Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Labor Woes for a Rebounding Construction Market
Jan 12 2015 // With construction activity picking up steam all across the nation, insurers are expressing concern over how the construction sector will meet the growing demand for qualified labor. Insurers are concerned not only with the...
Insurance Policies – Too Clever by Half
Jan 12 2015 // I recently bought one of the new airline travel insurance policies. I’m on planes all the time visiting agencies and speaking across the country, so this new product appealed greatly to me. Many of my flights suffer...
Independent Agents See Carriers’ Online Sales As Major Threat: Accenture Survey
Jan 11 2015 // Independent insurance agents’ strengths in customer service and risk management could be challenged by changing consumer behaviors, new technologies and the evolving competitive landscape, according to a new report...
The Walker Group Rebrands to AmWINS Brokerage of New York
Jan 9 2015 // Effective Jan. 1, 2015, The Walker Group, an AmWINS Group company, has changed its name to AmWINS Brokerage of New York to expand AmWINS Group’s brand in New York state. Located in Syracuse and Amherst, New York, The...
Professional Underwriting Group Launches Admitted Insurance Agents E&O Program
Jan 9 2015 // Professional Underwriting Group, Inc. is now offering an admitted program for insurance agent’s errors and omission insurance to qualifying insurance agents in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida,...
Senate Passes TRIA; Bill Goes to President Obama’s Desk
Jan 8 2015 // Today the U.S. Senate followed the House and voted overwhelmingly to reauthorize the federal terrorism reinsurance program that had been allowed to lapse. The vote was 93-4 in favor. On Wednesday, the House of...
Peters Named President, Exec. Director of Texas Independent Agents Group
Jan 7 2015 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) has selected Marit Peters as its president and executive director. She will replace David VanDelinder, who is retiring from the leadership role. Marit Peters Peters has...
Markel Names Huels Managing Director, Brokerage Casualty in Chicago
Jan 7 2015 // Markel appointed Matt Huels as managing director, brokerage casualty, for its product line leadership team. He is based in Chicago. Huels comes to Markel from XL, where he was vice president of the casualty product line...
AmTrust Acquires New York’s Oryx Insurance Brokerage
Jan 7 2015 // AmTrust Financial Services Inc. announced that it has acquired privately held Oryx Insurance Brokerage Inc. from Oryx’s principals for cash. Further terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Oryx was established...
Former N.J. School Official Admits Witness Tampering in Alleged Kickback Case
Jan 6 2015 // A former northern New Jersey schools superintendent is facing a prison term after pleading guilty to witness tampering. Gary Vitta entered his plea Monday in federal court in Newark, New Jersey. The 63-year-old Denville...
New Louisiana DOI Website Aims to Help Consumers Shop for Rates, Agents
Jan 5 2015 // The Louisiana Department of Insurance (LDI) has launched a new website aimed at providing improved services to consumers, insurance agents and other groups regulated by the department. According to the department’s...
Brown & Brown Sells Reinsurance Broker Axiom Re to Beach Re
Jan 1 2015 // Brown & Brown Inc. sold certain assets of one of its subsidiaries, Axiom Re, to Beach Re Limited effective December 31, 2014. Axiom Re is a reinsurance brokerage operation based in North Carolina with approximate...
Corporations Warned Not to Hack Back
Dec 31 2014 // The hacked are itching to hack back. So say a dozen security specialists and former law enforcement officials who described an intensifying and largely unspoken sense of unease inside many companies after the recent breach...
2014 Award Winners Recognized by Indiana Independent Agents
Dec 29 2014 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Indiana (IIAI) named its 2014 award winners during its annual convention. The following Indiana agents and companies were recognized: Vickie Wolcott from M.J. Schuetz Insurance Services...
Allianz Lead Reinsurer for Missing AirAsia Plane; JLT Broker
Dec 29 2014 // German insurer Allianz said on Monday it was the lead re-insurer to the AirAsia jet missing off the Indonesian coast with 162 people on board, making it the third major airline accident it has been involved in this...
How One Broker, CGSC, Is Navigating Stages of Entrepreneurial Business
Dec 29 2014 // Entrepreneurial organizations go through stages of growth, says the chief executive of one of the world’s largest wholesale insurance and reinsurance brokerages. Toby Esser, CEO of Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford...
Immigration Reform, Driver’s Licenses Spell Opportunity for Latino Agents
Dec 24 2014 // Independent insurance agents who serve the Hispanic community may be in store for a busy year. Immigration reform is on next year’s horizon, and in California a landmark law enabling undocumented individuals to...
Report Questions U.S. Readiness, Coordination to Handle Major Disaster
Dec 24 2014 // The U.S. government isn’t fully prepared to handle a nuclear terrorist attack or a large-scale natural catastrophe, lacks effective coordination, and in some cases is years away from ensuring adequate emergency...
Hub International Acquires Iowa-Based Brokerage, Ruhl & Ruhl
Dec 23 2014 // Global insurance broker, Hub International Limited (Hub), announced that its Chicago-area region Hub International Midwest (Hub Midwest) has acquired the assets of Ruhl & Ruhl Insurance, based in Davenport, Iowa. Terms...
ACE to Keep Most Fireman’s Fund Personal Lines Staff: Andrade
Dec 23 2014 // ACE Group said it will keep most of the employees with Fireman’s Fund’s personal lines business once its $365 million acquisition of the division from Allianz goes through. “We value Fireman’s Fund...
