Did you ever wonder how David might have felt had Goliath gotten to his feet for a rematch? Of what it would be like as a Lilliputian watching Gulliver break loose from the ropes that bound him? That's how I imagine independent agents might be feeling while reading accounts about Marsh preparing to launch a new, nationwide agency to go after the bread-and-butter business of Main Street producerssmall-commercial accounts.
Of course, Marsh used to be a competitor of sorts for agents–albeit a clumsy and ineffective one–until the mega-broker jettisoned the bulk of its smaller accounts four years ago as part of the fallout from having to surrender contingency fees in settling bid-rigging charges.
Back then, after Mike Cherkasky replaced the deposed Jeff Greenberg as Marsh & McLennan's CEO, Marsh cut its losses by cutting loose thousands of smaller accounts it could not service profitably. That left a lot of new business on the table for independent agencies to gobble up, as if a whale had just decided to pass on a large chunk of the food supply.
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