Latest Agencies Headlines

AIG Commercial Insurance Unit Financially Fit and Fighting Back

Oct 14 2008 // The very strengths in its balance sheet, surplus, underwriting and personnel that have made the Commercial Insurance unit of American International Group (AIG) a market leader are keeping it competitive even while the...

Mass. May End Auto Insurance Appeals; Agents Balk

Oct 13 2008 // The Massachusetts insurance commissioner, addressing a concern of some insurers, is considering eliminating the unique right under which Bay State drivers have been able to appeal auto premium surcharges they consider...

California Agents Alliance Offers Errors & Omissions Program

Oct 10 2008 // The Alliance of Insurance Agents & Brokers is offering a new errors and omissions program for its members. The program offers rates as low as $1,500 per year, broad coverage and various options through the American...

HSBC Insurance Brokers Receives Qatar Financial Center License

Oct 10 2008 // HSBC Insurance Brokers Limited announced that it has established a branch office and received regulatory approval from the Qatar Financial Center (QFC) Authority to provide insurance broking services to corporate customers...

New Leaders Join Professional Insurance Agents of Florida

Oct 10 2008 // Angelo Ganguzza, vice president of Boca Raton, Fla.-based LIG Insurance Agency and Kimberly “Kim” Langston Gray, managing partner of Langston Insurance Agency in central Florida, accepted election to the...

AIG Crisis Highlights the Need for Insurance Professionalism

Oct 10 2008 // American International Group’s meltdown may serve at least one (if not more) positive purpose: spotlighting the difference between the insurance professional and the non-professional. Insurance professionals will...

American National Aiding Clients of Former Agent Accused of Premium Theft

Oct 10 2008 // Galveston, Texas-based American National Insurance Company and its subsidiary, American National Property and Casualty Company learned shortly after Hurricane Ike that one of its agents had failed to forward to the Texas...

Houston-based General Agency Adds Starmark as a Provider

Oct 10 2008 // AMG, an independent privately-owned brokerage general agency based in Houston, has announced it is now managing general agent for Starmark to offer healthcare for small businesses. Starmark features a wide range of...

Independent Agent 2.0: Branding Through Blogging and Beyond

Oct 10 2008 // Real time technology is giving agencies immediate access to carrier information on their clients, allowing agencies to quickly and efficiently transact quotes, billing inquiries, endorsements, loss runs, policy views, and...

Mississippi Insurance Agent Claims Sentence too Harsh

Oct 7 2008 // A federal appeals court in Mississippi rejected Ecru insurance agent Ken Nowlin’s claim that his 30-month sentence for his role in a kickback scheme was too harsh. Nowlin was sentenced in February. He pleaded guilty...

Pressure Rising for Tighter Regulation of Insurance, Financial Services

Oct 7 2008 // With the passage of the $700 billion rescue package, the financial industry will face greater congressional scrutiny in coming weeks and months. Further-reaching regulation is almost certain. Previously obscure corners of...

Renewal Rights Agreement Bolsters Narragansett Bay in New York

Oct 7 2008 // Narragansett Bay Insurance Co. has entered into a renewal rights agreement with Adirondack Insurance Exchange that should bring to the company 4,500 Long Island homeowner’s policies with approximately $10 million in...

Sullivan Group Forms Sullivan Brokers Wholesale Insurance Solutions

Oct 6 2008 // The Los Angeles-based Sullivan Group has announced the formation of Sullivan Brokers, Wholesale Insurance Solutions Inc., a national wholesale brokerage firm with an emphasis on professional, management and health care...

North Dakota Agent Pleads Not Guilty to 78 Counts of Fraud

Oct 6 2008 // A Fargo insurance agent has pleaded not guilty to stealing more than $5 million from clients. Larry Atkins is charged with 78 felony counts, including engaging in fraudulent practices and selling unregistered securities....

People

Oct 6 2008 // National insurance program administrator Venture Insurance Programs named Michael DeMarco executive vice president for its Preferred Club Program. He will be responsible for the overall success of the insurance program for...

People

Oct 6 2008 // National insurance program administrator Venture Insurance Programs named Michael DeMarco executive vice president for its Preferred Club Program. He will be responsible for the overall success of the insurance program for...

In Case of North Carolina Agent Charged with Murder, Autopsy is Inconclusive

Oct 6 2008 // An autopsy says the body of a North Carolina insurance investigator that was found in South Carolina in May was so badly decomposed that medical examiners can’t determine how she died. The autopsy report released...

Oct 6 2008 // Albert Betts, former Texas Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation, joined Thompson Coe Cousins & Irons LLP as a partner in the Insurance Law and Governmental and Legislative Advocacy Sections, effective Oct. 1,...

Soft Market Challenges

Oct 6 2008 // Relationships, Recruiting, Training Key to Survival Soft market conditions could last for another nine months to five years, predict representatives from the agent, broker, carrier, reinsurance, and excess and surplus...

California Governor Signs Agent-Broker Bill

Oct 6 2008 // California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed Assembly Bill 2956, clarifying the duties of an agent versus those of a broker. The bill, Insurance Brokers and Agents of the West explained, establishes four situations in...