PIANH Symposium14, Oct. 2-3

Banter with your peers at PIANH’s Symposium14, Oct. 2-3, 2014, at the 100 Club and the Hilton Garden Inn, Portsmouth. This unique, two-day networking event features around-the-world wine and food tasting; PIANH’s Company Awards dinner; a keynote breakfast featuring Bernd G. Heinze, Esq., CLU; and an E&O session with Curt Pearsall, CPCU, CPIA, AU, ARM, AIAF, approved for 3 NHCEU. For more information, or to register, click here.  

PIANH meets with NHID

The New Hampshire Insurance Department invited PIANH to participate in a meeting to discuss issues facing producers in the state. During the meeting, the discussion touched on issues of New Hampshire’s newly passed raffle rebating law, the availability of homeowners coverage throughout the state, deficiencies with industry mapping software and issues involving claim resolution. For a more detailed account of the meeting, see next week’s PIANH Reporter.  

Click for more information.

NCCI to hold WC forum

The National Council on Compensation Insurance is hosting a New Hampshire State Advisory Forum on Sept. 16, 2014, at the Radisson Hotel Manchester Downtown, 700 Elm Street, Manchester, from 9 a.m.-noon, with a continental breakfast served at 8:30 a.m. The forum is designed to promote education and provide a greater understanding of both national and state workers’ compensation issues. To register and get more information, click here.  

NCCI issues Residual Market Second Quarter 2014 Report

The NCCI has released its NH Residual Market Second Quarter 2014 State Activity Report, which includes charts illustrating the total number of policy counts and/or premium volume over the past four years for the same quarter each year; tables listing the top 10 classification codes by policy count and premium volume (these show which class codes have top ranking and the percent of policies and percent of premiums); and charts with Loss Ratio, Ultimate Net Written Premium, Incurred Losses, and Estimated Net Operating Gain/Loss information (these show premiums, gains and losses during a period).  

The latest on ride sharing

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners recently released a consumer alert about how ride-sharing drivers may not be covered by insurance. PIA will have an article on ride sharing in your September edition of PIA magazine. Also, watch for PIA’s two-minute survey on this developing issue, launching Sept. 1. What this means for agents: Your insured may need to consider a commercial policy. More …   

NAIC adopts corporate governance models

NAIC adopted a Corporate Governance Annual Disclosure Model Act and supporting Model Regulation, which provides a means for insurance regulators to receive additional information on the corporate governance practices of U.S. insurers on an annual basis. Under the requirements of the Model Act, U.S. insurers will be required to provide a detailed narrative describing governance practices to their lead state or domestic regulator by June 1 of each year. More …  

NCCI gauges the economy

The NCCI released the August edition of its Gauging The Economy Newsletter. Highlights include: Premium—the projected moderate pace in employment and wage growth as labor market conditions improve should result in increases in workers’ compensation exposure and upward pressure on written premium; Frequency—preliminary results presented at NCCI’s 2014 Annual Issues Symposium showed that frequency decreased 2 percent in 2013; Indemnity Severity—benefit levels should increase, but the effect on financial performance will be muted by offsetting increases in premium; and Medical Severity—as usual, medical severity is likely to be the major factor contributing to changes in loss costs over the next couple of years.  

Trends in insurance agency hiring

According to a report by McKinsey & Co., insurance agents in the United States are about 59 years old, which means, that by 2018, one-fourth of the industry’s workforce is expected to retire. Additionally, a study conducted by MarshBerry tracked 440 producers hired in 2002. From this group of producers only 138 of them remained as of 2012. What this means for agents: An agency will need to hire three producers for every producer currently employed to have the same number of producers at the end of the decade. More …   

Click for more information.

October NFIP manual changes

The revisions to the National Flood Insurance Program Flood Insurance Manual that will become effective on Oct. 1, 2014, are posted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency website. These changes include the revised rate tables (RATE, CONDO and PRP sections).  

PIA, Floodbroker.com offer tools to help agents sell more flood insurance

PIANH and Floodbroker.com offer PIA-member agencies a unique sales tool to facilitate the sale of flood coverage and provide critical documentation of the agency’s efforts to do so. This agreement provides PIA-member agencies with a customized link installed on their own agency’s website to encourage current and prospective clients to consider and purchase flood coverage. The web portal leads consumers to flood insurance information, and with a simple application it will generate a quote for the customer, as well as a qualified lead for the agency to engage. More …  

Ask PIA: Transportation expenses

Q. Does a personal auto policy provide expenses for airfare if our insured is on vacation and his vehicle is stolen? A. The 2005 ISO Personal Auto Policy has a limited benefit for "transportation expenses." This coverage is limited to $20 per day, up to a maximum of $600, so it would not go very far toward the typical airline fare. Even if the optional limits endorsement (PP 03 02) is added to the PAP, there will still be a daily limit inadequate for an airline fare. For a more comprehensive answer to this question, here. To access our entire Ask PIA library of frequently asked questions and expert answers by PIA’s technical staff, click here.  

PIA’s Custom Class: NHCEU when and where you want it

With the PIA member-exclusive Custom Class program, your employees get tailored, targeted knowledge and continuing-education credit without leaving the office. Get more value out of the time and money your agency or company is investing in CE when you plan a program to suit your needs. With PIA Custom Class all licensed insurance professionals in your agency or company earn CE credits at the same time, at substantial cost savings. And, they’ll gain important knowledge specific to your business’s operations that they can start implementing immediately. PIA can help you create a winning spirit throughout your business while staying up-to-date with state licensing requirements. More …   

Upcoming PIANH Webinars

PIANH will offer the following Webinars in the next few months: E&O Hotspots … 2014 and Beyond^{^FF^UM} (Thursday, Sept. 4, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., NHCEU: 3 GEN PRO); Agency Underwriting Profitability and Contingency Bonus Maximization (Thursday, Sept. 18, from 10-11:45 a.m., NHCEU: 2 GEN PRO); Agency Staffing, Performance and Job Evaluations (Thursday, Oct. 2, from 10-11 a.m., NHCEU: N/A); E&O Hotspots … 2014 and Beyond^{^FF^UM} (Thursday, Oct. 16, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., NHCEU: 3 GEN PRO); Top Ten Personal Lines Endorsements (Tuesday, Oct. 21, from 10-11 a.m., NHCEU: 1 GEN PRO); Ethics—Something Worth Pursuing (Tuesday, Dec. 2, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., NHCEU: 3 ETHICS PRO); and Top Ten Commercial Lines Endorsements (Wednesday, Dec. 10, from 10-11 a.m., NHCEU: 1 GEN PRO). ^{^FF^UM}—This course has been approved for E&O loss-prevention credit by Fireman’s Fund and Utica Mutual. Call the PIA E&O Department for details at (800) 424-4244. For more information or to register, click here.  

Agency termination—know your rights

In today’s market, agents always run the risk of having their agency contract terminated by a carrier. PIANH offers a comprehensive analysis of the laws and regulations that affect an agent in this situation. For a copy of this analysis, access QS28064 in PIA’s QuickSource library.  

Click for more information.

This email message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. If you prefer not to receive ANY email communication from PIA click here.