Latest Agencies Headlines

All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.

2015 Insurance Industry Meetings & Conventions Directory

Jan 12 2015 // Welcome to Insurance Journal‘s 2015 Insurance Industry Meetings and Conventions Directory. The information in this directory is taken from a larger database containing additional information on these and other...

When It Comes to Mobile for Independent Agents It’s the App that Counts

Jan 12 2015 // Have agents reached a tipping point when it comes to making their services accessible with a smartphone? Some believe the independent agent still has time to adapt. Others argue that those who wait will be run over by...

ACE to Buy Fireman’s Fund Personal Lines; Famous Brand Fading Away

Jan 12 2015 // On Dec. 18, Allianz Group announced that it would sell the U.S. personal lines business of its Fireman’s Fund unit to ACE for $365 million by means of renewal rights arrangement.The merger of the personal lines...

Labor Woes for a Rebounding Construction Market

Jan 12 2015 // With construction activity picking up steam all across the nation, insurers are expressing concern over how the construction sector will meet the growing demand for qualified labor. Insurers are concerned not only with the...

Insurance Policies – Too Clever by Half

Jan 12 2015 // I recently bought one of the new airline travel insurance policies. I’m on planes all the time visiting agencies and speaking across the country, so this new product appealed greatly to me. Many of my flights suffer...

Independent Agents See Carriers’ Online Sales As Major Threat: Accenture Survey

Jan 11 2015 // Independent insurance agents’ strengths in customer service and risk management could be challenged by changing consumer behaviors, new technologies and the evolving competitive landscape, according to a new report...

The Walker Group Rebrands to AmWINS Brokerage of New York

Jan 9 2015 // Effective Jan. 1, 2015, The Walker Group, an AmWINS Group company, has changed its name to AmWINS Brokerage of New York to expand AmWINS Group’s brand in New York state. Located in Syracuse and Amherst, New York, The...

Professional Underwriting Group Launches Admitted Insurance Agents E&O Program

Jan 9 2015 // Professional Underwriting Group, Inc. is now offering an admitted program for insurance agent’s errors and omission insurance to qualifying insurance agents in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida,...

Senate Passes TRIA; Bill Goes to President Obama’s Desk

Jan 8 2015 // Today the U.S. Senate followed the House and voted overwhelmingly to reauthorize the federal terrorism reinsurance program that had been allowed to lapse. The vote was 93-4 in favor.On Wednesday, the House of...

Peters Named President, Exec. Director of Texas Independent Agents Group

Jan 7 2015 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) has selected Marit Peters as its president and executive director. She will replace David VanDelinder, who is retiring from the leadership role.Peters has spent the past 20...

Markel Names Huels Managing Director, Brokerage Casualty in Chicago

Jan 7 2015 // Markel appointed Matt Huels as managing director, brokerage casualty, for its product line leadership team. He is based in Chicago. Huels comes to Markel from XL, where he was vice president of the casualty product line...

AmTrust Acquires New York’s Oryx Insurance Brokerage

Jan 7 2015 // AmTrust Financial Services Inc. announced that it has acquired privately held Oryx Insurance Brokerage Inc. from Oryx’s principals for cash. Further terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Oryx was established...

Former N.J. School Official Admits Witness Tampering in Alleged Kickback Case

Jan 6 2015 // A former northern New Jersey schools superintendent is facing a prison term after pleading guilty to witness tampering.Gary Vitta entered his plea Monday in federal court in Newark, New Jersey. The 63-year-old Denville...

New Louisiana DOI Website Aims to Help Consumers Shop for Rates, Agents

Jan 5 2015 // The Louisiana Department of Insurance (LDI) has launched a new website aimed at providing improved services to consumers, insurance agents and other groups regulated by the department.According to the department’s...

Brown & Brown Sells Reinsurance Broker Axiom Re to Beach Re

Jan 1 2015 // Brown & Brown Inc. sold certain assets of one of its subsidiaries, Axiom Re, to Beach Re Limited effective December 31, 2014.Axiom Re is a reinsurance brokerage operation based in North Carolina with approximate annual...

Corporations Warned Not to Hack Back

Dec 31 2014 // The hacked are itching to hack back.So say a dozen security specialists and former law enforcement officials who described an intensifying and largely unspoken sense of unease inside many companies after the recent breach...

2014 Award Winners Recognized by Indiana Independent Agents

Dec 29 2014 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Indiana (IIAI) named its 2014 award winners during its annual convention. The following Indiana agents and companies were recognized:Vickie Wolcott from M.J. Schuetz Insurance Services...

Allianz Lead Reinsurer for Missing AirAsia Plane; JLT Broker

Dec 29 2014 // German insurer Allianz said on Monday it was the lead re-insurer to the AirAsia jet missing off the Indonesian coast with 162 people on board, making it the third major airline accident it has been involved in this...

How One Broker, CGSC, Is Navigating Stages of Entrepreneurial Business

Dec 29 2014 // Entrepreneurial organizations go through stages of growth, says the chief executive of one of the world’s largest wholesale insurance and reinsurance brokerages.Toby Esser, CEO of Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford...

Immigration Reform, Driver’s Licenses Spell Opportunity for Latino Agents

Dec 24 2014 // Independent insurance agents who serve the Hispanic community may be in store for a busy year.Immigration reform is on next year’s horizon, and in California a landmark law enabling undocumented individuals to obtain...