Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
IIABA Names Two PR Staffers
Jan 14 2004 // The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA) announced it has hired two new staffers in its public relations office. Jemarion Jones is IIABA’s new manager of media relations. She replaces Kevin...
Willis Acquires Danish Reinsurance Broker
Jan 14 2004 // London-based global brokerage Willis Group Holdings announced it has agreed to acquire Kirecon A/S, based in Copenhagen. Terms were not disclosed. Kirecon is a leader in providing reinsurance broking services in Denmark....
The Hartford Adds Endorsement Requests for Agents Utilizing AMS Agency Management Systems
Jan 13 2004 // Submitting endorsements to insurance policies from The Hartford reportedly just got faster and easier for the thousands of insurance agents that use an AMS agency management system. The Hartford, which has long been a...
IIABA Notes Legislative Agenda for New Year
Jan 13 2004 // With the start of the New Year and the beginning of a new session of Congress only a few weeks away, the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA) is rolling out its legislative agenda for 2004. Top...
Happy New Year!
Jan 12 2004 // Well, it has finally happened. We’ve made it into 2004 with a bang. This Jan. 12 issue marks a watershed moment in Wells Publishing—and insurance industry history! While this may be just another edition of...
The Strange Saga of Near North’s Michael Segal
Jan 12 2004 // We are destroyed as of today,” Michael Segal, owner of Chicago-based Near North National Group, told me several weeks ago in his 20th-floor office in the John Hancock Tower. The group’s subsidiary, Near North...
To Fee, or Not to Fee
Jan 12 2004 // While service fees have been around for a long time, difficult market conditions and increased agency costs have made the use of service fees by agencies more popular in the past few years. In recognition that the Illinois...
CNA Targets $1 Billion in Main Street Business
Jan 12 2004 // The small business unit of Chicago-based commercial lines insurer CNA hopes to hit $1 billion in premium volume at the end of 2005 by targeting Main Street businesses with more customized policy forms and a stripped-down...
The Illinois Marketplace: Is the Future in Peril’
Jan 12 2004 // Illinois’ insurance regulatory environment has long been viewed by the industry and business community as the model for other states to emulate, and rightfully so. While every state or region has unique problems in...
Welcome to the Insurance Journal
Jan 12 2004 // In one sense we’re the new kid on the block, but in other ways we should be a familiar presence. The Insurance Journal has been around since 1923, the year it began publication as a local Southern California...
Has the N.J. Auto Market Seen the Last of 30 Years of Mismanagement’
Jan 12 2004 // Last month the National Association of Independent Insurers issued a bulletin, which described New Jersey’s auto insurance market as “once the nation’s poster child for the dangers of over...
NEW JERSEY AGENTS TO RECOVER ‘OUT OF POCKET’ COSTS:
Jan 12 2004 // New Jersey’s Department of Banking and Insurance has accepted a proposal put forth by the Professional Insurance Agents of New Jersey to allow agents to recoup certain out-of-pocket expenses. Agents will be able to...
The Right Man for the Right Job
Jan 12 2004 // An Exclusive Interview with Gregory Serio Gregory V. Serio, the superintendent of the New York State Insurance Department, is a busy man—moving between Albany, Manhattan, Washington D.C. and elsewhere about the country....
New Resolutions for Industry Publication
Jan 12 2004 // The old saying goes that this time of the year is an opportunity to start making resolutions for the new year. Well, we at Insurance Journal have some plans of our own for 2004, and we’re starting with this premiere...
IIANC DONATES $25,000 TO AMERICAN RED CROSS DISASTER RELIEF FUND:
Jan 12 2004 // The Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina (IIANC) presented the American Red Cross, Triangle Area Chapter, with a $25,000 donation recently for the Disaster Relief Fund to help victims of Hurricane Isabel and...
Fla. Goes on Offensive to Fight Fraud
Jan 12 2004 // Florida is like many other states when it comes to insurance fraud — it recognizes the problem and is doing something about it. Recently, Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher and Bob Neumann, director of the Division of...
Time to Make a Change
Jan 12 2004 // Another year, another chance to make a change. January 1 is a day just like any other. Its assignment as the first day of a new year, however, provides a target date to begin changing things—hopefully for the better,...
ARK. AGENT ARRESTED:
Jan 12 2004 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Mike Pickens announced that Steven Edward Gwin was arrested and charged with a class D felony count of Fraudulent Insurance Act. According to investigators with the Arkansas Insurance...
Building Agency Value Through Perpetuation
Jan 12 2004 // Editor’s note: Agency perpetuation, or ownership succession for an agency, seems to be on the minds of many agency owners today. To address issues involved in planning for the transfer of agency ownership, the...
The Rule of 55
Jan 12 2004 // When the Rule of 55 was first explained to me in 1981, it didn’t have much impact. In fact, I had never heard of the rule. After all, I was 42 years old and in charge of a rapidly developing insurance agency. I...
