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... investments (junk bonds, too much real estate) Agent grapevine is giving some ...olvencies will continue to be of major and immediate concern for agents during...

...lines” is a misnomer, because it’s really a list of the agency’s contractual b...omply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

... money when you use our directory of carriers, wholesalers and service providers. Negotiate lucrative contracts with carriers and wholesalers. Net result. More revenue for your agency! Clients & Prospects will research you, your co-workers and your agency here. The most comprehensive online insurance industry reference library for - Personal Lines Professionals Commercial Lines Professionals Life/Health & Benefits Professionals Online newsletters and content that you can use for your clients and social media efforts. Ability to attach leads and clients to your specific market searches, with e-mail alerts for all ... . No warranties, express or implied, are made that the list is either a predictor or a guarantor of a company's financial condition. To illustrate the use of the Insolvency Checklist, please download this financial information excerpted from a 1983 A.M. Best report on a real carrier we'll call the Big Red Insurance Co. (to protect the innocent, guilty, and embarrassed) . Big Red was declared insolvent in 1985. The document presents seven categories of A. M. Best information as exhibits:General Information (Exhibit 1 ... there been any negative operating income or sustained underwriting losses during the past three to five years? Yes. Exhibit 5 indicates a significant deterioration of underwriting and bottom-line operating losses over the past five years. Has the company made any questionable investments (in affiliates, real estate, cash increases, low yields, etc.)? Yes. Using the yields and asset values from Exhibit 2, Big Red's return on investment was only about 2% . In addition, the cash component of the investment portfolio increased from 12.2% to ...

... money when you use our directory of carriers, wholesalers and service providers. Negotiate lucrative contracts with carriers and wholesalers. Net result. More revenue for your agency! Clients & Prospects will research you, your co-workers and your agency here. The most comprehensive online insurance industry reference library for - Personal Lines Professionals Commercial Lines Professionals Life/Health & Benefits Professionals Online newsletters and content that you can use for your clients and social media efforts. Ability to attach leads and clients to your specific market searches, with e-mail alerts for all ... or from their own professional malpractice; but they do provide protection from cross-liability for E&O and torts of the LLP's other participants. Your clients-and you-can benefit from LLCs in a number of ways: Consider using one instead of a partnership or sole proprietorship to hold real estate (such as your agency office building) . Benefits include tax, cash and profit allocation opportunities, and Liability protection. Consider them as one asset-protection strategy. For example, clients often place individual apartment buildings into a series of separate LLCs to compartmentalize their ... be aware of their additional sales opportunities! Agency owners can also use LLCs to improve clusters greatly, enhancing their ability to acquire another agency (or to hire an established producer with a book of business) . Owners can even use LLCs to help with their own estate planning. THE BASICS LLCs are hybrids, combining corporate and partnership characteristics. Every state now allows them in one form or another. They provide Personal Liability protection for members against outside third parties (analogous to the protections of a corporation), fire walls' ...

...hip or sole proprietorship to hold real estate (such as your agency office building)...ary E. Jacobson, JD can be reached at Vander Wel, Jacobson, Bishop & Magnusson...

... or circumstances' affecting the financial stability of the company and the quality of the insurance protection being provided. Monitoring the financial condition of carriers has clearly become an on-going legal responsibility. It is also emerging as a public relations issue for agents. Comparisons between the insurance industry and the S&L situation are frequent fodder for the press. And the recent failures of several Life insurance carriers have served to fuel the flames. Insureds are demanding that agents have adequate information on insurance companies. It is part of the package of professional ... Dramatic changes in written premiums from one year to the next Surplus growing faster than 10% a year (could be unstable growth) Transfer of loss reserve portfolio (manipulation of the financial statement) Consistently under-reserving on your claims Questionable investments (junk bonds, too much real estate) Agent grapevine is giving some negative signals SECTION III-ITEMS THAT COULD BE INDICATIONS OF SOME FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES: Assign one (1 ) point for every YES answer on the portion of the checklist. Consistently poor business decisions being made Information coming from branch inconsistent with ... from home office Employee morale down and turnover among underwriters up Letter from company denying rumors (add extra point if you hadn't heard rumors) Change in agency contracts, especially termination or profit-sharing procedures Extensive changes in agency force (many appointments or terminations) Makes erratic changes in underwriting authority, either more or less Slowdown in paying claims Slowdown in processing return premium endorsements and audits Overall deterioration in service Much lower rates or higher commissions than similar companies Enters new lines of business or markets that other companies are avoiding Sudden withdrawal from a territory ...

... or circumstances' affecting the financial stability of the company and the quality of the insurance protection being provided. Monitoring the financial condition of carriers has clearly become an on-going legal responsibility. It is also emerging as a public relations issue for agents. Comparisons between the insurance industry and the S&L situation are frequent fodder for the press. And the recent failures of several Life insurance carriers have served to fuel the flames. Insureds are demanding that agents have adequate information on insurance companies. It is part of the package of professional ... Dramatic changes in written premiums from one year to the next Surplus growing faster than 10% a year (could be unstable growth) Transfer of loss reserve portfolio (manipulation of the financial statement) Consistently under-reserving on your claims Questionable investments (junk bonds, too much real estate) Agent grapevine is giving some negative signals SECTION III-ITEMS THAT COULD BE INDICATIONS OF SOME FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES: Assign one (1 ) point for every YES answer on the portion of the checklist. Consistently poor business decisions being made Information coming from branch inconsistent with ... from home office Employee morale down and turnover among underwriters up Letter from company denying rumors (add extra point if you hadn't heard rumors) Change in agency contracts, especially termination or profit-sharing procedures Extensive changes in agency force (many appointments or terminations) Makes erratic changes in underwriting authority, either more or less Slowdown in paying claims Slowdown in processing return premium endorsements and audits Overall deterioration in service Much lower rates or higher commissions than similar companies Enters new lines of business or markets that other companies are avoiding Sudden withdrawal from a territory ...

...la Beach & Tennis Club, Inc. v. Industrial Indemnity Co. (1993) 19 Cal.App.4th...ell as contract claims. Gilmer v. Intestate/Johnson Lane Corp. (1991) ___ U.S....

...with only marginal vigilance, this real-life insolvency could have been 'predi...uating a carrier’s financial stability and minimizing the risk of an E&O c...