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| State News |
| Industry News |
| Association News |
| Best Practices | | Big ‘I’ to Accept Nominations for Best Practices Agencies | | Nominations for top agencies to participate in the next Best Practices study will begin in November. | | Next month, the Big “I” will accept nominations for top-performing agencies aiming to join the Best Practices program. Every three years, the Big “I” and Reagan Consulting select leading agencies and brokerages to participate in the annual Best Practices Study, which analyzes their operations to provide model performance benchmarks by revenue category. | | Author: Jennifer Becker | | |
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| Meetings & Events | | Big ‘I’ Winter Meeting Set for January | | Schedule, hotel and registration are available for the meeting in Rancho Mirage, Calif. | | The Big “I” Winter Meeting will be held Jan. 16–20, 2013, at The Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, Calif. To view the schedule, make your hotel reservation or register for the meeting and golf, visit the Big "I" website. | | Author: Sherri Hunter | | |
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| Big ‘I’ Markets | | Insure Real Estate Agents with Professional Liability Coverage | | Access a top-tier Travelers product to protect them. | | Just like independent insurance agents, real estate agents need errors & omissions insurance. As a Big “I” Markets agent, you have access to the Travelers 1st Choice for Real Estate Professionals product to protect them. | | Author: Elif Wisecup | | |
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| Big ‘I’ Markets | | BIM Offers Executive Liability Market | | Check out Wrap+ from Travelers. | | As a Big “I” member, you have access through Big “I” Markets to Wrap+, an executive liability insurance policy available to privately owned companies with the breadth of coverage to address the current and emerging exposures. Its modular policy design means an easier process for you and your insured. | | Author: Elif Wisecup | | |
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| InsurBanc | | InsurBanc Offers Year-End Financial Advice | | InsurBanc's chief lending officer outlines options for agencies to deal with potential tax changes. | | With the Presidential election weeks away and the Bush-era tax rates set to expire at the end of the year, agency owners should consider the option of selling, perpetuating or taking money out of their agency. Robert Pettinicchi, executive vice president of Big "I" partner InsurBanc, explains why in his article, "End of the Year Financial Options to Consider." | | Author: Elif Wisecup | | |
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| InVEST | | Travelers Executive Receives Dach Award | | William S. Allen, Jr. volunteers with program that helps attract talent to insurance industry. | | InVEST has awarded William “Bill” Allen, Jr., Travelers Select Sales Executive, with the Dach Award, which honors an insurance industry volunteer who has contributed to fostering the growth and development of InVEST. The Big “I” nonprofit program is a key driver to attract new talent to the insurance industry. | | Author: Margarita Tapia | | |
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| Agency Management | | 12 Ways to Target Your Best Market | | Learn the metrics high-growth agencies tracked to market and sell effectively. | | While independent agents only have about one-third of the personal lines market share, there are some agencies that are boosting their total personal lines books by 10-24%. One of their keys to success is to track their marketing efforts. | | Author: Chuck Blondino | | |
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| P-C Trends | | Commercial P-C Rates Rise 5%, Personal Up 3% | | Smaller accounts in both lines had greater annual rate increases than larger ones. | | Average commercial property-casualty rates rose 5% and personal p-c rates increased 3% in September from the same month’s levels in 2011, according to the latest MarketScout Barometer report. The average rate increases matched those that were posted for commercial and personal p-c pricing in August. | | Author: Victoria Goff | | |
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| Legal Advocacy | | IIABA Reviews New Foremost Agency Agreement | | Reviewing your appointment contracts remains important. | | IIABA has completed its review of the new Foremost Insurance Group Agency Agreement (Form 970281 07/11/2012). Like all IIABA appointment contract reviews, comments focus on terms relating to the insurance industry, and are intended to support members’ understanding of the contract appointment terms that lay the foundation for their relationships with carriers whose policies they sell. | | Author: Debra Perkins | | |
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| L-H Leads | | New Taxes Pose Challenges for High–Income Earners | | Independent agents may be affected by new tax rates scheduled for 2013. | | There has been much discussion on a potential “tax armageddon,” a term coined to describe the effect of potentially returning to higher taxes from the pre-Bush era and higher marginal tax brackets. There are also new scheduled taxes that are expected to affect high-wage earners—including independent agents—to offset the cost of the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act. | | Author: Dave Evans | | |
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| Forms & Substance | | Displaying Liability Limits on COIs | | Can the full limits of liability coverage be shown on a certificate if there were paid claims on the policy? | | An agency’s staff attended a seminar, where the instructor advised that agencies could be committing fraud by issuing certificates showing full limits of liability coverage, if there had been paid claims on the policy. But the agency employees had thought that the statement on the certificate form, “Limits Shown May Have Been Reduced by Paid Claims,” was sufficient to address this situation. Who’s correct? | | Author: Bill Wilson | | |
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