NU Online News Service, Sept. 29, 2:41 p.m. EDT

Increased access to markets and being connected to a national company are just a few of the benefits the chief executives of Nationwide Mutual Insurance and Harleysville Mutual Insurance say the combination of the two companies will bring to independent agents.

In an interview with NU Online News Service, Steve Rasmussen, chief executive officer of Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide and Michael Browne, president and chief executive officer of Harleysville, Pa.-based Harleysville Mutual, believe producers and the carriers will benefit from the transaction announced today.

“For independent agents, this adds another carrier that has a national footprint and presence [to their portfolio],” says Rasmussen. “This adds to Nationwide’s portfolio that includes Allied and all our other independent agency companies that are roughly a third of our revenue.”

He says the addition of the Harleysville book of business and the relationships the company has developed in the Northeast “make us a more formidable national independent-agency company for both commercial and personal lines.”

Browne says the geographic strength of Harleysville east of the Mississippi complements Allied Insurance, the independent agency affiliate of Nationwide that is strong west of the Mississippi.

“Specifically, to us, being part of Nationwide gives us access to a wider array of products to offer to our agents,” says Browne. “I think it is a perfect strategic fit.”

Nationwide has struggled to shake off its reputation as being solely a personal lines exclusive agency company, says Rasmussen.

“Frankly, that’s about a third of our revenue,” he says.

It remains an important piece of the business that is growing, but it is important too for Nationwide to continue to develop the other third of its business that resides with its force of independent agents, with the final third being its financial services branch, says Rasmussen.

For Harleysville’s independent agents, Rasmussen believes they will benefit from now being able to access “a much broader portfolio of life and financial services and retirement-savings products that we are actually quite good at. So it gives them a chance to be a part of that whole mix.”

Rasmussen notes that Nationwide does not have an independent agent “structural presence in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast area.” The Harleysville headquarters gives them that regional office.

“Frankly, we need one and this is the perfect platform to base that out of here in Harleysville,” says Rasmussen.

Most of its independent-agent offices are west of the Mississippi. East of the river, the company has an office in Gainesville, Fla.

Browne believes independent agents will become enthusiastic about the deal.

“I think this is a win-win for everybody,” says Browne.

Rasmussen says Nationwide has a reputation among the independent agents it works with as being a “long-term player that they like to do business with. This just adds to their equation and adds to the footprint.”

For Nationwide’s direct agents, the acquisition does not affect the company's platform, he says.

“They are running side-by-side with our existing independent agencies and this will just add to that,” he says.

Nationwide will get access to the knowledge and expertise Harleysville has related to the Northeast, especially on the commercial-lines side, which Nationwide lacks, says Rasmussen.

While Harleysville may become a part of Nationwide, the brand will not change, says Rasmussen. The company has a significant portfolio of wholesale and retail carrier companies.

Browne, who will become president and chief operating officer of Harleysville once the acquisition is complete, says he and others from Nationwide will be meeting personally with the company’s agency partners to explain what this deal means to them.

“We like to spend time with our agents,” says Browne. “We have a close relationship with them. We get out and talk to them. I think this will generate a lot of excitement.”

“We are both well known for being relationship driven,” says Rasmussen. “So it is important for us at the top levels of the company to stay very connected with our producers. That doesn’t change with this transaction in anyway.”

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Nationwide & Harleysville Discuss Merger Benefits for Independent Agents

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