Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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Oct 3 2011 // The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) presented the Federal Legislator of the Year Award to U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., at its annual convention in Indianapolis. Biggert currently serves as...
Mass. Agents Prepare for Battle Over Credit Ban on Ballot
Oct 3 2011 // A Massachusetts independent agents group said it is confident that a ban on auto insurers’ use of credit scores and other socioeconomic factors will become a state law in coming months. The Massachusetts Association...
Why Agents Need Workers’ Comp Manuals
Oct 3 2011 // Workers’ compensation is a game of rules. Like all other games, from Monopoly to football, if you don’t know the rules, you’re going to find it difficult to win. We don’t normally think of insurance...
Wanted: Industry Seeks Out Specialty Marine Brokers
Oct 3 2011 // Two developments in the marine market have combined to create a tantalizing opportunity for wholesale brokers and managing general agents (MGAs) to serve the marine marketplace. While marine revenues remain fairly flat,...
High Gold Prices Raise Risk in Jewelry Industry
Oct 3 2011 // The high price of gold and increases in jewelry crimes have put the jewelers block insurance segment in a tenuous position, and agents and brokers have to do their due diligence to make sure their clients are adequately...
Millennium Brokerage Forms Long Term Care Program Through Physicians Financial
Sep 30 2011 // Millennium Brokerage Group (MBG) has launched a new long term care (LTC) program that will be available to physicians and their families through AMA Insurance Agency’s Physician Financial Partners program. Physicians...
MJ Insurance Named Best Practices Agency for 8th Consecutive Year
Sep 30 2011 // Indianapolis, Ind.-based property/casualty and employee benefit agency, MJ Insurance, for the eighth consecutive year has been recognized as a ‘Best Practices Agency’ by the Independent Insurance Agents &...
Nationwide, Harleysville CEOs Reassure Agents: Merger All About Growth
Sep 30 2011 // The merger of insurer Nationwide Mutual with regional carrier Harleysville Mutual is all about growth, not only for the companies but also for their independent agents, according to the CEOs of the two...
SEC Concedes Challenges in Probes of Rating Agencies
Sep 30 2011 // The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission faces hurdles proving wrongdoing at credit-rating agencies, the agency’s enforcement chief said, pointing to the complexity of the cases and the industry’s strong...
Insurer Retools Home Value Insurance Coverage
Sep 30 2011 // Home Value Insurance Co. has re-entered the insurance market with a product that promises to protect homeowners from falling home values. Home Value Insurance initially launched the product in 2009. The company has...
Nationwide and Harleysville Insurance Agree to Merger; Analysts Respond
Sep 29 2011 // Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and Harleysville Insurance announced on Thursday, Sept. 29, that they have agreed to a merger. Nationwide Mutual will acquire Harleysville Group for $760 million. Nationwide Mutual will pay...
Judge Lets Agent Orange Case Against Monsanto Proceed
Sep 29 2011 // Monsanto Co. has lost a bid to close part of a lawsuit alleging the company caused health injuries to residents living near a plant that made the Vietnam War-era U.S. military defoliant “Agent...
Xchanging Gains Full Control of Brokerage Services Subsidiary from Aon
Sep 29 2011 // Xchanging, the London-based business process and technology services provider and integrator, announced that it has “gained full control of Xchanging Broking Services Limited, the Enterprise Partnership it formed...
California’s Align Financial, Excellere Form Non-standard Auto Insurer
Sep 28 2011 // San Diego, Calif.-based Align Financial Group LLC has partnered with private equity firm Excellere Partners, of Denver, to form Personable Holdings Inc., an independent, non-standard auto insurance provider. Personable...
Independent Agents Worried About Nationwide/Harleysville Deal
Sep 28 2011 // Northeastern independent agents with Harleysville appointments said they are leery about the reported Nationwide/Harleysville deal and have lots of questions. According to a report by Bloomberg last Friday, giant...
Rating Agencies Win Dismissal of Ohio Funds Lawsuit
Sep 28 2011 // The three major credit-rating agencies won the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that five Ohio pension funds lost hundreds of millions of dollars on risky mortgage debt because they relied on flawed ratings that made the...
Federal Agents Raid Settlement Payments Firm Imperial Holdings
Sep 28 2011 // Imperial Holdings’ shares plunged as much as 75 percent Wednesday, a day after federal investigators raided the offices of the company, which makes lump-sum payments to buy life insurance policies and structured...
Louisiana Agent Arrested for Alleged Insurance Fraud
Sep 27 2011 // A Metairie, La., insurance agent has been arrested for insurance fraud, state officials say. The Louisiana State Police Insurance Fraud/Auto Theft Unit arrested Angela Bodenheimer, 49, on one count of insurance fraud, the...
Michigan Earns Outstanding Big ‘I’ Young Agents Award
Sep 27 2011 // The National Young Agents Committee of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big ‘I’) has named its state counterpart in Michigan as the 2011 Outstanding Young Agents Committee...
Burns & Wilcox Promotes LaLonde to Manager, Insurance Solutions
Sep 26 2011 // James LaLonde has been promoted to manager of insurance solutions at Burns & Wilcox. LaLonde previously served as an insurance solutions analyst II in the insurance solutions group of the IT department. He is the lead...
