Our publisher Steve Acunto writes his editorial Foreword on page 4 of each issue and gives the industry one of its best read, often quoted columns.
Mergers and acquisitions of insurance agents and brokers last year broke several records in 2018, according to OPTIS Partners’ annual report. OPTIS logged a record 626 deals in the United States and Canada in 2018, including 330 transactions in the second half of the year and 148 transactions during the fourth quarter. There were 611 […]
Cannot resist using this space, in which insurance and its intersection with social trends comes to you fortnightly, to note that social civility and successful insuring are related, even interdependent on so many levels. When I read of an utter disgrace – such as the bills providing for late term, I mean late, late term […]
Happy to hear from Dan Palmieri, John Di Forte, Joe Coughlin and so many friends over the holidays. Had a lovely dinner with friends and their spouse in Palm Beach: Jim Wrynn, Vince Laurenzano, Marty Carus, and Marsha Cohen. There is life in Palm Beach…up to about 9:00PM.… Am I missing something or is the […]
Linda Lacewell has been nominated Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services. She would succeed Maria Vullo in the role. Ms. Lacewell most recently served as Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Governor. In that role, she oversaw Executive Chamber operations, as well as ethics and law enforcement matters. Ms. Lacewell […]
This is a holiday letter as 2018 closes, but I cannot wax too poetically about the season or the past year, given the great insurance professionals we lost and given this past year’s growing factionalism in seemingly everything. I mean everything. The incessant white noise, the insane bickering on TV, whether its Fox or MSNBC […]
The recent IFNY Luncheon was a 10-rounder for the “Old Boys Club,” as the industry used to be called, as women won all of IFNY’s awards for 2018. Now, how to compliment the winners and not run amok of accepted politically correct guidelines – most of which I do find properly correct. Inga Beale, former […]
Bob Wallach, rumors have it, is in the process of reorganizing the Robert Plan 2.0 for a different market and under a different structure. The “wiz kid” as he was known told us to “watch and see”…and we will…just as we watched his legendary Dad, Bill Wallach, amaze and astound an entire industry.… Speaking of […]
Just to pass along some new data on small business employee satisfaction, the category of most agencies, it appears that the triumphs and challenges of small businesses can augur the mega trends of the American economy. Aflac just conducted its 2018 Small Business Happiness Survey with 1,000 small business employees across the U.S. to determine […]
“Home insurers’ investments in improved digital interaction channels and bundled product offerings that combine multiple policies under one account are paying off in the form of the highest levels of customer satisfaction in the history of our study,” according to the J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Home Insurance StudySM. However, the ability of insurers to maintain […]
Our popular columnist, Barry Zalma, has just put pen to paper and has produced claims books that are worth the money – really. His premise is that it is the insurance claims person – the adjuster – who works to keep the promises made by the insurance policy. The adjuster cannot, however, help the insurer […]
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