IIABA Prez Sees Signs Of Price Softening

By Mark E. Ruquet

NU Online News Service, Sept. 23, 4:26 p.m. EDT, Las Vegas?While insurance company executives insist that premium prices will continue to rise, one high-ranking member of an independent agent's association said he has seen signs of carrier competition that could precede another soft market cycle.

W. Cloyce Anders, president of the Alexandria, Va.-based Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, said that the biggest challenge the industry faces is whether carriers have the discipline to continue profitable underwriting or will soon go back to competitive pricing.

Speaking during a panel discussion during the IIABA annual convention here, Mr. Anders, who is president of VFIS of North Carolina and Anders, Ireland, & Marshall, Inc., both in Raleigh, N.C., said he recently reviewed some quotes on an account where one carrier was giving a quote substantially "below market price" on the line.

His thought, he said, was, "here we go again." He also worried that some carriers may "go back and drive a line [of business] back into the ground."

While Mr. Anders stressed the need for strong partnerships between agents and companies, he also said that agents need stable insurance markets so they can feel confident about the future.

His comments were part of a wide ranging discussion on insurance issues held on Sunday, Sept. 21, during the Young Agents Conference part of the IIABA's InfoXchange held Sept. 21 to 24.

The presidents panel discussion also featured Mike Davidson, vice president and senior officer, independent agent organizations for MetLife Auto and Home based in New York; Mhayse Samalya, president of Hanover Insurance in Atlanta, Ga.; and Tom Van Berkel, president and chief executive officer for Main Street America Group.

For his part, when asked about commercial premiums, Mr. Samalya said he believes prices will continue to increase, but the increases will not be as "extreme as in the past."

When it comes to agents partnering with companies, the executives said there is plenty of opportunity for young agents in the future.

"We are looking for diversity in agency, personal and casualty lines, and financial services" said Mr. Davidson. That diversity also goes to the workforce, he said. MetLife is seeking more African-American, Hispanic, women, and other ethnic groups to broaden the company's reach.

He noted that while an agency selling personal lines business can expect an average customer retention of around seven years in auto and homeowner policies, the retention rates for life and financial services products are significantly longer.

"[Agents] miss the boat if they are not in financial services," he said.

Main Street America's Mr. Van Berkel said the choice of what an agency sells needs to be based on the needs of the community the agency is dealing in. The expansion of product lines is a "natural" expansion of the community's needs.

Hanover Insurance's Mr. Samalya said that if agents look at their clients "from a needs perspective," then that approach will lead them to sell more insurance in their customers' lives.

All the executives said that they are proponents of single entry technology and that their companies are working with others to get there. Mr. Van Berkel said he did not believe that any one technology would dominate, but that it would be a number of different forms of technology that would achieve the single entry format.

Mr. Samalya said his only concern with the direction technology is currently going in is that the single entry formats would not allow for carriers to ask the questions they need to in order to show what "differentiates" them from others. He also said he feared that the whole issue would come down to a question of price, forgetting about the quality of product.

Mr. Anders said agents are not simply looking for price, but that they want to find quality products for their clients and to offer the proper types of coverage according to client needs. And agents will continue to do that, he said.

He worried that while companies may be on the verge of enabling single entry technology, some agents may not be in a position technologically to take advantage of it. Mr. Anders said agents have got to get ready for the future in their offices.

On the issue of attracting new talent, Mr. Samalya said that the industry has to able to tell its story--that it is in the business of solving people's problems nad meeting their needs, rather than just selling insurance.

Mr. Van Berkel noted that the industry has failed to sell itself to the public and to get people interested in the business.

"Insurance is about rebuilding people's lives in the face of disaster," he said.

Noting what the industry has done to help rebuild after 9/11, the industry has done a poor job of getting its story told about how it has contributed to the rebuilding.

"We do a pretty noble job and we do not get the word out," he observed.

The biggest problem right now, said Mr. Anders, is the industry is not recruiting new people, but simply recycling people already in the business. He said IIABA is pushing the future with its InVEST program to educate young people about the business and raise their interest.

Mr. Davidson noted: "No one here thought of growing up to be in the insurance business."

For its part, he said, MetLife does have recruiting programs and is continually looking for new faces to bring into the business.

"There is not enough selling about what we do," he said.

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IIABA Prez Sees Signs Of Price Softening

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