 Have you played any of the computer games where you build a city or farm or what have you by selecting the desired building/part and positioning it on the larger space? In most games you can upgrade or remove sections once they are no longer needed. Games like this are popular because they adapt as the player gains levels and experience, so they are easier to maintain and grow. This use of modular design occurs throughout nature and human construction. Some designs are meant to be permanent such as a bee's honeycomb, computer program or a modular home. Other modular designs such as those video games or the International Space Station are designed to have new sections added, older sections replaced, or the whole thing reconfigured.
A modular design's strength is that individual pieces can operate separately, in small groups or as one large structure. Modules can be removed and replaced with a different one when no longer needed or the overall goal changes. Travelers Wrap+ for Executive Liability for Private Companies works the same way. You can pick and choose the coverages your client needs and leave off what they don't. In the future you can add new or drop old coverage as needed.
Features Common to All Liability Coverages:
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Additional Defense Coverage
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Additional Defense Limit of Liability
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Survives exhaustion of base limit
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Available for each liability coverage elected or shared
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Defense options
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Duty to Defend (100 percent predetermined allocation)
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Reimbursement
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Single retention for claim triggering multiple liability coverages and no retention if unable or not permitted to indemnify
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Worldwide coverage - claims made or occurring
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Foreign parent corporation coverage as co-defendant
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Severability of application representations
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Subsidiary acquisition - 25 percent of assets
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Extended Reporting Period
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Bi-Lateral
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3-year run-off available for pre-determined premium
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Report potential claims
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Elect by liability coverages
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Duties in the event of claim - triggered by knowledge of Executive Officer
Click the links below to learn more about available options, access highlight and sell sheets, and more:
Insureds also receive access to Risk Management Plus+ Online®, a one-stop resource that provides a comprehensive set of tools to help protect against costly litigation.
To access the Wrap+ please log into Big "I" Markets and look for Wrap+ products in the commercial product listing.
Please note that Community Homeowners Associations and Healthcare Organizations are not currently available through Big "I" Markets.
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InsurBanc Shares Insight on Cash Management
 InsurBanc has recently published another article with Property Casualty 360. The article, 3 Keys to Effective Cash Management for your Insurance Agency, authored by InsurBanc's Vice President and Business Development Officer, Patricia Smith, provides insight into the importance of a comprehensive and unique cash management plan for independent insurance agencies. Smith expands on some of the essential tools needed for an effective cash management plan. Interested in learning more? Click here to read the full article.
Learn more about Insurbanc, the bank founded by and for independent insurance agents, at www.insurbanc.com.
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 Real Estate agents can be sued for a variety of reasons. Most of them start with "Failure to…" followed by Disclose, Recommend, Properly Advise, Identify, Explain, or Comply. Failure to disclose is the biggest of these, easily accounting for half of all buyer initiated lawsuits. Agents that demonstrate their expertise and advise their real estate clients on the top risks they face are better positioned for successful, long-term relationships.
A comprehensive risk management strategy for real estate agents and brokers includes prevention (risk reduction techniques), early detection (immediate reporting of claims and even potential claims) and treatment (E&O insurance). Common sense risk reduction techniques can lower the chances of a claim happening in the first place. If a claim does occur, treatment comes in the form of immediate reporting and a solid Errors and Omissions policy backed by experienced claims handling; because claims happen, sometimes even to good people who have tried to do everything right.
Top Risks
Failure to Disclose and/or Misrepresentation: The overwhelming majority of claims against real estate agents and brokers fall into this bucket. The reason for this is simple - there is a natural and innate reluctance on the part of a property seller to reveal facts about a property that might impede the sale or at the very least lower the potential sale price. Examples include: agent-owned property transactions; foreclosed and short sale property transactions; dual agency transactions; and errors in marketing a property.
Other common claims include bodily injury/property damage and acting outside of one's area of expertise. In addition to having a risk management plan in place, immediate reporting of claims or even potential claims is critical in managing results.
Early Detection - Reporting
Helping clients to understand the importance reporting claims and potential claims immediately is critical. There is an understandable reluctance to report incidents that may give rise to claims for fear that simply reporting an incident will lead to increased insurance premiums in the future (most of the time this is not the case), but letting them fester is a bad call. We have countless examples of claims that were only reported after they blew up, but for which we could have achieved great results if only we had been brought in at the outset. Handling claims and potential claims is an E&O carrier's job. Report claims and potential claims immediately.
Treatment - Real Estate Errors and Omissions Policy
Despite best intentions, people make mistakes. In the errors and omissions world, the saying "to err is human, to get sued for it, pretty much a given" has a lot of truth. The right Real Estate Errors and Omissions policy will best respond to the claims unique to real estate agents and brokers.
Travelers has been offering real estate agent E&O coverage since 1956. Real Estate Agent / Property Manager E&O is flexible enough to cover a wide variety of clients in an ever-changing environment. On top of the great coverage, service, and experience you expect from Travelers, now they are offering 2 year policies and $0 deductible options.
Check out these flyers and checklists to help you sell coverage to your clients.
The Real Estate Agent / Property Manager E&O program is available through Big "I" Markets in all states except CA, HI, and LA.
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Remember that you can view the following webinars 24/7 by checking out the BIM Webinar Library. To do that log onto Big "I" Markets and click on "Publications".
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AIG Private Client Group Homeowner - Overview NEW
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TravPay
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Commercial Lessor's Risk
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Affluent Homeowners
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Travel Insurance
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Community Banks
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Affluent Homeowner
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Real Estate E&O
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RLI Personal Umbrella
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"Oh, by the way...Flood Sale"
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Habitational
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Student Housing
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BIM WEBSITE TRAINING WEBINAR
For all you folks who recently registered for Big "I" Markets, remember you can participate in a webinar from the comfort of your office to help you learn how to navigate around the system. Every Thursday at 2:00 p.m. EDT we'll show you how to navigate the Big "I" Markets platform, including how to submit a quote! A recording of this webinar can be found under "Publications" after logging into Big "I" Markets.
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Big "I" Product Webinars
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February 2 - 2:00 - 3:00pm EST. "Architects & Engineers Webinar with CBIC an RLI Company". Join Clarence Sproul of CBIC, an RLI Company, as we discuss Professional Liability Coverage for Architects and Engineers. Our program features A+ rated paper and a flexible, knowledgeable underwriting team. Click here to register.
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Big "I" Virtual University Webinars
Don't miss the following education opportunities provided from the Big "I" Virtual University experts that focus on topics agents need to know to make a smart start in 2016. For more information, contact national staff.
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February 15 - 1:00 - 3:00pm EST. "Understanding Commercial Property Underwriting - COPE in all its Glory". Today's commercial property underwriters use the same information their predecessors used nearly 400 years ago: Construction, Occupancy, Protection, and Exposure. Combined, these four elements are known as "COPE underwriting." Join Big "I" VU Executive Director Chris Boggs as he instructs participants in the purpose of and methodology for gathering all necessary commercial property underwriting information. In addition, this course discusses what can be done to reduce and control losses using "COPE" data. Click here to register.
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March 15 - 1:00 - 2:30pm EDT. "Is the Absolute Pollution Exclusion Really Absolute? Hint: NO!". ". During the 90 minute webinar Chris Boggs will tear into, or tear apart, the so-called "absolute pollution exclusion." Beyond a detailing of the exclusion and its exceptions, we: (1) Discuss and detail some key terms and concepts found within and applicable to the "absolute" pollution exclusion; (2) Define "pollutant"; (3) Detail the need for a "causal connection" between the release of a pollutant and damage; and (4) Introduce the historical purpose of the pollution exclusion. Click here to register.
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STUDENT OF THE INDUSTRY PARTING SHOT
Consolation Affection and Jewelry Insurance
By Paul Buse, President of Big I Advantage®
When I travel, sometimes I put in a folder something that I don't ever expect to read so when the flight is long, I've got something unusual. I did that some time ago and then last week I read the "something."
It turns out the paper was very applicable to my recent work helping Big "I" Markets director Aimee Fawns in pursuing a replacement to our standalone jewelry market. The good news on jewelry insurance is we have an accommodation in place for agents that used the market and those agents have been advised how to replace that coverage. We seek to expand that and offering access to it on Big "I" Markets in the near future. The financing of work on your national staff's part as facilitating "agent of record" is a roadblock as the best solution is a low commission one. Stay tuned to Two for Tuesday for more information as that develops.
That brings me to "The Affection Effect In Insurance Decisions." You may be thinking what I was thinking on reading that title: "Say what?" I'm always like a deer in headlights when I think about affect (usually a verb) and effect (usually a noun). To see them in in the same headline I felt compelled to understand.
Here's the point: "The more someone likes something the more they are likely to pay to insure it." Yup, people want jewelry insurance. When they call requesting it, hear them out and find the coverage. They'll look beyond you for it if they really like their ring. Said in University of Chicago and Wharton speak:
Click for larger version
Source: The Affection Effect in Insurance Decisions: By CHRISTOPHER K. HSEE and HOWARD C. KUNREUTHER. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, pgs. 141-159, 2000.
Have a different theory? Want the paper to look over? Write paul.buse@iiaba.net and stay curious.
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Be one of the first five with the correct answers and win a $5 gift card (Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin Robbins, or Krispy Kreme).
Don't forget to answer the Tie Breaker!
Congratulations to this week's winners - Lisa Gammill (MS), Lana Campbell (NM), Mary Shaver (LA), Diane O'Donnell (NE), & Nikki Eagle (NM).
1. In the 3 Keys to Cash Management article linked above, what is the third key? - REVIEW YOUR FEE STRUCTURE ON YOUR BANKING RELATIONSHIPS AT LEAST ANNUALLY
2. On this date in 1922, Christian Nelson received a patent for Eskimo Pies. His partner later sold his shares and formed which well-known chocolate company? - RUSSELL STOVER
3. Enacted in 1935, this law requires performance and payment bonds on any contract that exceeds $100,000 for the construction, alteration, or repair of any building or public work of the United States. Name the law. - MILLER ACT [1935]
TIE BREAKER
TB - Under the Travelers Select coverage extensions, the "Ordinance or Law – Increased Period of Restoration" is increased by what amount? - $50,000
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BIG "I" MARKETS SALE OF THE WEEK
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