THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2010 

                                                Big “I” National News


Big "I" Employee Benefits
Big “I” Partners with LifeSource 
Program offers access dedicated life sales and case management team.

Looking to add “life” to your agency? Could your agency use a boost to its cash flow? Could you use a boost in your income? That's a loaded question as it's hard to imagine anyone answering no. The tougher question is, how?

Big "I" Employee Benefits has teamed up with LifeSource to offer you a full suite of life, disability, annuity and critical care products which, with high first year commissions, are great ways to infuse premium into your agency. LifeSource is more than just a market provider. It offers a dedicated sales and case management team to assist you during the sales process, including development of proposals, dealing with underwriting issues that may arise and getting the case bound. If a perceived lack of product knowledge has made you reluctant to aggressively sell life, disability and annuity products, you only have to ask if your clients are interested in learning more about those products and then pass them on to LifeSource. This is the same way the very successful bond program works.

LifeSource maintains relationships with more than 200 carriers, and they closely partner with a subset of these carriers to offer a product suite with the depth necessary to meet almost any client need. LifeSource's technology-driven insurance distribution solutions include the most advanced Internet-based capabilities and the pre-eminent administration system to support all aspects of processing with multiple insurance companies.

For more information, contact Christine Muñoz (christine.munoz@iiaba.net), or if you are ready to quote, submit a request by logging onto Big "I" Markets and selecting Big "I" Employee Benefits LifeSource from the offline product menu.


Big “I” News
Erie Insurance Joins Future One
Group is the largest and longest-standing agent-company coalition in the country.

Erie Insurance has joined Future One, a collaboration of the Big “I” and leading independent agency companies. Established in 1981, Future One is the largest and longest-standing, agent-company coalition in the country. Future One’s goals include bringing the industry’s stakeholders together, developing policy consensus on both national and state-specific issues and working to implement positive changes to insurance law via both the legislative and regulatory process. Recent involvement includes: credit scoring, efforts to repeal the McCarran-Ferguson Act’s antitrust exemption, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), natural disaster legislation, agent licensing reform, systemic risk/resolution authority, certificates of insurance, excess & surplus lines reform and health care reform.

Future One also conducts a biennial Agency Universe Study that investigates and analyzes trends affecting the independent agency system and the decisions of consumers relative to the purchase of insurance. This study, first conducted in 1983, is widely regarded as the most comprehensive and authoritative investigation available on the independent agency distribution force. Carriers then use this information to develop and refine industry-specific Best practices.

According to A.M. Best Company, Erie Insurance, based in Erie, Pa., is the 16th largest automobile insurer in the United States based on direct premiums written and the 18th largest property/casualty insurer in the United States based on total lines net premium written.


Education
Nonprofit Executive Liability Webinar Planned
Learn how the economy, employment trends and claims statistics impact the operation and liabilities of nonprofits.

Join Diane Voit for the Nonprofit Executive Liability Series Webinar—“The Mystery Solved” on April 27, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. ET. The webinar will begin with an overview of how the economy, employment trends and claims statistics impact the operation and liabilities of nonprofits. Participants will analyze wording of the definitions and exclusions applicable to both the directors and officers and employment practices liability coverages. Topics will include definitions of insured, claim, wrongful act and publishers’ liability. Prior and pending litigation, bodily and personal injury, breach of contract and fraud exclusions will be covered. The Directors and Officers and Employment Practices liability coverage sections will each be analyzed individually through use of sample policy provisions. As a result of the analysis, participants will obtain a working knowledge of the coverages, exclusions, modifications and supplemental policies available to expand coverage. The session will conclude with suggestions for developing and analyzing quotations and use of a spreadsheet, with sample provided, for comparing quotations.  New Jersey agents can obtain two CE credits.

For more information and to register, click here. For questions, e-mail BestPractices@iiaba.net.


ACT
Sign Up for E&S Efficiency Webinar
Discussion will include use of ACORD standard applications, development of standard E&S supplements, electronic importing of data, download and other related topics.

The Retail Agent—E&S Market Initiative (a collaboration of the Independent Agents & Brokers of America’s Agents Council for Technology (ACT), the American Association of Managing General Agents (AAMGA), the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) and the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD)) will host a free webinar titled “Industry Initiatives to Improve the Efficiency of the E&S Market Make Progress,” on Monday, April 19 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. EDT. Participants include John Deibler, JBD Consulting; Angelyn Treutel, Treutel Insurance Agency; Eldon Hunsicker, NOEL Insurance Agency; Sharon Emek, CBS Coverage Group; Mike Ardis, NAPSLO; Cal Durland, ACORD; Mike Roy, CRC – Alabama and Jeff Yates, ACT executive director.

To register, click here.

This webinar will address the considerable progress being made to improve the efficiency of the E&S, program & broker markets for retail agents, GAs, wholesalers and carriers. Discussion will include use of ACORD standard applications, development of standard E&S supplements, electronic importing of data to avoid duplicate data entry, download and other related topics.

“The E&S, program and broker markets, are very important to most independent agents and yet agents often find these markets inefficient to deal with because of the lack of use of ACORD standard applications, duplicate data entry, absence of download and GA websites with minimal information and functionality,” says Jeff Yates, ACT executive director. “Over the last two years, ACT, AAMGA, NAPSLO and ACORD have formed and led the Retail Agent E&S Initiative in an effort to begin to address these inefficiencies and to encourage the use of the ACORD standards and more automation among all of the involved parties. The good news is that all of these efforts are starting to bear real fruit and it is important that agents and providers in these markets know about these developments and help us push for their broad implementation.”

ACT, AAMGA and NAPSLO formed the Retail Agent—E&S Market Initiative in 2008 to improve the efficiencies for retail agents, managing general agents, wholesale brokers and carriers in the E&S, program and broker markets. ACORD shortly thereafter joined the initiative as a full partner because of the key role its standard forms and electronic standards play in achieving the needed automation and efficiencies.