Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Brandt Succeeds Evans as Trusted Choice Executive Director
Jul 12 2017 // Trusted Choice, the consumer branding program for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (Big “I”), has promoted Kevin Brandt as its next executive director. Brandt is succeeding Dave Evans,...
Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia Names Chairman, Board Members
Jul 12 2017 // During its recently held annual meeting at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Va., the Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia (IIAV) named Douglas B. Megill of McLean Insurance Agency chairman of the board of...
Agents Seek Better Grasp of Carriers’ Commercial Lines Underwriting Likes
Jul 12 2017 // Independent agents want to talk about underwriting, and they’re urging their carriers to listen. Preliminary results from the 2017 Channel Harvest Research survey indicate agents want to see companies put greater...
Robo Advisers Gaining as Insurance Sales Agents: Chart
Jul 12 2017 // While traditional intermediaries still dominate in distributing insurance, the advance in artificial intelligence means that so-called robo advisers have gained traction in recent years, according to Swiss Re. These...
Carrier Poll Shows Many Agents Expect Minor Tech Disruption by 2020
Jul 11 2017 // A new poll conducted by a Seattle, Wash.-based carrier that asked independent insurance agents what’s ahead in 2020 showed that roughly half of agents expect technology disruption to have a minor impact on their...
Willis Towers Watson Announces New Leadership for North America Brokerage Unit
Jul 11 2017 // Global insurance broker Willis Towers Watson has made several senior appointments in its North America Corporate Risk and Broking (CRB) business. Mark Rusas has been appointed CRB Northeast region leader, where he will be...
U.S. Risk Insurance Group, LLC Announces the Acquisition of IMS London American
Jul 10 2017 // Dallas, TX, July 10, 2017— U.S. Risk Insurance Group, LLC, the nation’s fifth largest Property & Casualty wholesaler, announced today that it has acquired IMS London American Brokerage and Underwriting Services...
People
Jul 10 2017 // Kansas City-based insurance broker Lockton has named Jeff Henningsen as president of its Houston property/casualty insurance operation. Henningsen will take on an expanded leadership role in business development for the...
Looking at Insurtech the Wrong Way
Jul 10 2017 // Insurtechs stimulate a lot of debate among agents about the extent to which they pose a threat and what should be done to address it. Some dismiss the threat by analyzing flaws in a particular venture or mocking past...
State of P/C Insurance Industry, Part 1: The Fate of ‘Hard Market’ Agencies (and Companies)
Jul 10 2017 // Property/casualty (P/C) insurance and group benefits industry is changing faster than ever. Many factors are the parents of such change. In part one of this two part series, I will focus on the more traditional aspects and...
People
Jul 10 2017 // Lawley, an independent insurance broker headquartered in Buffalo, N.Y., has launched its life science insurance practice, led by life science veterans Jose Carbajal and William DeStefano. The team will be based out of...
People
Jul 10 2017 // Alan Jay Kaufman, chairman, president and CEO of Detroit/Farmington Hills, Michigan-based H.W. Kaufman Financial Group, has joined the School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science board of overseers at the...
Insurtech Startup Buys MGA in California with Aim of Delivering Product for Agents
Jul 10 2017 // Insurtech startup Bridger has purchased Pleasanton, Calif.-based SCJ Insurance Services in a step toward launching what the firm contends will be “simpler, cheaper, and easier-to-manage automotive...
Burand’s State of P/C Insurance Industry Part 2: How to Pick Winners as More Carriers Consolidate or Waste Away
Jul 9 2017 // Editor’s Note: This is the second of two articles by Burand based on his most recent 50-page whitepaper, State of the P&C Insurance Industry 2017. The whitepaper is available from Insurance Journal’s...
New York Launches Online Re-Licensing for Insurance Agents and Brokers
Jul 7 2017 // The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) has launched an online application to speed up the re-licensing process for agents and brokers whose original licenses have been expired more than two years. The...
Koclanes Joins Founders Professional as Wholesale Broker in Chicago
Jul 7 2017 // National professional liability and management liability wholesale insurance brokerage, Founders Professional, has added Catherine Koclanes to its team in Chicago, Illinois, as a wholesale broker. Koclanes will assist...
Truck Speeding Fix Among Safety Rules Halted by Trump Anti-Regulation Order
Jul 7 2017 // Years of pleas from parents whose son was killed by a speeding tractor-trailer, buy-in from some truckers and the promise of fewer highway deaths convinced U.S. officials in September to propose requiring speed-limiting...
Fearless Brokers on Disruption by Insurtech: ‘Bring It On’
Jul 5 2017 // Executives of retail and wholesale property/casualty brokers, who have heard predictions about disintermediation for years, are not worried about the latest wrinkle in the stories of their demise—the rise of insurtech...
Texas Agencies, Higginbotham, Jeannette Blanton Insurance Merge
Jun 30 2017 // Fort Worth, Texas-based Higginbotham has partnered with the Jeannette Blanton Insurance Agency Inc., a branch office of Dallas-based Independent Insurance Group Inc. Jeannette Blanton Insurance is located in Ennis, Texas....
Alliant Hires New York’s Kenny to Facilitate Eastern Expansion
Jun 30 2017 // Alliant has hired Kevin T. Kenny to its Alliant Americas division. In his new role, the New York-based executive vice president and managing director will play an integral role in expanding the middle market...
