Praises to Mr.Spitzer and his investigation and resulting charges against the big boys. This is just the tip of the iceberg-more heads will roll and the insurance buying public’s eyes will finally be opened to the widespread abuses going on in the property/casualty insurance industry. Brokers and companies brought this on by their own greed-the Enron fiasco is small compared to what Spitzer is on to-
Any one that actually worked in a brokerage in a management capacity knows that comm. & over rides are different from brokerage to brokerage. It is all dependant upon the volume and loss ratio you maintain with each company.
It appears the NY aty Gen is trying to attack the insurnace industry. I thought the D.O.I. was created to over see this highly regulated business.
If Mr. Spitzer wants to really help, how about some real tort reform. Stop all the abuse of his sleezy attorney brethern and then you will some real savings to all N Y insureds.
Good luck to him on his withc hunt. Once they expose him as a self motivated politicain as McCarthy was in the 50’s then we can get back to trying to fix what is really wrong with the insurance industry. . excessive tort cases.
The buyer of insurance needs to be able to ask the correct questions. We need to know the clients and what will they do about not getting the fair access to the insurance marketplace. Want to hear from the risk managers ….
Mr. Spitzer should go after the following crooks:
• The Republican and Democratic Party as an oligopoly
• Lawyers for frivolous law suits and really excessive price gouging (Insurance Brokers commissions is small fry, especially as risk managers reside at all the accounts Marsh handles), but as a lawyer himself, its hard to go after you friends.
• Himself, for shamelessly taking on the easy scores verses the ones above.
Brokers arrange commission override, profit sharing, growth bonus or similar incentive agreements with insurers. Marsh, Aon and Willis produce more business insurance premiums than all other intermediaries combined. They are best-positioned to collect on incentives. Risk managers know, or should know,the score. Mr. Spitzer is howling at the moon.
Back in the 80’s at Cigna P&C (Pre ACE), we had contingency agreements with M&M. In exchange for extra commission or profit sharing we provided M&M’s clients with the best price and coverage available in the industry. Far different situation today. Today the consumer, as a result of these agreements, are not getting the best price and coverage. They are being placed by M&M in companies to allow M&M to maximize their profits; and to allow AIG and ACE to write business at inflated prices with less coverage. The consumer entrusted M&M to place them in programs with the best company available. Instead they are being ripped off. I say go get them Spitzer.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Look at the M& M co’s, Guy Carp, Putnam, AXIS, it’s all one hand feeds the other.One big happy family, just like the Greenberg’s!!!
The payoffs stretch all the way to the beltway (Washington, DC)
How else does one get first and exclusive rights into China?
Dean O’Hare was smart to get out before this hits the fan with Chubb. Percy is doing flips- that his company stoops to fraud. Wait you’ll see…more to come for sure.
How come the media (insurance and the general papers) never inquired where jumbo AIG popped-up from as the world largest insurance? How and where the Greenbergs made their money and how they fared as Insurers in the far-east?
Profit Sharing and Collusion are quite different. It would have been nice if Mr. Spitzer spelled this out for all of the non-insurance people in our world (especially our valued clients/insureds) instead of painting a picture that all insurance brokers are corrupt, etc. There is nothing wrong with producing profitable business for a carrier and (if you are lucky) share in some of the profits at the end of the year.
Some of my fellow Professional Insurance Brokers and I feel that this may be a setup by the carriers to END all profit sharing agreements with their hard working distribution channel (brokers/agents)….
I would not put it past them….investment income is way DOWN and losses are increasing. Tough call but one has to wonder.
Yes, I fully understand what Marsh, et al were doing/did was totally wrong (price fixing, collusion, anti-competitive practices…whatever you want to call it).
This is just another example of corporate governance run amuck! Doesn’t look like the Greenbergs learned much from Arthur. I would expect resignations and lawsuits by the end of the week.
Its really simple. A Broker represents the client, an Agent represents the Insurer. That being so, what possible reason is there for a Broker to collect anything other than straight sales commission? As a representative of the client, even the appearance of a conflict of interest is unethical.
Conversely, Agents, representing the Insurer should be concerned with profitability (although I am unaware of any sincere effort on the part of any Agent I know to only produce profitable business).
There’s a difference between collecting contingent commissions and collusion/price fixing; the difference is jail.
Praises to Mr.Spitzer and his investigation and resulting charges against the big boys. This is just the tip of the iceberg-more heads will roll and the insurance buying public’s eyes will finally be opened to the widespread abuses going on in the property/casualty insurance industry. Brokers and companies brought this on by their own greed-the Enron fiasco is small compared to what Spitzer is on to-
Great if Spitzer gets the Greenberg “Big 3” but I doubt it. Some poor smuck down the line will for sure.
The axiom that stuff rolls down-hill will be reinforced once again.
Mo, Sandy and cronies are untouchables.
You know the old saying, the apples (rotten) don’t fall from from the tree (rotten). The boys learned well from the old man and now its payback time.
Any one that actually worked in a brokerage in a management capacity knows that comm. & over rides are different from brokerage to brokerage. It is all dependant upon the volume and loss ratio you maintain with each company.
It appears the NY aty Gen is trying to attack the insurnace industry. I thought the D.O.I. was created to over see this highly regulated business.
If Mr. Spitzer wants to really help, how about some real tort reform. Stop all the abuse of his sleezy attorney brethern and then you will some real savings to all N Y insureds.
Good luck to him on his withc hunt. Once they expose him as a self motivated politicain as McCarthy was in the 50’s then we can get back to trying to fix what is really wrong with the insurance industry. . excessive tort cases.
Good luck to the Greenberg family.
This is another politician talking about a few and making broad sweeping accusations that the whole industry cheats.
The buyer of insurance needs to be able to ask the correct questions. We need to know the clients and what will they do about not getting the fair access to the insurance marketplace. Want to hear from the risk managers ….
My thoughts exactly.
Ryan Fenchel
Integra Insurance Services, Inc.
Mr. Spitzer should go after the following crooks:
• The Republican and Democratic Party as an oligopoly
• Lawyers for frivolous law suits and really excessive price gouging (Insurance Brokers commissions is small fry, especially as risk managers reside at all the accounts Marsh handles), but as a lawyer himself, its hard to go after you friends.
• Himself, for shamelessly taking on the easy scores verses the ones above.
It’s a amazing that 3 of the 4 companies involved are headed by the Greenberg Family. Hank at AIG; Jeff at M&M and Ira at ACE. A pattern here?
Brokers arrange commission override, profit sharing, growth bonus or similar incentive agreements with insurers. Marsh, Aon and Willis produce more business insurance premiums than all other intermediaries combined. They are best-positioned to collect on incentives. Risk managers know, or should know,the score. Mr. Spitzer is howling at the moon.
Back in the 80’s at Cigna P&C (Pre ACE), we had contingency agreements with M&M. In exchange for extra commission or profit sharing we provided M&M’s clients with the best price and coverage available in the industry. Far different situation today. Today the consumer, as a result of these agreements, are not getting the best price and coverage. They are being placed by M&M in companies to allow M&M to maximize their profits; and to allow AIG and ACE to write business at inflated prices with less coverage. The consumer entrusted M&M to place them in programs with the best company available. Instead they are being ripped off. I say go get them Spitzer.
This has got to be the work of either Bush or terrorists!
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Look at the M& M co’s, Guy Carp, Putnam, AXIS, it’s all one hand feeds the other.One big happy family, just like the Greenberg’s!!!
The payoffs stretch all the way to the beltway (Washington, DC)
How else does one get first and exclusive rights into China?
Dean O’Hare was smart to get out before this hits the fan with Chubb. Percy is doing flips- that his company stoops to fraud. Wait you’ll see…more to come for sure.
How come the media (insurance and the general papers) never inquired where jumbo AIG popped-up from as the world largest insurance? How and where the Greenbergs made their money and how they fared as Insurers in the far-east?
Profit Sharing and Collusion are quite different. It would have been nice if Mr. Spitzer spelled this out for all of the non-insurance people in our world (especially our valued clients/insureds) instead of painting a picture that all insurance brokers are corrupt, etc. There is nothing wrong with producing profitable business for a carrier and (if you are lucky) share in some of the profits at the end of the year.
Some of my fellow Professional Insurance Brokers and I feel that this may be a setup by the carriers to END all profit sharing agreements with their hard working distribution channel (brokers/agents)….
I would not put it past them….investment income is way DOWN and losses are increasing. Tough call but one has to wonder.
Yes, I fully understand what Marsh, et al were doing/did was totally wrong (price fixing, collusion, anti-competitive practices…whatever you want to call it).
RBF
This is just another example of corporate governance run amuck! Doesn’t look like the Greenbergs learned much from Arthur. I would expect resignations and lawsuits by the end of the week.
Its really simple. A Broker represents the client, an Agent represents the Insurer. That being so, what possible reason is there for a Broker to collect anything other than straight sales commission? As a representative of the client, even the appearance of a conflict of interest is unethical.
Conversely, Agents, representing the Insurer should be concerned with profitability (although I am unaware of any sincere effort on the part of any Agent I know to only produce profitable business).