Agency Management

Commissions received by property and casualty agencies from their benefits divisions could be affected by medical loss ratio standards state regulators are required to institute.

Fort Worth, Texas-based insurance broker Higginbotham & Associates, a former winner of National Underwriter's Agency of the Year Award, has acquired Houston-based The Essential Insurance Group, LLC.

Universal Insurance Services of Florida, Inc. and Gaines & Smith Financial Group, Inc., have merged into a single business.

New York State regulators have approved an agent association's disclosure statement that insurance agents and brokers can use to inform their clients about their compensation arrangements with carriers.

The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents is seeking nominees for four awards it plans to issue later this year.

Colorado State University hurricane forcasters, led by William Gray, increased their early season forecast for storms said there is more than a 70 percent chance of a hurricane making landfall in the United States.