Agent and broker groups are concerned that language in recent settlement agreements that two insurers struck with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and other state officials essentially impose back-door bans on contingent commissions.

Under agreements reached by American International Group and Zurich with Mr. Spitzer and regulators in states such as Illinois and Connecticut, the companies must eliminate their contingent compensation programs if insurers writing 65 percent of the gross written premiums nationally for any line or segment of insurance sign onto similar agreements, or are not offering contingent compensation on their own.

Whether or not the threshold will be crossed, and what, if any lines will be affected remains unforeseen, but those in the agent and broker communities are concerned that Mr. Spitzer and his peers want to eliminate contingent commissions on at least some insurance lines.