Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Fla. CFO Commends Governor, Lawmakers for Ending Abusive Practices in Annuities Sales
Jul 6 2004 // Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher has applauded Governor Bush and state lawmakers for enacting legislation which puts an end to abusive sales practices used by unscrupulous insurance agents selling...
Cooper Gay Opens San Francisco Office
Jul 6 2004 // London-based Cooper Gay Group, an independent insurance and reinsurance broker, has opened a San Francisco office to complement their existing wholesale insurance network in North America. The new San Francisco office at...
The Sales Meeting
Jul 5 2004 // The practice of “sales management” is embraced by some and ignored by others. It is considered a powerful tool for some agencies, yet others see it as a total waste of time. The bulk in the middle will exercise...
Another Soft Market Creates a Hard Reality
Jul 5 2004 // Like a commercial airline scrambling to squeeze out a profit in the face of increased competition and skyrocketing fuel prices, many insurance agents find themselves caught in the downward spiral of another soft market...
The New Insurers: This Time, They’ll Do It The Right Way
Jul 5 2004 // ‘Clean Slate’ U.S. P/C Insurers Learn from Sins of Their Predecessors In the summer of 2001, the hard cycle had already arrived for the U.S. property/casualty marketplace. Prices were trending up as experts...
Newest E&S Broker Keating at Home in New England
Jul 5 2004 // I always wanted to return here,” Jim Keating says. “Here” is the Northeast, more specifically Atlantic Avenue in Boston, overlooking Boston harbor, where Keating has set up shop as The Keating Group to...
Brokers Urged to Avoid Surprises in Lawyers’ E&O at PLUS Symposium
Jul 5 2004 // The news that the market for lawyers’ liability coverage is softening may not be surprising but the questions that today’s insurance underwriters ask about law firm accounts might be, attendees at a recent...
Principals Should Focus on Creating Agency Value, Not Day-to-Day Issues
Jul 5 2004 // Over the years, I have found that many agency owners peg their agency value to traditional benchmarks and current market values. At one time, the industry benchmark for an average agency was one and a half times annual...
Brokers Urged to Avoid Surprises in Lawyers E&O
Jul 5 2004 // The news that the market for lawyers’ liability coverage is softening may not be surprising but the questions that today’s insurance underwriters ask about law firm accounts might be, attendees at a recent...
Former N.C. Agent Under Investigation for Embezzlement
Jul 5 2004 // North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Jim Long announced Gevedon Insurance Agency, of Columbus, is currently under criminal investigation for numerous charges of alleged embezzlement. Polk County Sheriff’s Department...
Internet Offers Major Training Inroads
Jul 5 2004 // It’s often said that “learning is not a spectator sport.” For the insurance profession, this concept is right on target. The days of classroom-style training seminars, many of which may border on being...
Agents: Insurance Company Markets Aren’t Always Going to Come to You!
Jul 5 2004 // One of the most important things agents can do for themselves and their agency is to maintain positive, healthy working relationships with the carriers they place business with. Unfortunately, despite their best...
The Trust Factor-Building Relationships with Your Clients
Jul 5 2004 // Baffled by the product, overwhelmed by policy verbiage and totally put off by the adversarial nature of the whole business, consumers nationwide express having serious trust issues with the insurance industry. In...
Cost of Insuring Workers in Iraq Jumps as Dangers Multiply
Jul 5 2004 // When Vulcan AMPS LLC dispatched a team of workers to Iraq last fall, managers knew it would be risky. What they didn’t count on was just how much more expensive it would become to insure employees and the company...
BROKER SEGAL CONVICTED:
Jul 5 2004 // A federal jury has convicted a politically connected insurance tycoon of embezzling more than $20 million from his own insurance brokerage firm. Michael Segal was found guilty on all charges: mail fraud, wire fraud, making...
This Time, We’ll Do It The Right Way
Jul 5 2004 // New U.S. P/C Insurers Learn from Sins of Their Predecessors In the summer of 2001, the hard cycle had already arrived for the U.S. property/casualty marketplace for all lines of coverage. Prices were trending up as experts...
Insurance Associations’ Letter to Rep. Oxley on TRIA
Jul 2 2004 // The major insurance associations have sent a joint letter to House Financial Services Committee chairman Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) in support of the effort to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. The text of the letter is...
Higginbotham & Associates Opens Austin Office
Jul 2 2004 // Fort Worth, Texas-based insurance and financial services brokerage firm Higginbotham & Associates announced it has launched services for Central and South Texas with the opening of a new Austin office. Newly hired...
Agent Groups Express Appreciation as President Signs Flood Insurance Extension Bill
Jul 1 2004 // The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”) and the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents both hailed President Bush’s signature of the Flood Insurance Reform...
N.Y. Agents Hail Reactivation of Fair Plan Finally
Jun 30 2004 // After nearly nine weeks of being suspended, operations at the New York property insurance residual market are back. The suspension of the New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association, also known as the Fair Plan,...
