Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Losing Sleep Over Privacy
Jun 25 2001 // In the last issue, I wrote about getting a grip on GLBA. As we creep closer to the July 1 deadline, I think the subject needs some more clarification. Last week, a reader called me in a panic wondering if the requirements...
CDI Announces New Broker Agent Status
Jun 22 2001 // The California Department of Insurance (CDI) is announcing the creation of a Personal Lines Broker-Agent License set to begin January 1, 2002. The new agent status is a legislative action (AB 393, Scott) implemented to...
Former San Diego Agent Receives Seven Year Sentence
Jun 21 2001 // The California Department of Insurance (CDI) announced that Ronald Allen Prasky, 31, owner and operator of Border Pacific Insurance Services, was sentenced in San Diego Superior Court today to seven years in state prison....
Assurex International Expands Presence in
Jun 20 2001 // Assurex International, the world’s largest grouping of privately held risk management and commercial insurance brokerages, expanded its worldwide presence with the addition of North American Broker Partners in...
Yates Joins Progressive as Consultant
Jun 19 2001 // The Progressive Corporation announced that Jeff Yates has been retained as a consultant to the company’s agency business. Yates will consult with the company in its continuing efforts to help independent agents...
Licensed Agent Says She’s Not Guilty
Jun 19 2001 // A licensed insurance agent from Stockton, Calif. pled not guilty to 69 felony counts during her recent arraignment. Kim Searini, aka Kim Lawrence, aka Kim Gurtis, 40, was arrested following a joint investigation by the...
Colorado Insurance Commissioner Heads List of TSLA Mid-Year Speakers
Jun 18 2001 // Seven speakers have been announced for the Texas Surplus Lines Association Mid-Year Meeting set for July 19-22 at the Vail Marriott Resort, Vail, Colo. William Kirven, Colorado Insurance Commissioner, is scheduled to...
Zurich U.S. CEO Sees a Bright Future in Financial Services
Jun 18 2001 // John Amore, president and CEO of Zurich U.S., has a vision not just for his company but for the industry. “I think the industry needs to rebrand itself,” Amore told IJ in an exclusive interview in...
Agent Target of Galapagos Oil Spill Lawsuit Threat; Policy Was Cancelled
Jun 18 2001 // Lawyers for Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands plan to sue for damages in the wake of an oil spill, according to several news reports; however, the Miamai, Florida-based insurance agency that placed the coverage maintains...
Message to Agents: Be Proactive on Privacy
Jun 18 2001 // If you’re like most consumers, you get lots of mail from banks—banks that already call you a customer and those that consider you a prospect. “Hey, for a low rate of 2.9 percent, you can go into even deeper...
Ponzied Insurance Premiums
Jun 18 2001 // This is the tale of what the Court of Appeals of Maryland—the state’s highest court—called a modified insurance “Ponzi scheme.” The case, decided earlier this year, is Insurance Company of North...
Allstate Grants Financial Selling Power to One-Third of Its Agents
Jun 15 2001 // Nearly one-third of Allstate’s 13,000-member exclusive agency force is now licensed to provide personal financial products and mutual funds. More than 4,300 Allstate exclusive agents have earned the “Personal...
Young Agents Stand at the Threshold as Industries Collide
Jun 14 2001 // They were young, they were hungry and they didn’t mind the heat. More than 290 young agents converged on Rancho Mirage for the 26th Annual Young Brokers and Agents Conference June 7-10. The hard work of YBA staff and...
CE Program Open for Wash. Agents, Brokers
Jun 12 2001 // A partnership between Knowledge Anywhere, which provides web-based learning solutions for corporations and business professionals, and the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of Washington, will allow IIABW members...
SAFECO Combines Commercial UW Operations
Jun 11 2001 // The commercial operations of SAFECO Business Insurance (SBI) and SAFECO Commercial Insurance (SCI) will be consolidated into one organization in an effort to concentrate on small- to medium-sized business accounts, SAFECO...
Alleged Bail Bond Fraud Gives Industry Black Eye
Jun 11 2001 // A number of agents and a colleague from Ray’s Bail Bonds in Riverside, Calif., found themselves on the other end of the bailing out process last month when more than 200 felony counts were levied against them for...
GLBA in a Nutshell:
Jun 11 2001 // What: The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) regulations create unprecedented new obligations for insurance agents to adopt comprehensive privacy policies for handling customers’ personal information. When: Among other...
Zurich U.S. CEO Sees a Bright Future in Financial Services
Jun 11 2001 // John Amore, president and CEO of Zurich U.S., has a vision not just for his company but for the industry. “I think the industry needs to rebrand itself,” Amore told IJ in an exclusive interview in...
The Middleton Group Releases its Biannual Compensation Survey: How Does Your Agency Compare’
Jun 11 2001 // Not surprisingly, compensation continues to be the single largest agency expense. The average independent agency in the U.S. spent between 62.2 percent and 66.3 percent on compensation in 2000, according to The Middleton...
Financial Services Integration: A Question of Privacy
Jun 11 2001 // Mailboxes throughout the West have been rapidly filling with literature outlining the “Privacy Policy” of virtually every organization that has ever taken a credit application. As the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act...
