Brown & Brown reported first quarter profit for 2010 was down 8 percent as the recession continued to take a toll on insurance buying.

Agents and technology representatives at a meeting to discuss an initiative to improve efficiency between retail and wholesale insurance brokers and the companies that accept their business declared, "we are at war over keystrokes."

Publicly traded insurance brokers are expected to underperform stocks on the S&P 500 Index coming out of the recession, and Aon is rated the best of the bunch, according to an analyst's note from Citigroup.

Soft market rates for the commercial property and casualty insurance sector show little evidence they will change in the near future, according to the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers.

Declaring that the company has learned its lesson from the economic crisis, The Hartford's chief executive officer outlined a new strategy for growth while putting enterprise risk management front and center.

AmWINS Group Inc. has acquired Colemont Insurance Brokers in Dallas, in a move that might make it the nation's largest wholesale brokerage, one consultant suggested. Financial terms of the transaction were not released.

Agents and brokers struggling to grow in a shrinking economy cannot expect to see revenue bolstered by hardening commercial insurance prices anytime soon.

While the property and casualty insurance industry is seeing signs of returning fiscal health, policyholders should monitor the financial stability of insures in their portfolio, executives advised.