Latest Agencies Headlines

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

Executive Finance Offers New Policy Finance Program

Nov 9 2004 // Chatsworth, Calif.-based Executive Finance Inc. recently announced a new policy finance program that pays agents a $30 bonus for each policy financed. Agents and brokers have discovered that offering premium financing to...

XL to Offer $650 Million in Senior Notes; Rating Agencies Assign ‘A’ to Issue

Nov 9 2004 // Bermuda’s XL Capital Ltd. announced plans to sell up to $300 million of senior notes due 2014 and up to $350 million of senior notes due 2024, pursuant to the company’s currently effective shelf registration...

Fla. Agent Faces Charges For Misappropriating Funds

Nov 9 2004 // A Wauchula, Fla. property insurance agent who served customers in Hardee, Polk and DeSoto counties is facing several felony charges stemming from allegations that he stole insurance premiums from homeowners and never...

Is Big Brother Good for the Industry’

Nov 8 2004 // Some drivers in Minnesota will soon have an added passenger in their cars: their insurance company. Progressive Insurance Co. is using so-called “black box” technology to offer drivers discounts based on how...

The Feds are Endangering Future of Crop Insurance

Nov 8 2004 // Ten years ago, the Federal Multi-Peril Crop Insurance Program covered fewer than 100 million acres of U.S. farmland. That number has more than doubled since 1994, and today it is close to 220 million acres. This is...

P/C Agents Errors & Ommissions

Nov 8 2004 // Nuts & Bolts: Rockwood Programs expanded its existing property and casualty agents errors and omissions program. Coverage is now available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The core program, called the...

Spitzer Effect Could Backfire

Nov 8 2004 // Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods caused a tumultuous summer and shaky fall for the insurance industry, but no one could have predicted the results of Eliot Spitzer’s investigations in New York, which now threaten to...

NAIC Conference Call Places State Insurance Investigations on Hold

Nov 8 2004 // State insurance commissioners in the southeast and across the United States consulted in a conference call the week after New York Attorney Gen-eral Eliot Spitzer made allegations of rigged bids and price-fixing among...

Agents Watching Spitzer Broker Fraud Charges Closely

Nov 8 2004 // New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s filing on Oct. 14 of charges against giant insurance broker Marsh for alleged commercial account steering and bid rigging has already had significant impact on Marsh and is...

Big ‘I’ Panelists Concerned About Terrorism, Asbestos, Tort Reform

Nov 8 2004 // Terrorism, asbestos and tort reform will be key industry concerns according to five insurance company CEOs participating in a panel discussion during last month’s Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of...

ASCnet Conferees Hear How to Manage a Profitable Business

Nov 8 2004 // The latest technologies to allow independent agents and brokers to efficiently manage and ensure a profitable business were presented to more than 1,800 conferees attending the Applied Systems Client Network’s...

Big ‘I’ Takes Proactive Approach to Issues in the Spitzer Investigation

Nov 8 2004 // By now, you probably are aware that insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. and Marsh Inc. (collectively Marsh) were sued in New York on Oct. 14 based on allegations of engaging in certain illegal business...

Industry in the Bull’s Eye

Nov 8 2004 // In the days after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed a civil lawsuit against insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. for alleged commercial account steering and bid rigging, the insurance industry...

LA. AGENT ACCUSED:

Nov 8 2004 // Louisiana Depart-ment of Insurance Fraud Unit investigators served a Lafayette-area insurance producer (agent) with a cease and desist order and summary suspension of her insurance license, Insurance Commissioner J. Robert...

Unfair Trade Practices Unfair to Insurance Agents

Nov 8 2004 // Here is a tale of two sellers. A realtor sold a home in a quiet neighborhood to a nice family. Shortly after settling in, the new homeowners begin to discover certain defects in the property, which had not been disclosed...

Scandal in the Industry

Nov 8 2004 // The industry was rocked weeks ago with the announcement of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s charges against Marsh & McLennan. While Spitzer’s probe had been known for some time, the unexpected...

S&P Revises Overall Property/Casualty Outlook to Negative

Nov 8 2004 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on the U.S. property/casualty commercial lines sector to negative from stable. “The outlook revision follows allegations of widespread misconduct...

P/C Agent E&O Program

Nov 8 2004 // Nuts & Bolts: Rockwood Programs expanded its existing property/casualty agents errors and omissions program. Coverage is now available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The core program, called the...

Legislative watchdogs put a fresh spin on traditional lobbying techniques

Nov 8 2004 // Lobbying has been around for as long as any single profession has been around, but it has changed. It isn’t what it used to be,” said John Norwood, managing partner of Norwood & Mattoch, one of...

Underinsured Homeowner Problem Revisited on Anniversary of Calif. Wildfires

Nov 8 2004 // Replacement cost, policy limits, and non-renewal of policies were the source of a heated debate in a day-long hearing investigating underinsured homeowners affected by last year’s wildfires. California Insurance...