Archive for February, 2011
Video: Pusey Discusses If Deficit Debate Will Affect Flood Insurance? Taxes?
Following the November elections, Congress and the White House, as well as states, have signaled that they will be focusing on deficit and debt issues in the year 2011. Might this debate affect the National Flood Insurance Program? Lee Ann Pusey, president and CEO of the industry’s American Insurance Association, thinks that is possible. In [...]
Video: Find Out How To Maximize Your Search Engine Marketing
Paradiso Insurance president Chris Paradiso says successful use of search engine marketing has given his agency a 30% conversation rate in sales this year. But the agency’s recent sales success doesn’t come at a cost. In this interview with Adam DeGraide, Paradiso explains how monitoring closing ratio and a commitment to finding the right [...]
Allstate Set To Get Out of The Banking Business
The Allstate Corp., the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer, is getting out of the banking business. Discover Bank, a division of Discover Financial Services, is purchasing the $1.1 billion deposits of Allstate Bank and the two have entered into to a multi-year distribution and marketing agreement. Discover Bank will assume the Allstate Bank [...]
Healthcare Reform Could Cause Possible Struggles for Insurance Industry
The stakes are high for policymakers to make healthcare reform a success. As the changes get underway, it remains to be seen how they will affect insurers. A study conducted by Conning Research and Consulting reveals that the medical professional liability industry can expect its profit margin to shrink, as the result of more competition [...]
‘Astronomical’ Snow and Ice Claims According to Insurance Agent
Winter 2011 has dumped more than 70 inches of snow on local streets and homes and a mountain of damage claims on the desks of insurance agents like Liz Puleo and Joyce Racki. “It’s astronomical right now,” Racki said Monday as she summed up the number of damage claims filed during the last two months [...]
More And More Insurance Agents Are Using Facebook To Reach Clients
Corporate America has gradually warmed up to social networking this past year, as companies have discovered the benefits of advertising on popular online services like Facebook. But Hearsay, a start-up co-founded by ex-Google/Salesforce.com alumni Clara Shih, thinks companies can also benefit by making their employees interact more on social networks. – Read the full story [...]
Insurance Agent Charged With Using Her Dead Mother’s Name For Bank Fraud
An insurance agent awaiting sentencing for defrauding her employer has been hit with new charges that allege bank fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Kimberly Michell Bisslessi, 34, of Mobile, pleaded not guilty to the new charges last week in Mobile’s federal court. According to the indictment, Bisslessi used the name and Social Security [...]
Video: Getting to Know You through Social Media
When we first talked to Cindy Donaldson, Director of Marketing & Personal Lines Sales for Founder’s Group about a year ago, the company was in the early stages of their social media journey. We thought it would be fun to go back and see how the agency was progressing. According to Cindy, their goal [...]
Marsh Sees Soft Commercial Insurance Market Continuing
Another report indicates that soft commercial insurance market conditions that persisted throughout the U.S. in 2010 will continue into 2011. Key commercial insurance market drivers from 2009—including intense competition among insurers, abundant capacity, and relatively few insured catastrophe losses—continued through 2010 and are forming market conditions for 2011, global insurance broker Marsh said in its [...]
A Look Back at 21st Century Insurance’s Turbulent Year
In what analysts are calling another blow to the local economy and to a company with a notable history in the Valley, the Woodland Hills offices of auto insurer 21st Century Insurance could lose up to 750 jobs in the next 16 months as its new parent, LA-based Famers Insurance Group, consolidates operations. Farmers, a [...]