CIAB Teams With Worldwide Broker Network
NU Online News Service, Oct. 1, 10:30 a.m. EDT?The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers said it is teaming up with London-based Worldwide Broker Network to expand global market opportunities and information services.[@@]
CIAB President Ken A. Crerar in Washington said the association is enlarging its international network to improve the movement and coordination of information and facilitate client services around the world.
The WBN is an association of 41 member firms that operate out of 242 offices in 38 countries and generate $10 billion in commercial premiums annually.
The two have entered into a two-year joint operating agreement that begins on Jan. 1, 2005. Under the agreement, the two associations would expand the global network to help serve clients' interests in markets around the world.
CIAB Chairman Frederick J. de Grosz, president of ABD Insurance & Financial Services Inc., and WBN Chairman Jacques Verlingue, president and chief executive officer of Verlingue Courtier en Assurances, a French brokerage firm, said the agreement would spur wider expansion of the network into Asia, Central and South America, Africa, and other key insurance markets in the world.
The operating agreement will be administered by CIAB.
In 1999, The Council co-founded the Brussels-based World Federation of Insurance Intermediaries, which now represents 400,000 professional intermediaries from 100 national associations in more than 80 countries.
"The Council was well ahead of the curve envisioning the challenges and opportunities for commercial brokers and their clients in the emerging global market. No other organization has worked as hard or as well to protect and promote the global interests of commercial brokers," said Mr. Crerar.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.