Latest Agencies Headlines

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

Playing the Green: Insuring Golf Courses

Sep 18 2000 // It’s a well known fact in the insurance industry that we are also, in large part, the golf industry. Nine times out of 10, a golf tournament will accompany a convention. Want to raise money for charity? Sponsor a...

Commentary: Reverse Bad Habits Formed During the Soft Market

Sep 18 2000 // Without revealing your age, do you remember the hard market of the mid-’80s? Rest assured, we are a long way from returning to the marketplace of 15-plus years ago. However, the market has bottomed and is beginning...

Another Agent Gone Bad

Sep 18 2000 // Following a joint investigation by the CDI Investigation Bureau and the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Jesse Wong, a Southern California insurance agent, was sentenced on Aug. 17 after pleading no contest to five felony...

Quackenbush Scandal Played Starring Role in 1999-2000 Legislative Session

Sep 18 2000 // As the clock struck midnight on Aug. 30, lawmakers were spent but still deciding the fates of a handful of bills that would affect the insurance industry. So how did the 1999-2000 legislative session compare to other...

News and views encompassing the world of technology

Sep 18 2000 // You know how I love to get e-mails from PR people telling me how I can’t live without their services, technologies or websites (yes, that was dripping sarcasm). Well, that’s what happened the other day when I...

Governor Davis Signs California Agent Licensing Bill

Sep 18 2000 // On Sept. 5, California Governor Gray Davis signed into law AB 393, the state’s new agent licensing law. Sponsored by Assemblymember Jack Scott (D-Altadena), AB 393 requires anyone transacting insurance to meet...

Progressive Rolls Out HO Program in Michigan

Sep 12 2000 // Progressive, the country’s fourth largest auto insurance company, will make its homeowners insurance product available to be sold by independent agents in Michigan next month. The company is a leader in collecting...

Gov. Gray Signs Calif. Agent Licensing Bill

Sep 11 2000 // California Gov. Gray Davis has signed into law an agent licensing bill. AB 393, California’s new agent licensing law, will require that all persons transacting insurance will be licensed by the state, protecting...

Jersey Shore State Bank Announces Agreement to Acquire Securities Brokerage, Insurance Business

Sep 6 2000 // Jersey Shore State Bank entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the businesses of Paul R. Mamolen, CLU, and The M Group, Inc. The combined businesses will be operated under a bank subsidiary, The M Group, Inc. doing...

Nationwide Selects Vicinity Corp. to Build Customized

Sep 6 2000 // Service Vicinity Corp., a provider of clicks-and-mortar marketing services to the insurance industry, has signed an agreement with Nationwide Financial Services Inc., to offer Nationwide’s customers access to...

Commercial P/C Rates Continue Upward

Sep 4 2000 // Commercial property-casualty rates continued to increase across the country, according to a report by The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers. The same held true in Texas, where brokers estimate premium increases...

Lime Street Meets Silicon Valley; New Initiatives Transform Lloyd’s

Sep 4 2000 // Lloyd’s is adapting to modern business methods and upgrading its business systems so rapidly that it promises to meet, if not surpass, the vision that Chairman Max Taylor first set out in “Priorities for...

When Agents Go Bankrupt

Sep 4 2000 // Commissions structures can pose serious problems for agents going through bankruptcy. Protect yourself before you need protection. I admit it. I have a bearish streak. When I was a boy, I firmly believed that everything...

NAPSLO Survey Shows Net Revenues for MGAs, Brokers Grow

Sep 4 2000 // Average pretax profit and net retained revenues for MGAs and brokers increased in 1999, according to the results of the Income & Expense Survey recently completed for the National Association of Professional Surplus...

NAPSLO’s Presidents Share Commitment to Wholesale Agency System

Sep 4 2000 // Both Timothy M. Pedersen, outgoing president of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices Ltd. (NAPSLO), and John Latham, incoming president, are passionate about their dedication to the wholesale...

Love Thy (Other) Middleman

Sep 4 2000 // They’re scrutinized by regulators. They’re under the gun from companies trying to figure out ways to go around them. They face fierce competition in a buyer’s market. They see companies appointing agents...

TRAVELERS, DELL AUTOMATE AGENTS

Sep 4 2000 // Travelers Insurance is hoping to help agents improve automation capabilities through a special arrangement with Dell Computer Corp. Travelers agents are now eligible for special savings on the latest computer systems from...

When the Market Provides No Answer,Insurers Offer Online E&S

Sep 4 2000 // While the initial furor created by the advent of dot-coms cools down, many insurance professionals are re-evaluating their business relationships with the Web. At a time when agents and brokers may question the benefit of...

Working Winds Blow Through Chicago

Sep 4 2000 // NAPSLO 2000 is all about business “NAPSLO is always intense. Everybody there is trying to make sure that they get as much done in the short period of time as they possibly can.” Anyone who has had the...

Storm Chasers: ICAT Covers Catastrophes from Coast to Coast

Sep 4 2000 // Like the tornado chasers in the movie “Twister,” International Catastrophe Insurance Managers LLC (ICAT) keeps pushing into new territory where others hang back. ICAT, which currently underwrites catastrophe...