Rough Notes back issues from April 2006:
BE A SERVICE PRO TO REDUCE UNPLEASANT SURPRISES
Apr 01, 2006; ... Start by asking well-chosen questions Surprise! Followed by a chorus of "Happy Birthday" or "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," this word brings a big smile to your face. On the other hand, if the surprise comes from the words "I'm sorry, you're not covered," it brings the opposite ...
ALABAMA AGENCY GROWS 35% IN ONE YEAR
Apr 01, 2006; ... Here's how Weaver Insurance Group did it Terry Young, president of Weaver Insurance Group in Birmingham, Alabama, boosted his agency revenue by 35%. I've seen more. You probably have too. But for a one million dollar agency, an extra $350,000 is nothing to sneeze at. Especially when it ...
COURT DECISIONS
Apr 01, 2006; ... Digested from case reports published in Westlaw, West Publishing Co., St. Paul, MN Does misrepresentation of residence bar recovery? David H. Scannell owned a Massachusetts automobile insurance policy with uninsured motorist limits of $250,000 per person and $500,000 per ...
RISK MANAGEMENT: A BOARD ISSUE YET?
Apr 01, 2006; ... Lloyd's study finds increased interest at the board level, but more progress is needed Three years ago only one in ten boards spent more than 10% of their time on formal risk management. Today, however, that percentage is almost 40%. For a variety of reasons, risk management has ...
CREDIT FOR REINSURANCE LAWS
Apr 01, 2006; ... Lloyd's chairman decries inequitable treatment of foreign reinsurers Last January, at a meeting in New York, Lloyd's of London's Chairman Lord Peter Levene spoke before the Downtown Association and Insurance Brokers Association of New York. During his presentation, which embraced the ...
FINANCIAL GUARANTEE INSURANCE
Apr 01, 2006; ... FORCE POWER The Agency Specialty Product Network (ASPN) is a resource exclusively designed for independent insurance agents and brokers of any size organization. With more than 30 provider companies representing the industry's most respected wholesalers, managing general underwriters and ...
IN THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE!
Apr 01, 2006; ... HFA Haywood and Fleming Associates engages the city of Gary, Indiana MARKETING AGENCY OF THE MONTH Roosevelt Haywood, III, grew up around the insurance business. Although both his mom and dad came to Gary, Indiana, from the South to work in the mills, his father quickly moved on ...
NEW ASPN LINKS PROVIDE MARKET CLOUT FOR MGAS, RETAIL AGENTS
Apr 01, 2006; ... BISYS Specialty Programs/Tri-City Brokerage and PWIB wholesale brokerage, underwriting operations join ASPN Network In January 2006, executives from BISYS Commercial Insurance Services' Specialty Programs and Tri-City Brokerage divisions and executives from PWIB (Pacific Wholesale ...
THE NIGHT SHIFT
Apr 01, 2006; ... ReSource Pro helps MGAs add hours to their day Uh-oh. Fifteen thousand D&O policies to rewrite and three months to do it. That was the task that confronted New York City-based Distinguished Programs several years ago when the carrier that underwrote the program went bankrupt. At ...
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS GOES HIGH-TECH
Apr 01, 2006; ... To be competitive, agencies must master benefits administration technology If it wasn't tough enough to keep up with the rapidly changing world of employee benefits plan designs, state and federal regulation, and cost containment strategies, agents and brokers have a whole new territory ...
BUSINESS INCOME INSURANCE
Apr 01, 2006; ... Lost earnings and extra expenses-a sizeable exposure for small and large businesses Many businesses fail to survive a lengthy period of lack of income because they have neglected to invest in what once was called business interruption insurance. Recently, a combination of circumstances ...
THE BUSINESS OF FUN
Apr 01, 2006; ... From school sports to pro athlete insurance, Francis L. Dean & Associates serves the recreation market Whenever people gather for fun, whether it's a high school football playoff or a classical music concert, the risk of an accident is always present. A 300-pound tackle slams a ...
LLOYD'S SYNDICATES SET UP SHOP CLOSER TO U.S. BROKERS
Apr 01, 2006; ... Hiscox Group follows Beazley in establishing office in U.S. to write smaller premium business This year, the London-based Hiscox Group will become the second Lloyd's of London syndicate to open an office in the United States. Hiscox is a specialty lines insurer that writes what its chief ...
DON'T EVER GIVE UP!
Apr 01, 2006; ... Severely injured as a young man, Jack Fessler used grit and brains to build a successful independent agency When life hands you lemons, a popular cliché says, make lemonade. That's easy to say ... unless you happen to be the one holding the lemons. The lemons that rolled into ...
NONPROFIT D&O: A GROWTH MARKET
Apr 01, 2006; ... RLI looks to expand its book of D&O and EPL for nonprofits In a kinder, gentler time, no one even thought of suing a nonprofit entity, whether it was a small community hospital or an internationally known charity. The people who ran such organizations were assumed to be ethical, ...
MAKING A BUSINESS CASE FOR ERM
Apr 01, 2006; ... Value-based ERM lets companies quantify the process Enterprise risk management (ERM) continues to be a hot management topic for many industries. However, the early implementers remain primarily in the financial services industry. The main reason for this is that financial risks more ...
NECESSITY: THE MOTHER OF INVENTION
Apr 01, 2006; ... Life insurers use securitization to meet increased reserve requirements Some things in life are certain-death, taxes, and insurance company reserves. All insurance companies are required to maintain reserves. And, while there are any number of definitions for the word "reserves," in ...
ISO LIQUOR LIABILITY POLICY
Apr 01, 2006; ... Company A and Company B are profitable businesses that make roughly $1 million annually. Company A has fewer than 50 employees while Company B has more than 100 on its payroll. The two operations are insured by commercial general liability (CGL) policies and they face a similar problem. Late ...
THE REGULATORS' TRIFECTA
Apr 01, 2006; ... Troubles came in threes for AIG Race track aficionados who place bets, and that's probably near the 100% mark, dream of that moment when the horses they chose for win, place and show cross the finish line in that exact order. The odds for this achievement are considered slim, but the ...
REACHING THE DECISION TO SELL
Apr 01, 2006; ... Sometimes the road can be full of curves Many agency principals assume that reaching the decision to sell to a third party is a fairly straightforward process. In the majority of cases it is anything but that, with agency principals reaching that decision only after exploring various ...
CYBERFRAUD: THE NEED FOR ACTION
Apr 01, 2006; ... Online schemes and scams abound, and losses cost billions Insurance fraud accounts for more than $100 billion in losses each year. To this total, we must add the growing cost of cybercrimes in the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that more than 2,000 ...
HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
Apr 01, 2006; ... Hotels, bars and restaurants Insurance premiums have become the fastest growing expense for U.S. hotel owners, according to PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR). Despite a slight decline in 2004, the payments made by hotel managers for general liability and property insurance have more than ...
COMMITTEE MENTORS MEMBERSHIP
Apr 01, 2006; ... The AAMGA Membership Committee is charged with keeping association members-especially new members-abreast of the benefits and special services that the AAMGA has to offer. This committee has evolved into a sort of "mentor" for AAMGA membership, offering assistance and guidance in dealing with ...
NEW PRESIDENT CONTINUES TO ADVANCE AAMGA'S CORE GOALS
Apr 01, 2006; ... Anderson focuses on education, networking and global presence When Francis Johnson, president of the Charleston, South Carolina-based Johnson & Johnson, Inc., took the helm of the AAMGA last year, he had several goals in mind. One was to build on the successes of his predecessor, Joe ...
BEYOND NETWORKING
Apr 01, 2006; ... Besides learning from industry veterans and peers, the Under Forty Organization gains valuable insight into international markets and reinsurance The AAMGA's Under Forty Organization (UFO) has grown considerably since the group's inception. Initially, "only under forty" relatives of ...
INFORMATION IN REAL TIME
Apr 01, 2006; ... Automation Committee keeps AAMGA members ahead of the curve Each year, prior to the AAMGA annual meeting, the association's Automation & Technology Committee hosts a conference for chief information technology officers, IT specialists, and principals of MGAs and companies ....
AMERICAN MODERN HOME PRESIDENT DISCUSSES INDUSTRY CONDITIONS
Apr 01, 2006; ... First of series of audio interviews running at AAMGA Web site AAMGA members now have a new educational tool at their disposal. Periodically, the AAMGA Web site will contain audio versions of interviews with insurance industry market leaders. Called "In Context," the audio interviews will ...
JOINING FORCES
Apr 01, 2006; ... With a common mission, three committees gain strength by working together The new AAMGA Marketing Committee is an umbrella which, since June 2005, has been coordinating the tasks of three previous AAMGA committees, as well as the new combined venture's mission to spread the brand and ...
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CONTINUES VIGILANCE
Apr 01, 2006; ... Informing members on issues and educating legislators about MGAs makes for a full agenda It was business as usual last year for the AAMGA Governmental Affairs Committee, headed by James A. Roe of the Arlington/Roe & Co. in Indianapolis, Indiana. The committee is charged with ...
JANUARY JUNKETS
Apr 01, 2006; ... Midwinter trip to upper Midwest brings in a harvest of cold facts In 1991,1 worked on the staff of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). I took a trip on the NAIC's dime that my fellow staff members quickly dubbed "The Junket." The excursion took me to ...
D&O SYMPOSIUM
Apr 01, 2006; ... The costs of dealing with directors and officers claims is on the rise and the "life cycle" of D&O cases is becoming longer. Discussion of D&O market conditions attracts insurance professionals More than 1,400 insurance professionals attended the PLUS 2006 Directors and ...
INSURING THE FITNESS CRAZE
Apr 01, 2006; ... Health clubs: A market that continues to grow and mature For those of you who, like myself, are older than dirt, you can remember the days when health clubs were a complete misnomer. There was little healthy about them. The swimming pool, if there was one, and the shower area were ...
SPECIALIZATION REQUIRED
Apr 01, 2006; ... Captives need a bank with expertise in the field Every captive insurance company must establish a number of key operating relationships. The captive manager is typically at the top of this list. However, another relationship that is close to the top is the banking relationship. In recent ...
SERVING UP HOSPITALITY
Apr 01, 2006; ... Hospitality specialty is a natural for Heffernan Group "In creating a niche practice, we first develop expertise by focusing on the specific marketplace and needs of clients within those niches." -Steve Williams The San Francisco Bay area is known for its culinary prowess ...
CLIENT-CENTRIC MARKETING
Apr 01, 2006; ... Capturing true customer loyalty is a multi-step, multi-media process "Client or customer centric" has become a much ballyhooed catch phrase. A keyword search on Google turns up literally millions of references to the phrase (or some variation). But if you are talking about ...
TAMING THE DATA MONSTER WITH EXCEL
Apr 01, 2006; ... Part III-Pulling the rabbit out of the hat If you have followed the previous articles in this series which appeared in the September 2005 and December 2005 issues of Rough Notes, you now have some tools to help you master large collections of data-to sort, sub-total, and condense that ...
RIMS LOOKS TO THE FUTURE
Apr 01, 2006; ... Incoming president stresses QIP and ERM as major agenda items The Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) is a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to advancing the practice of risk management worldwide. The organization represents nearly 3,800 industrial, service, ...
ACTUARIAL INVOLVEMENT IN CAPTIVE FORMATIONS
Apr 01, 2006; ... Brokers considering a captive will have early contact with actuary For nearly every current and future captive owner, it all started with a feasibility study to determine the best risk-financing option. The feasibility study, which typically emanates from a consultant, captive manager, ...
ROUGH NOTES PRESENTS: 2006 Community Service Award
Apr 01, 2006; ... Just how high can the bar be raised? When it comes to accomplishments that merit The Rough Notes Company's annual Community Service Award, no one seems to know. Year after year, the award program's executive director, Robert N. Kretzmer, marvels at the philanthropic achievements ...
PUBLIC OFFICIAL LIABILITY POLICIES
Apr 01, 2006; ... A plethora of features and exclusions makes policy comparisons essential At one time, it was worth the exercise to compare the wording of public official lability policies for the best possible coverage; but because policies are being prepared today with a growing list of exclusions and ...
DEBATING INDUSTRY ISSUES
Apr 01, 2006; ... Prospects for the property and casualty insurance business, at least in the near future, are promising, according to a panel of industry analysts, sponsored jointly by several insurance industry groups and brought together by the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) at its annual industry ...
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE
Apr 01, 2006; ... Strategies to boost success What a fabulous time it is to be a woman in business! Today, unlimited opportunities in all career fields and technological capabilities offer us flexibility as to where and when we work. But there are still obstacles to women's workplace success which need to ...
GOING Global
Apr 01, 2006; ... Mid-sized brokers join the international marketplace The history of the United States insurance industry's operations in foreign countries has not been a very long one. As recently as the 1970s, only a handful of insurance companies had offices overseas. You can't really count American ...
"A PICTURE IS WORTH ..."
Apr 01, 2006; ... Fine arts insurance specialist describes the intricacies and opportunities of the collectibles market Television and movies have a tendency to romanticize particular professions. For instance, James Garner's life as a private detective in the "Rockford" series is much more glamorous, ...
TORT REFORM: A NEW APPROACH
Apr 01, 2006; ... Proponents claim consumers lose in current environment Tort reform-two words that have been on the Christmas wish list for big business every year for decades, and two words that have struck fear in the hearts of plaintiffs' attorneys for just as long. Moreover, those two words have ...
Automobile Clubs and Insurance
Apr 01, 2006; ... Rough Notes magazine, March, 1932 Selling Automobile Insurance ANY effort of the Ohio State Automobile Association, or automobile clubs in any city of Ohio, should be thought of in a very distinct and separate way from any efforts of certain individuals in Ohio connected with the ...