Latest Agencies Headlines

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

Builder Agent Network Adds Hankins as Program Underwriter

Jul 9 2012 // Texas-based Builder Agent Network LLC announced that Debbie Hankins has joined the company as a program underwriter. Hankins will underwrite General Liability, Package, and Builders’ Risk for the MGA and will be...

ND Insurance Agents Banned From Business in State

Jul 6 2012 // North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm has ordered agents in Dickinson and Fargo to stop doing business in the state. Scott Biggs in Dickinson is accused of taking client money for personal use. Robert Medhus...

Virginia Insurance Regulator Offers Post-Storm Advice

Jul 6 2012 // The series of deadly storms that struck much of the mid-Atlantic last week left 12 people in Virginia dead and extensive damage in their wake. Virginia Insurance Commissioner Jacqueline Cunningham is advising consumers to...

Independent Insurance Agents of Texas Names Webb Young Agent of the Year

Jul 6 2012 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) announced that Andy Webb of Watkins Insurance Group in Austin was named the André P. Juneau Young Agent of the Year at IIAT’s 115th Annual Conference and Trade Show...

The Future of Producer Compensation

Jul 5 2012 // It is a fact that many people with the title “producer” don’t produce. They service and they accept what comes to them, but they do not produce. It is also a fact that companies are going to find a way to...

Agents Seek Diversified Role in Group Health/Benefits Arena

Jul 5 2012 // In recent years, a growing number of independent property/casualty agencies and brokerage firms have begun offering group health/benefits services to their clients. In interviews with Insurance Journal, agency executives...

Florida Agents, Adjusters Face Continuing Education, Licensing Changes

Jul 5 2012 // A new Florida law seeks to reduce the regulatory burden on agents and adjusters by consolidating some licenses and revamping the education classes they must take to conduct business in the state. Among the changes:...

Neal Honored with Texas Agent Association’s Drex Foreman Award

Jul 5 2012 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) honored former Corpus Christi independent insurance agent Loyd Neal with the Drex Foreman Award presented at IIAT’s 115th Annual Conference and Trade Show in San...

Whitaker Named President-Elect, Arthur to Serve as VP of Texas Agents Association

Jul 3 2012 // Don Whitaker, president and owner of Whitaker Insurance Associates Inc. in San Antonio, has been named president-elect of the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) for 2012-201. The association elected Pat Arthur,...

Confie Seguros Adds 3 Agencies; Names Maxwell to M&A Post

Jul 2 2012 // Confie Seguros, a national provider of personal lines insurance focused on the needs of Hispanic consumers, continued its national expansion program with the the addition of three insurance agencies. Confie has completed...

Health, Benefits Market Offers Growth Opportunities for P/C Agents

Jul 2 2012 // Revenue Compression, Client Demand Drive Expansion of Services For many independent property/casualty agencies, one bright spot of opportunity in an era of otherwise lackluster growth has been the health and benefits...

10 Things Agencies Do Right (and Wrong) with Agency Management Systems

Jul 2 2012 // Records, Reporting, Value Creation As a volunteer engaged with a network of agency management system vendor clients, I have an opportunity to hear from my peers about their experiences and compare this with what goes on in...

Agents Seek Diversified Role in Group Health/Benefits Arena

Jul 2 2012 // In recent years, a growing number of independent property/casualty agencies have begun offering group health/benefits services to their clients. In interviews with Insurance Journal, agency executives in the Northeast...

Business Moves – Southeast

Jul 2 2012 // Gallagher, Whitehaven Illinois-based global insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Whitehaven Insurance Group, Inc. in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in...

Some P/C Agencies See Potential in Dynamic Health, Benefits Market

Jul 2 2012 // Alignment of Resources Essential for Success The South Central region of the country, particularly Texas, has been a hotbed of activity when it comes to mergers and acquisitions of smaller health and benefit agencies. The...

Business Moves – East

Jul 2 2012 // USI, Lynch, Beretta and Bucci USI Insurance Services completed the acquisition of Lynch, Beretta and Bucci Insurance, a Pawtucket, R.I.-based P/C insurance agency that specializes in a wide range of personal lines,...

Benefits: Boon or Bust?

Jul 2 2012 // By the time this edition of Insurance Journal is printed and distributed, the U.S. Supreme Court likely will have issued its ruling on the challenges to federal healthcare reform legislation passed in 2010. No matter how...

Nebraska Insurance Agent Admits Fraud

Jul 2 2012 // One of three former Nebraska insurance agents accused of defrauding more than 250 investors out of $29 million has pleaded guilty and agreed to help prosecutors. The Grand Island Independent reported that Kenneth Mottin,...

‘One Way or Another’ Agencies See Growth in Group Health

Jul 2 2012 // “One way or another.” Is that the best way to describe a sound investment strategy nowadays? Yes. If you’re talking about the growing number of agencies investing in group health benefits...

Employers Fighting the Rising Cost of Healthcare Turn to Holistic Benefit Planning as a Solution

Jul 2 2012 // The nation’s largest employers don’t anticipate finding cost-relief any time soon when it comes to health and benefits coverage. But they have been listening more and waking up to ideas from their brokers that...