Houston General
Houston General Insurance Exchange plans to begin offering personal lines products — including coverage for automobiles, homes, condominiums, watercraft and personal liability — to Illinois consumers in May.
Houston General Insurance Exchange is a property/casualty insurance carrier that is owned by its policyholder members. In addition to a wide range of personal lines products, Houston General provides membership benefits separate from its insurance coverage. The company markets its products — OneChoice CustomPac, OneChoice Homeowners and OneChoice Auto — through independent insurance agents.
Houston General Insurance Exchange is managed by Houston General Insurance Management Company, part of the OneBeacon Insurance Group, which is rated “A “(excellent) by A.M. Best. For more information contact Kelley Beach at 781-332-8095 or kbeach@houstongeneral.com.
Ohio Casualty, PIA
Ohio Casualty Group is sponsoring two key projects of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA). The company is an official sponsor of the PIA Branding Program, Local Agents Serving Main Street America, as well as a member of the The Partnership, PIA’s council of senior insurance-company executives and agents working together on issues of mutual interest and importance.
Ohio Casualty Chief Marketing Officer Jerry Mallicoat remarked that in sponsoring PIA’s branding program his company is “able promote to consumers the many benefits of working with independent agents. Becoming a member of The Partnership allows us to work directly with PIA member agencies in creating initiatives and programs that benefit us and consumers.”
The PIA’s Local Agents Serving Main Street America branding program is an advertising and promotional campaign available to PIA member agencies throughout the nation. The PIA Branding Program currently consists of ten print advertisements — with 227 variations — that PIA members can run in their local publications. For more information, visit www.pianet.com.
Ohio Casualty Group is the marketing brand for six property/casualty insurance companies, which are licensed to write auto, home, and business insurance. Policies are written through the independent agency system. For more information, visit www.ocas.com.
Leisure/Sports Specialists, Target Market Specialists
Indiana-based Leisure/Sports Specialists LLC (LSS), a privately held underwriting organization that distributes specialty sports and leisure insurance products through retail brokers, has established a partnership agreement with Target Market Specialists (TMS), a subsidiary of commercial property and liability insurance underwriter RLI.
Through TMS, LSS will provide specialized general liability products on an exclusive basis for amateur sports and motor dports associations, teams, leagues, and their respective governing/sanctioning bodies; family entertainment centers and amusement parks; sports, leisure, recreation and exhibition venues, and multi-use convention centers. LSS and TMS will distribute these products on a non-admitted basis through Mt. Hawley Insurance Co., another RLI subsidiary.
In addition, LSS will begin distributing existing RLI property and casualty products specific to other classifications within the sports and leisure industries, including bowling centers, special events, golf courses, and sports training facilities.
Specialty Underwriters’ Alliance, Flying Eagle
Chicago-based Specialty Underwriters’ Alliance Inc., through its subsidiary SUA Insurance Co., announced a new partner agent agreement with Flying Eagle Insurance Services Inc. to market and underwrite commercial general liability programs to the construction segment, including the roofing trade. These programs will be available through selected brokers in ten states in the western region. Flying Eagle is headquartered in Minden, Nev., and has over 15 years’ experience underwriting this customer class, according to SUA Insurance’s release.
In conjunction with the partner agent agreement, Flying Eagle agreed to purchase $1 million of SUA’s Class B common stock.
Gibson Group, Accident Fund Insurance
Indiana-based Gibson Insurance Group was named “Agency of the Year” for 2006 by Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America.
Gibson representatives received the award in front of 650 Accident Fund employees during an all-company meeting on Jan. 25, 2007. Elizabeth R. Haar, Accident Fund president and CEO presented the award.
Accident Fund’s criteria for Agency of the Year include productivity, profitability and growth goals over multiple years, as well as a formal nomination from Accident Fund employees who works closely with the agency.
Headquartered in Lansing, Mich., Accident Fund Insurance Company of America identifies itself as the 14th largest writer of workers’ compensation insurance in the U.S.
AXA, Britt Paulk
AXA Corporate Solutions and Britt Paulk Insurance Agency Inc. are partnering on a new national general aviation program for the U.S. that will specialize in smaller aircrafts. Patrick de La Morinerie, AXA deputy chief executive officer, stated that working with Britt Paulk and its online capabilities will enable AXA to “jump start” the program in 49 states.
Britt Paulk said its OPUS product will allow the group to issue policies online for risks that have a hull value up to $3.5 million and liability coverage of up to $2 million per occurrence. These policies will flow through the OPUS system directly to the retail agent in most cases.
The OPUS system has been in place for a number of years to issue policies for builder’s risk, equipment, marine cargo and self storage on behalf of different major international carriers. All of these products, including aviation, are underwritten and distributed from Britt Paulk’s home office in Carrollton, Ga.
The aviation team will be led by Karl Jorda who has 20 years of aviation experience.
The group will enter the aviation market in the second quarter of 2007 and will work to have the online OPUS product ready before the end of the year. The product will be written on AXA Insurance Co. paper which is an admitted product with an “A-” A.M. Best rating.
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