Advice To MGAs: ?Be Educators'

By Mark E. Ruquet

NU Online News Service, May 20, 3:57 p.m. EDT, Phoenix, Ariz.?An industry expert told Managing General Agents meeting here that they need to begin thinking of themselves as educators and teach independent agents the unique needs of the wholesale market when placing risks.[@@]

That was the advice of Pegi Flahault, a consultant for Trillium Advisors Inc. (www.Trillium-Advisors.com) based in Black Mountain, N.C., during a session at the American Association of Managing General Agents 78^th annual meeting here titled, "When What You Don't Know About Liability Can Hurt You."

Ms. Flahault said with more new retail agents entering the insurance business and existing retail agents moving into the wholesale agent ranks, there is a lack of understanding of the importance of policy language for wholesale coverage, which has been made more complicated by the actions of attorneys.

"What seems very simple has gotten very complex," she observed.

Part of the problem, she said, comes from insurance companies, which have developed silos of responsibilities between claims adjusters and underwriters. Because they do not work together on a policy, they at times come up with different interpretations over the same policy application, she said, instead of working together to get to the same answer.

The other problem, she said, is that some retail agents have gotten "very sloppy," believing that a business owners policy covers all business risks, which is not the case.

"You are going to be trainers for the next couple of years because retailers need to have explained to them what is the kind of information you need," Ms. Flahault said. "You understand what you need and you have to pass it on to them."

To underscore the need to understand the complexity of policy language, Ms. Flahault and the group reviewed some past claims and the legal decisions that they prompted.

The MGA's found in the examples that the court's ultimate decisions differed decidedly from how they thought the policy should be applied.

"Sometimes we take for granted what we know is what everyone else does, but that's not necessarily true," she continued. "Sometimes it's just a matter of presenting things in a different way to them and they say, ?Gosh, why didn't I think of it that way before.'"

AAMGA is based in King of Prussia, Pa.

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Advice To MGAs: ?Be Educators'

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