It's one of the fastest growing product lines in the commercial insurance sectorand it's frustrating as hell.

There are industry winners, and then there's everybody else. The characteristics of today's top insurance brokerages are well documented, but not easy to achieve.

Each year around this time, we return to the CIAB offices with an electric energy fed by our annual Employee Benefits Leadership Forum. In what is shaping up to be a healthcare revolution, employee benefits brokers are in the drivers seat.

Its been particularly frustrating to watch what has been happening with the state implementation of the Dodd-Frank provisions regarding surplus lines insurancethe Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act.

Ken A. Crerar discusses conflicting and confusing state regulations.

For years, agents and brokers have pursued an elusive goal: streamlined risk submission to multiple carriers that reduces policy errors and increases pricing and underwriting precision. That goal seems to be within reach.

Would you trust this guy with your health insurance?

In today's challenging marketplace, it is easy to blame all the problems of insurance intermediaries on the soft cycle or the underlying economic uncertainty, from unemployment to the mortgage crisis. But