jan 24 2005 // Contingent commissions first appeared in the 1960s when claims were rising much faster than the rate of inflation and insurance companies cut agent commissions on premiums. To make up for this loss of revenue, carriers...
Westfield Carefully Weighs Wider Midwest Move
Jan 24 2005 // Ohio-based property/casualty carrier Westfield Insurance is carefully weighing its expansion with plans to appoint more agents to its middle market distribution force. Champaign, Ill.-based Agency Relationship Manager Ken...
How to Find New Markets
Jan 24 2005 // For nine years, Insurance Journal has published the annual Directory of Excess, Surplus and Specialty Markets. This issue is a resource for independent agents and brokers to help them find the markets they need. The print...
Insurance Marketing and Communications
Jan 24 2005 // How to produce client seminars that work. As we develop our marketing and communications plans for 2005, one of the most effective ways a broker can provide a customized service to its clients is by producing educational...
SIAAC Welcomes New Member Condotta, Merrett
Jan 21 2005 // The Strategic Independent Agents Alliance Canada (SIAAC), the country’s largest network of partnering independent insurance brokerages, announced that Condotta, Merrett & Company Insurance Brokers of Niagara...
Connecticut AG Sues Marsh, Ace Financial in Broker Commission Case
Jan 21 2005 // Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on Friday sued insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Inc., and insurance provider ACE Financial Solutions Inc., for a scheme in which ACE reportedly paid Marsh a secret...
State Farm Agent Named Ind. Commissioner
Jan 21 2005 // Indiana’s new Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has named W. Harold Calloway, a State Farm agent, as the state’s new insurance commissioner. Calloway, 58, takes over an agency with a $15 million budget and 75...
Agents Continue to Oppose Broker Disclosure Model
Jan 21 2005 // The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, the nation’s largest insurance trade association, has addressed its most recent concerns over the proposed Subsection (B) to Compensation Disclosure...
Insurers Regulator’s Broker Dealer Model Laudable But Still Too Broad
Jan 20 2005 // National Association of Insurance Commissioners efforts to address concerns surrounding broker compensation continue to be over-broad, going beyond the single problem that has been defined, according to comments filed...
Former Mo. Big ‘I’ Leader Appointed Insurance Director
Jan 20 2005 // Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt announced the appointment of W. Dale Finke to head the Missouri Department of Insurance. Finke is CEO and president of Corporate Insurance Management in St. Louis. He was president of the Missouri...
PCI Has “Significant Doubts” Concerning NAIC’s Agent Disclosure Proposals
Jan 20 2005 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America has issued a bulletin indicating that it has some “significant doubts” concerning the NAIC’s proposed inclusion of disclosure duties on agents. The...
Big ‘I’ Study Shows Growth in Premium, Market Share
Jan 19 2005 // The overall property/casualty market grew 9.5 percent in 2003, and independent agents and brokers produced 59.4 percent of this market, according to “The 2003 Property Casualty Insurance Market” report recently...
Alliance Stands Firm as CDI Continues to Redefine Broker/Agent Fiduciary Duties
Jan 18 2005 // As the coalition of industry associations, spearheaded by the American Agents Alliance, continues to dig its heels in the sand against a California Department of Insurance assault on brokers and agents, the...
National Agent Legislative Conference Set for April
Jan 18 2005 // The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America has scheduled its 29th annual National Legislative Conference for April 20-22 at The Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C. The event, which always...
Hull & Co. On Board as Sponsor of Insurance Journal’s Online Seminar Series
Jan 17 2005 // Florida-based Hull & Co. is among the sponsors as Insurance Journal debuts the first in a series of “How to Write” online video seminars Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005. Hull & Co. will sponsor the Florida...
D-Day for U.K. Insurance Industry as FSA Assumes Regulatory Control; AXA Fined $940,000
Jan 14 2005 // Today, Friday, Jan. 14, marks the long anticipated official takeover of regulatory responsibility over the U.K.’s insurance industry by the Financial Services Authority. There should be no major surprises, as the...
Jenkins Joins PIA as VP of Business Development
Jan 14 2005 // Bill Jenkins, who most recently was executive director of the Applied Systems Client Network, has joined the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents as vice president of business development and...
Brown & Brown Acquires ECC Brokers
Jan 14 2005 // ECC Insurance Brokers LLC of Oak Brook, Ill. has been acquired by Brown & Brown Inc. with headquarters Daytona Beach and Tampa, Fla. ECC has combined annualized revenues of approximately $3.9 million. This wholesale...
AVRECO Serves as Sponsor for Insurance Journal Online Seminar; First in Series Set for Jan. 20
Jan 12 2005 // One of the nation’s largest independent wholesalers will be among the sponsors when Insurance Journal kicks off its “How to Write” online video seminars on Thursday, Jan. 20. Chicago-based AVRECO...
Mass. AG Probes Municipal Health Insurance Buying
Jan 11 2005 // The Massachusetts attorney general is expanding his probe into the commissions that insurers pay insurance brokers who promote their products to include contracts with cities and towns. The investigation by Attorney...
