Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
New York Agents Plead Case for ‘Common Sense’ Disclosure Rules
Aug 3 2009 // Trade Groups Worry about Logistics and Fairness Independent agent groups in New York State pleaded with regulators during a meeting last month to take a more “common sense” approach to proposed rules requiring...
Why Bankruptcy Rates Vary By State
Aug 3 2009 // State Policies, More Than Differences Among People, Tend to Influence Bankruptcy Rates In a previous edition of Insurance Journal (July 20, 2009, “Tackling Client Bankruptcy: How to Help Clients Work Through the...
People
Aug 3 2009 // Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based C. W. Olson and Co., an affiliate of the full-service insurance brokerage firm Associated Agencies Inc., promoted Matthew Meliker to executive vice president and in-house counsel. Meliker, a...
Why Bankruptcy Rates Vary By State
Aug 3 2009 // State Policies, More Than Differences Among People, Influence Rates In Insurance Journal‘s last issue (July 20; Tackling Client Bankruptcy: How to Help Clients Work Through the Challenges of Business Bankruptcy),...
States Give a ‘Thumbs Up’ to Fingerprinting Insurance Producers
Aug 3 2009 // Regulators Say Fingerprinting Keeps Criminals Out of the Business Don’t be alarmed, but there are convicted criminals roaming around the country acting as insurance producers. They could be robbers, forgers, possibly...
People
Aug 3 2009 // Will Weston, vice president and principal of Blanchard & Calhoun Insurance Agency in Augusta, was elected president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Georgia, Inc. (IIAG) during the association’s recent...
How to Re-ignite Producers – and Other Employees – Who Have Lost Their Spark and become Too Comfortable
Aug 3 2009 // Incentive Compensation Focused on Customers, Not Premiums, Works, Consultant Says Al Diamond is one of the country’s best known agency management consultants. His firm, the Agency Consulting Group, is based in Cherry...
Why Bankruptcy Rates Vary By State
Aug 3 2009 // State Policies, More Than Differences Among People, Tend to Influence Bankruptcy Rates In a previous edition of Insurance Journal (July 20, 2009, “Tackling Client Bankruptcy: How to Help Clients Work Through the...
People
Aug 3 2009 // Teresa Miller was appointed administrator of Oregon’s Department of Consumer and Business Services Insurance Division. Miller joined the Insurance Division in July 2008 and has been serving as acting administrator...
Love of Language Leads Enterprising Agent Into Successful Niche Market
Aug 3 2009 // At first glance, Kathryn Soderberg would seem an unlikely candidate for an insurance agent whose expertise in marketing to Hispanic customers lands her gigs on radio talk shows and leading Hispanic market training sessions...
Common Insurance Mistakes Can Sink Boaters’ Finances
Aug 3 2009 // As Action on the Water Heats Up, Here’s Some Advice Agents Can Offer Clients As boating season heats up once again, independent agents across the country may see clients who are re-evaluating their boat insurance...
Why Bankruptcy Rates Vary By State
Aug 3 2009 // State Policies, More Than Differences Among People, Tend to Influence Bankruptcy Rates Twenty-four percent of agents and brokers have had business customers go into bankruptcy in the past two years; another 24 percent have...
How to Re-ignite Producers – and Other Employees – Who Have Lost Their Spark
Aug 3 2009 // Incentive Compensation Focused on Customers, Not Premiums, Works, Consultant Says Al Diamond is one of the country’s best known and respected agency management consultants. His firm, the Agency Consulting Group, is...
California Passes Budget Revisions
Aug 3 2009 // State Compensation Insurance Fund Says Proposal to Sell Its Assets Have Failed in Past We are very concerned that the proposed sale appears to be driven by the need for cash. The California Legislature has passed the...
Doing More With Less
Aug 3 2009 // Steps to Ease the Stress of Customer Service Reps in Today’s Tough Times When asked to list the major strengths of their agency, most owners usually include the agency’s quality of service to the client. In the...
How Independent Agents View Super Regional Carriers
Aug 3 2009 // Survey: Agents Report Recession Not as Disruptive as Initially Predicted Main Street businesses may still be trying to recuperate from the recession, but independent insurance agencies report that it has not been as...
M&A Activity Continues at a Snail’s Pace Compared to 2008
Aug 3 2009 // Insurance brokerage mergers and acquisitions in the second quarter of 2009 was nearly half of what is was during the second quarter of 2008. Just 39 transactions were announced from April through June compared to last year...
Top 20 Banks in Insurance Brokerage Fee Income
Aug 3 2009 // Top 20 Banks in Insurance Brokerage Fee Income (2008/Nationally) Rank 2008 Insurance Brokerage Fee Income Bank Name City, State Web site 1 $860.34 million Branch Banking and Trust Co. Winston Salem, N.C. www.bbt.com...
Insights from Insurance Journal’s Top 100 Agency Leaders
Aug 3 2009 // Insurance Journal asked leaders of this year’s Top 100 Agencies about some of their best and worst management decisions ever made, sales ideas that worked, the biggest challenges facing their agencies today and how...
Top 100 Property Casualty Independent Agencies
Aug 3 2009 // About This Report: The economy, soft market and industry consolidations continued to shake up the nation’s leading independent insurance agencies in 2008. Still, nearly half, or 45 percent, of the privately-owned...
