Agency Management

Commercial insurers wondering what they need to do to attract and hang on to their customers got an earful from the 411 buyers responding to open-ended questions about what they want from their carriers.

There's been a lot of talk on the acquisition front by excess and surplus lines insurance companies, but little action to date--even in a year that followed back-to-back declines in organic growth for the segment overall.

Forty-three insurance agents and brokers have been fined a total of $42,650 for accepting kickbacks, or failing to supervise staff who accepted kickbacks, New York's insurance superintendent said today.

The insurance industry shot itself in the foot once again with the clumsy release of a health reform study that has galvanized the industry's critics into a lynch mob, says NU Editor Sam Friedman in his blog today at www.NUSamSoapBox.com.

In today's tough business climate, employers and their employees must do more with less to keep their economic heads above water. One positive step in this direction is a healthier workforce, at work and more productive.

Most program business insurers believe gross premiums for the segment total at least $20 billion, but a growing number now have doubts they are doing that much volume, a survey reported.