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BrokerLink Insurance announces grand opening of new Kingston branch 0

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BrokerLink Insurance announces grand opening of new Kingston branch

Toronto, ON (Sept. 19, 2024) – BrokerLink is pleased to announce the opening of a brand-new branch in Kingston, Ontario – its first location in this historic city. The Kingston branch, located in the heart of downtown at 202 Princess Street, will firmly establish the brokerage’s presence in southeastern Ontario and supports its strategic initiative for organic growth. “We didn’t want to wait for an acquisition to happen,” says Danny Da Costa, Vice President, Ontario and Digital Distribution. “Kingston is the centre of a geographic area where we see tremendous opportunity and we’ve had our eye on it for some time.” “Our existing customers in Kingston now have local options available, so they can contact us by phone, visit us online or drop by in person,” Da Costa continues. “This expansion allows us to extend our services to a wider audience, fostering deeper connections within the community.” BrokerLink customers and the Kingston community are welcome to stop by the new branch, located at 202 Princess Street. A ribbon-cutting ceremony with the city’s mayor is scheduled on Monday September 23, at 10:30 a.m. and is open to the public. About BrokerLink Since 1991 we’ve had a vision: to build a network...

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Registration for Louisiana Fortify Homes Program Grants Closes on September 20

Article 0 Comments Registration for the next round of Louisiana Fortify Homes Program (LFHP) grants is currently underway and will close at 5 p.m. on Friday, September 20, the Louisiana Department of Insurance announced. The registration period opened at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, September 18 with a high volume of homeowners creating profiles and logging into the LFHP system to register for the lottery. The high volume of registrants at the onset of the period resulted in long wait times and, in some cases, minor technical issues. Anyone interested in being considered for the lottery should register as soon as possible at www.ldi.la.gov/fortifyhomes. The system will close at 5 p.m. Those interested in the program are encouraged to review eligibility information and frequently asked questions on the LFHP website to determine whether their home meets the requirements for the program. Homeowners are required to create a profile in the LFHP system before registering for the lottery and may do so by visiting the LFHP website and clicking the Login button. Homeowners who previously created a profile may continue to use it. Once the lottery registration period closes, the LFHP will randomly select 300 participants from the pool of eligible registrants,...

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Holmes Murphy Opens New Office in Lincoln, Nebraska

Article 0 Comments Holmes Murphy announced the opening of a new office in Lincoln, Nebraska with a focus on client growth, talent attraction and increased opportunity for innovation. Prior to this new office, Holmes Murphy has had a location in Omaha for more than 23 years. The new office is a mile away from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus in the Nebraska Innovation Commons facility, located at 2021 Transformative Drive. Holmes Murphy said the location allows the company to tap into the talent pool coming out of the university and also provides the company with the ability to recruit top talent in the Lincoln area. Counting its office in Lincoln, Holmes Murphy has 15 offices in 11 states across the nation. Was this article valuable? Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article. Submit No Thanks Thank you! % of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it. Submit No Thanks Here are more articles you may enjoy. The most important insurance news,in your inbox every business day. Get the insurance industry’s trusted newsletter

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Clients With LLCs Need a Business Continuity Plan Check

The Connelly Ruling However, as the Connelly case illustrates, the IRS’s treatment of life insurance proceeds can have significant tax implications. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Connelly affirmed that life insurance proceeds, when used to fund a redemption obligation, do not reduce the value of the business for estate tax purposes. For LLC owners, this means that the proceeds from a life insurance policy could increase the taxable value of the business, potentially leading to a higher estate tax liability. To safeguard a client’s LLC from these unexpected tax consequences, work closely with a tax professional who can help the client use these best practices: Review and update buy-sell agreements: Ensure that the client’s buy-sell agreements are up-to-date and reflect the current legal landscape, including the implications of the Connelly ruling. Business owners should be reviewing these agreements now in the light of Connelly and, in the future, every three to five years. Consult with advisors: A business owner client should work closely with legal and tax advisors to understand how the IRS may treat life insurance proceeds within the client’s LLC structure. You, the tax advisors and the client should work together to develop strategies to mitigate potential estate tax liabilities....

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Wisconsin Contractor Faces $144K Fine for Endangering Workers

Article 0 Comments A suburban Madison, Wisconsin contractor with a history of federal safety failures – including violations that led to an employee’s fatal injuries in 2022 – has again been found exposing workers to the construction industry’s most deadly hazard – falls from elevation – during a federal safety inspection in February 2024. U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration compliance officers opened their inspection after observing six employees of GL Construction of Madison LLC at a Verona residential construction site doing framing work up to 12 feet off the ground without required protective equipment. Inspectors initiated their inspection under OSHA’s National Emphasis Program for Falls. The Sun Prairie company received citations for one willful, two repeat and five serious violations, and proposed $144,505 in penalties, the latest infractions for a contractor found defying federal safety regulations in inspections in each of the last four years. In October 2023, four months prior to the latest investigation, OSHA found employees exposed to falls and other hazards at a Sun Prairie worksite and cited the company for one repeat violation and two serious violations. The willful and repeat violations relate to similar safety failures OSHA found during its investigation...

Revolutionizing Insurance: It’s Time To Change Perceptions 0

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Revolutionizing Insurance: It’s Time To Change Perceptions

Free Partners releases “The Re:Generation Report” London, UK (Sept. 16, 2024) – The insurance industry is teetering on the brink of a major recruitment crisis. With an ageing workforce nearing retirement, the clock is ticking, and the talent pipeline is running dry. But here’s the real kicker: it’s not because young professionals are rejecting the industry – it’s because they fail to see how it will meet their career aspirations. We have the power to change that. The Perception Problem: It’s Not What You Think In our latest research, The Re:generation Report, Free Partners LLP surveyed over 1,000 young people across the UK and US. The results were eye-opening. The insurance industry is sitting on a goldmine of career opportunities – meaningful work, career growth, and work / social life harmony – but it’s wrapped in a package that’s perceived as staid, untrustworthy, and uninspiring. This isn’t a talent crisis; it’s a perception crisis. And it’s one we can fix. Infographic: Career aspirations of young people vs. what they believe a career in insurance can offer Why This Matters: The Future of Insurance Depends on You For CMOs, CEOs, insurance leaders, and HR professionals, this is your moment. The future...

Unica Insurance Announces Partnership with QuickFacts 0

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Unica Insurance Announces Partnership with QuickFacts

Mississauga, ON (Sept. 19, 2024) – Unica Insurance is proud to announce a partnership with QuickFacts, a revolutionary software solution dedicated to transforming insurance brokerage operations, enhancing efficiency and elevating client services. The partnership will give Unica brokers exclusive pricing to access the QuickFacts platform and immediately benefit from a 20-30% increase in efficiency. QuickFacts is a tool for brokers, built by brokers, and brings the power of comparative rating to the product level. It will allow brokers to generate side-by-side product feature and coverage comparisons from multiple carriers, with easy access to current manuals, bulletins, forms, decline rules, binding guidelines and more. This means a significant reduction in research time for brokers to find the best product and coverage solutions for their customers’ unique needs. “Unica specializes in tailored insurance solutions for a broker’s best clients, who prioritize comprehensive protection and trust their broker’s expertise,” said Chris Weston, VP of Business Development and Broker Financial Solutions at Unica Insurance. “We are committed to providing innovative products and empowering brokers with the tools and ongoing education they need to meet the unique needs of their customers. This reflects Unica’s dedication to delivering ease-of-doing-business solutions for the broker channel.” “At QuickFacts,...

Roots Automation Raises $22.2 Million to Unlock the Value Held within Unstructured Data across Insurance with AI 0

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Roots Automation Raises $22.2 Million to Unlock the Value Held within Unstructured Data across Insurance with AI

Capital will accelerate growth and build upon Roots Automation’s made-for-insurance AI, enabling carriers, TPAs, brokers, and agents to drive significant improvements in overall business performance New York, NY (Sept. 17, 2024) – Roots Automation, creator of the AI-powered Digital Coworker and InsurGPT™, the world’s first generative AI model for insurance, is pleased to announce the closing of a $22.2 million Series B funding round. Harbert Growth Partners led the round, with follow-on investments from MissionOG, Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures and Vestigo Ventures. Unstructured data trapped in everyday correspondence – including submissions, legal demands, and medical records – constitutes around 80% of all data across insurance. The inability to effectively harness this data for decision-making costs insurance companies $100 billion annually due to underpricing premiums, insurance fraud and overpaying claims. To address this, Roots Automation created the most advanced AI-powered Digital Coworker. It leverages Roots’ proprietary generative AI, InsurGPT, and the Roots Autonomous Workforce Platform to transform unstructured information into clear, actionable insights. This allows insurance leaders to make faster decisions with greater confidence. Roots Automation has delivered transformative results for the company’s 35 customers in the US insurance industry, including: 99% accuracy on data extraction for an East Coast-based regional P&C...

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On the Hunt for HNW Clients? Look to In-House Investment Banks

What You Need to Know A lack of product access has been cited as a critical source of attrition. Access to internal resources and products can give advisors greater trust in the solutions they recommend. Smaller independent wealth management firms can focus on providing access to capital to mid-market businesses, Wirehouse advisors know that going independent allows them to earn more money and often provide their clients with a more comprehensive range of services and products. However, a common refrain among these advisors is that elite clients will not stay with them without ready access to banking solutions. Yet, it seems that many high-net-worth individuals are considering making this move anyway.  A recent PwC survey found that 46% of HNW investors plan to change wealth management providers or add new wealth management relationships in the next 12 to 24 months. That’s in addition to the 39% of respondents who said they had already switched or established an additional relationship. While there are many reasons that affluent clients switch advisors, a lack of product access has been cited as a critical source of attrition, with over 27% of clients who have made a change in the past three years saying that...

Increasing Demand For Reinsurance in Volatile Environment: Swiss Re 0

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Increasing Demand For Reinsurance in Volatile Environment: Swiss Re

Growing demand for protection in property and specialty lines driven by elevated natural catastrophe risks, macroeconomic instability and politically charged environment Refined data and modelling, as well as optimised capital management important topics in the current environment In casualty, elevated litigation environment in the US a growing concern for the industry Armonk, NY (Sept. 9, 2024) – As the insurance industry convenes for the start of the renewals at the Rendez-Vous de Septembre, Swiss Re expects growing demand for reinsurance protection to be a key topic of discussion. The conversation will also revolve around forward-looking risk assessment and capital management – as adequate risk views and volatility management are important requirements in the uncertain environment. Urs Baertschi, Swiss Re’s Chief Executive Officer Property & Casualty Reinsurance, said: “The key topics for the industry remain largely unchanged from last year, but the challenges have intensified, leading to higher demand. Faced with elevated natural catastrophe risks, economic uncertainty and geopolitical instability, reinsurance is the natural way for insurers to protect themselves from outsized losses. We are ready to support our clients with our capital, expertise and solutions.” More demand for property and specialty Higher property values, urbanisation and rising repair costs due to inflation...