The buyers market has not only continued into 2008 but accelerated, with the average commercial insurance rate decline deepening by 1.5 points to 13.5 percent for the first three months of the year,

Liberty Mutual Group's surprise announcement that it plans to acquire Safeco Corp. for $6.2 billion was met with positive comments from independent agent representatives, but cautious skepticism by

Captives are usually formed during a hard market and they are typically prompted by the need for capacity. An agent-owned captive, however, can offer benefits to an agent beyond capacity. In

The company also reported that its earnings results were impacted by a change in contingent commission payments to supplemental commissions, increased professional and claims fees, the impact of acqui

For the same period last year, Gallagher report net income of $20 million. This year net earnings per share fell to a loss of 7-cents a share from 20-cents a share from the comparative period. Revenu

"Liberty Mutual and its regional agency companies are 100 percent committed to the system," he said. "We are pleased that they are so committed to the independent agency system and now will be one of

The report said that looking ahead to midyear renewals, the current trends indicate the declines will continue, assuming losses remain low. However, the report cautioned that if predictions of an abov

For midsize accounts (commission and fees between $25,000 and $100,000) the average decline in rates was 14.7 percent. Large accounts (commission and fees above $100,000) experienced the steepest decl