Wisconsin-Based Broker Caught in Michigan Licensing Snafu

Michigan’s insurance regulator has ordered a Wisconsin-based managing general insurance agency, Vanguard Insurance Placement Inc., to stop doing business in Michigan. According to the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation (OFIR), the agency violated the Michigan Insurance Code by selling insurance without a license.

However, Vanguard says its brokers have been operating with individual licenses in Michigan for 10 years, just as they have in Wisconsin, but only recently was the firm told that it needs an agency license for Michigan.

Jill Stekel, a Vanguard underwriter, said the firm has submitted all the licensing paperwork and is waiting for OFIR to respond. “We’ve been in total contact with them,” Stekel told Insurance Journal.

OFIR said failure to comply with OFIR’s order could subject Vanguard to civil penalties.

Vanguard is located in Hillsboro, Wis.