UNIVERSITY, Miss. –
Aimed at keeping state insurance professionals up-to-date on the latest
industry developments, the annual University of Mississippi Insurance
Symposium convenes Feb. 14-15 on the Oxford campus. With Mississippi
Insurance Commissioner George Dale and national leaders of major insurance
associations and companies on the program, the central theme focuses on
making around-the-clock insurance services more comprehensive and
efficient.
The Ole Miss Insurance and Risk Management Program is sponsor for the
event.
“Offering insurance services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a
year is a major issue because consumers and businesses of all sizes are
demanding more. When clients have a claim or a question about a policy,
they want answers now,” said Larry Cox, the Robertson Chair of Insurance
at Ole Miss.
Cox said most attendees are independent agents and claims adjustors who
want to know how services will change and what the associations and
companies are doing to make new services available. Information on
web-based programs that allow 24-hour customer access to information will
be included.
The headline panel features William Hoffmann, president of the Independent
Insurance Agents of America; Thomas Arneson, president of the Professional
Insurance Agents of America; J. David Gibbs, president of claims
operations at Travelers Property Casualty; and George Pickett, Jr.,
national officer in the Million Dollar Roundtable, representing the
nation’s top life insurance agents.
“As always, our goal is to present the highest-powered people we can to
help educate and inform industry people in Mississippi who don’t have a
lot of time to think about what’s going on nationally and
internationally,” Cox said.
Two hot topics the Ole Miss event will address are current legislation
before Congress and the developing fusion of the insurance and banking
industries. Congress is considering a bill that would fundamentally shift
regulation of the insurance industry from state to federal agencies.
“For years, it’s been state regulated, so obviously this is a vital
subject,” Cox said. “Industry and consumer groups are providing input and
changes are coming. What will be the purview of the states and what of the
federal government is the issue?”
The symposium’s legislative panel includes Lee Harrell, deputy
commissioner of the Mississippi Insurance Department; Mike Pickens,
Arkansas insurance commissioner; and Joel Wood, vice president of
government affairs and chief lobbyist for the Council of Insurance Agents
and Brokers in Washington, D.C. Pickens, considered among the best
insurance regulators in the country by his peers, and Wood are both Ole
Miss graduates.
A related topic is the commingling of banking and insurance services. Cox
said that in the past regulation kept banks strictly separate from
insurance, but now that’s not the case.
“Many of our major insurance agencies in the state have been bought by
banks in the last year. It’s been incredible,” Cox said. “Banking has been
federally regulated and insurance state regulated, and now we’re seeing
this intertwining of the two. But banks still can’t yet offer insurance
services per se. How banks and insurance agencies will operate in this new
environment and what the future holds in terms of regulation are questions
our symposium will address.”
On the lighter side, participants will attend the Ole Miss-Mississippi
State basketball game Wednesday night and hear a luncheon address by UM
baseball coach Mike Bianco on Thursday.
For more information about the Ole Miss Insurance Symposium, contact Dr.
Larry Cox at (662) 915-5475 or
lcox@bus.olemiss.edu.
--University News Service
Location: http://www.bus.olemiss.edu/viewnews.aspx?articleno=209