Agency Operations

Are insurance agents “professionals”? Is an insurance agent considered as skilled in his or her discipline as a doctor, lawyer, architect, engineer, etc.? Professionals are held to a higher standard…

We all know how important E&O loss control is within the agency. However, most agents don’t attend a formal E&O loss control seminar more than once every couple of years,…

An insurer recently sent its agency force a “Good News!” bulletin advising that it was no longer necessary to send it copies of most certificates of insurance. The bulletin also…

With the series of disasters the past few years, from Western mudslides and wildfire toGulf Coast hurricanes to flooding in New England, we have seen an unprecedented increase in the…

Errors and omissions are something we should all focus on all the time. However, in a hard market, E&O claims have a tendency to rise in both frequency and severity…

Recently our faculty was asked to identify the Top 3 ways to minimize E&O claims. In this article, we’ll provide their responses, along with an article from our E&O carrier…

Agency websites have become a core component of the marketing strategy for many independent agencies, but they also may present errors and omissions exposures that must be managed. This article…

Having taught agent E&O seminars since 1988, one of the most common sources of E&O claims involves failure to communicate. In this article, we’ll examine a serious breakdown in communications…

According to Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, two-thirds to three-quarters of buildings are underinsured by 25-40%. If an insured suffers an underinsured loss, whose fault is it? According to one recent court…

An agent asks, “What is considered ‘best practices’ for entering into agency agreements with smaller wholesalers who have niche or specialty markets, many of whom are Internet based? Is it…