GMA April 2022

GREEN MOUNTAIN AGENT VERMONT INSURANCE AGENTS ASSOCIATION | April 2022

IN THIS EDITION: 5 Questions to Ask Every Personal Lines Customer This Year

Vermont Insurance Agents Association is a statewide trade association representing nearly 100 independent insurance agencies in Vermont, with more than 900 employees. VIAA member independent insurance agents represent more than one insurance company, and as a result, can offer clients a wider choice of auto, home, business, life and employee benefits.t

Green Mountain Agent is a publication of

CONTENT ________________ April 2022

05 Letter from the President

600 Blair Park Road, Suite 100 Williston, VT 05495 Phone: 802-229-5884 Fax: 802-876-7912 www.viaa.org

10 On the Hill 22 Personal Lines

VIAA Officers

5 Questions to Ask Every Personal Lines Customers This Year

President Michael R. Barrett

30 E&O Corner

Vice President Jessica Fleury, ACSR Secretary/Treasurer Ian Sutherland, CIC, AAI-M

35 Commentary

National Director Ronald Bixby

31 Agency & Company News

Directors Daniel J. Rodliff, CIC, CPIA, LUTCF Aislyn M. Allen, CISR Laurie Audy Executive Director Mary M. Farley, MBA, AAIM

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT ______________________________

April 2022 ATTENTION ASPIRING ACTORS AND ACTRESSES!!!!!

Did I get your attention? Good! We are looking for volunteers, for our scheduled video shoots, to be featured in our first phase of VIAA/Trusted Choice commercials.

Our goal is to have agency staff from our member agencies be our “cast” in the commercial, which will feature “well known” spots across Vermont; from Dog Mountain in St. Johnsbury to the waterfront in Burlington, the monument in Bennington, and a few points in-between. Our shoot dates will be later this month, so we need volunteers as soon as possible!

Interested? Email our Executive Director, Mary Farley at mary@viaa.org, or myself mike@thebarrettagency.com.

In a complete shifting of focus, I wish to announce that after three terms of outstanding service and dedication, our National Director for VIAA, Ron Bixby, is looking to transition out of this role. We would very much like to hear from candidates interested in filling this incredible role.

Michael R. Barrett VIAA President

The National Director interacts with Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers (Big 'I' National), representing Vermont on national discussions of legislative issues and market issues that face independent agencies. Terms are three years in duration, with a cap on two terms (yes, Ron was a remarkable exception to this rule).

Meetings take place 3 times per year; January, the April Legislative Conference, and the Annual Meeting/Fall Leadership conference. Ron is hopeful that the incoming National Director will attend this year’s Fall Conference with him, so that he can assist in making introductions. The National Director also serves as a member of the board of the VIAA. Nominees will be reviewed and considered at the May VIAA Board meeting. Please send your letter of interest to Mary Farley, at mary@viaa.com.

Stay well!

Michael Barrett President, VIAA

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ON THE HILL: ‘Critical Infrastructure Entities’ to Be Required to Report Cyber Incidents

President Joe Biden signed into law omnibus legislation that would fund the government through Sept. 30, 2022.

Among other things, the legislation also included key provisions from the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act, which would require critical infrastructure entities to report to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) within 72 hours when they are hacked or suffer a significant cyber incident. The provision also requires critical infrastructure entities to report if they make a ransomware payment within 24 hours.

Previous U.S. government definitions of critical infrastructure have included sixteen different sectors, including the financial services sector. CISA's website currently notes that “the financial services sector includes thousands of depository institutions, providers of investment products, insurance

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companies, other credit and financing organizations, and the providers of the critical financial utilities and services that support these functions."

Importantly, the language in the omnibus requires CISA to propose rulemaking within 24 months and for that rulemaking to be finalized 18 months after that, so any potential requirement is likely years away. Additionally, the legislation gives CISA broad authority in its rulemaking and tasks the agency with defining important specifics, including what constitutes a covered entity, which cybersecurity incidents must be reported, and the required content of such reports.

As CISA moves through the rulemaking process over the next several years, the Big “I" plans to be active and advocate on behalf of its members..

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5 QUESTIONS TO ASK EVERY PERSONAL LINES CUSTOMER THIS YEAR

personal lines

By Paul James

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With continued pressures from the coronavirus pandemic and changing weather patterns following us into 2022, scheduling meetings with your personal lines customers may be more important than ever. Whether it's reviewing relevant life changes, understanding how the pandemic has impacted individuals and families, or simply discussing coverages they may need going forward, an annual needs assessment is a great opportunity to showcase the experience and value your agency brings to your customers.

As you prepare for these conversations, here are five questions you should plan on asking:

1) Have you made significant improvements to your home or are you planning to? The Hanover's 2021 “Home Renovation Report" found nearly 70% of homeowners had plans to improve their homes over the next year.

That's not surprising, given the increasing amounts of time people have spent at home due to COVID-19.

As a result of the pandemic, many homeowners added study spaces for remote learners, offices for remote workers, updated family rooms, expanded outdoor gathering spaces and more. These kinds of upgrades— in addition to kitchen or bathroom renovations, installing a deck, building an addition, finishing

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5 Questions to Ask Every Personal Lines Customer This Year continued a basement or updating a cooling system— can all impact insurance coverage needs.

Significant home improvements should prompt homeowners to reassess the coverage A limit of their homeowners insurance policy.

financial risks not covered under standard homeowners policies.

The report found of those who made major home renovations during the pandemic, 40% failed to contact their insurance agent to ensure their coverage reflected the home's updated value, making it important you proactively ask your clients about any changes.

This also is a good time to ensure the home is covered at its replacement cost. Should it ever be a total loss, most homeowners will want to be insured for the cost to rebuild.

This is especially true given the recent increase in labor and material costs. With an increase in a home's replacement cost, agents may want to consider whether a customer should be moved to high-value home insurance protection. Coverage designed for customers with more complex insurance needs can offer more value, added benefits and customized protection.

Beyond coverage A, homeowners may consider other coverages as well. For example, they may contemplate equipment breakdown coverage if appliances were upgraded, including water heaters, security systems, refrigerators, central air conditioning systems and more. This coverage can potentially address costly repairs or replacements that may be needed if those systems and appliances were to fail.

Whether it's a business with foot traffic located within a primary residence, inventory stored at the home or a business that simply requires liability protection, there are several options to help protect these homeowners.

Similarly, homeowners who rent out their houses as short-term rental properties also can be protected by home-based business coverages. Some insurance companies offer home-based business coverages as endorsements to homeowners policies, making it more efficient, cohesive and costeffective for both the customer and the agency. If home-based business coverage is added, customers may also want to consider an umbrella policy for additional protection.

Additionally, cyberattacks continue to grab the headlines. With that in mind, home-based business owners should consider cyber coverage that can help with system restoration, expert advice and data recovery costs for computers and connected devices in the event their home network is breached.

Such coverage may also assist with online fraud that results in direct losses, such as phishing schemes or identity theft and unauthorized use of credit cards or accounts.

2) Are you working out of your home, have started a home business or are renting your house? There are 31 million small businesses in the U.S. and more than half are home-based, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration—and during the pandemic, more are setting up shop than ever before, leaving many of them open to www.viaa.org

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5 Questions to Ask Every Personal Lines Customer This Year continued 3) Have you considered how to protect your assets from extreme weather events? Severe weather events are becoming increasingly common. In 2021, there were 20 weather disasters in the U.S. with losses that exceeded $1 billion, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). More and more, weather patterns are changing, resulting in natural disasters in geographic regions that typically haven't been susceptible to them.

A common effective date and a single company to call for claims improves ease of use for the customer and the agency, while boosting retention. Data from The Hanover shows account business has a retention rate of up to 95%, significantly higher than split and monoline accounts. The data also shows that account business has about 3 times higher premiums and 5 times greater expected lifetime values than split or monoline accounts.

Agents can educate customers on preparedness by talking with them about completing home inventories, ensuring items like sump pumps are proactively installed and preventatively maintained, and offering advice to help protect their properties. The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) is a great content resource.

5) Can we add an email address and cell phone number to your account? This is a simple one, but ensuring customer contact information is up to date can help make it easier for an agency to conduct periodic touchpoints with customers. Customers can then receive communications from their carriers to manage their accounts, sign up for paperless billing and more. This can help boost an agency's retention.

Customers may benefit from water backup coverage for damage caused by backed up or failed drains—the third-most costly claim, behind fire and liability lawsuits. When siding or a roof is damaged, sometimes the original materials are no longer available. Rather than having mismatched materials, siding or roof restoration coverage can help keep a home's exterior uniform. For account customers, if a storm damages their vehicle and their home, waiver of deductible coverage could help save them from paying multiple deductibles for one event.

4) Would you like to combine all of your accounts with one insurance company?

Customers who have their personal lines policies with a variety of insurance carriers can potentially benefit when combining their policies with a single carrier. Doing so allows customers and their agents to efficiently address additional coverage needs, such as motorcycle or boat insurance, and may provide some multi-policy discounts too.

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The Hanover's research shows clients who receive two or more communication touchpoints a year have a retention rate that is 10 points higher than those that do not.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a lot of changes and challenges for many individuals and families. As you're connecting with your personal lines customers this year, these five questions can help prevent gaps in coverage and build account business for your agency.

The consultation an independent agent can offer—a personalized assessment of customers' unique needs and risks—is an important value-add over direct carriers.

Taking some time to get up to date on any changes your customers have made can help set them, and your agency, up for success.

Paul James is national sales leader, personal lines, at The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. Reprinted, with permission, from IA Magazine.

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C E O & R O N ER

To ERP, or Not ERP, That is the Question"

By Richard Lund, Vice President, Senior Underwriter, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions

As time changes, you may find yourself in the position where either you decide it is time to sell your agency, or you are on the other side and considering the purchase of an agency. In either case, something that must be considered by both the seller and the buyer is whether an ERP (Extended Reporting Period), sometimes called "tail coverage," should be purchased.

Regardless of what you call it, the purpose is to provide coverage for errors and omissions that happen before, but the claim is made during a specified period of time period after, the date of sale/purchase.

Most, if not all, insurance agents errors and omissions professional liability policies are either "claims made" or "claims made and reported", meaning that the claim must be made and/or reported WHILE the policy is in place. This is different than most liability policies that you are probably more familiar with, where claims are covered on an "occurrence" basis, in which case the insurance policy in place on the date of the underlying occurrence provides coverage.

The purpose of the ERP is to provide more time to report claims that could be made after the policy has expired, but still provide coverage for claims for wrongful acts that occurred during the original policy period.

Let's provide a few examples to illustrate different situations that could happen.

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An insurance agent sells her agency effective on January 1. Their E&O policy expired on December 31 in the previous year. The agent purchased an ERP that will allow her to report claims for a 3 year period after December 31. The agreement provides that all policies will transfer to the buyer on January 1. On January 20, the seller receives a demand letter (or a lawsuit) from a former customer's attorney for alleged wrongful acts that occurred in November of the prior year. Because the seller had the 3 year ERP, she can report the claim/demand/lawsuit to her E&O carrier, and it would be covered subject to the terms of the policy. She would be able to report the claim and any other claim during the 3 year ERP period, but only if the error or omission occurred during the policy period before the effective date of the ERP. An insurance agent sells his agency effective on January 1. His E&O policy expired on December 31 in the previous year. The agency did not purchase an ERP on his E&O policy. On January 20, the seller receives a demand letter (or a lawsuit) from a former customer's attorney for alleged wrongful acts that occurred in November of the prior year. Since their policy expired on December 31 and no ERP was purchased, there would be no coverage for the claim. Note: if the claim was actually made during the original

To ERP, or Not ERP, That is the Question" continued

policy period, e.g., on December 31, it typically can be reported during a brief period specified in the policy – typically 2-3 months.

An insurance agent sells her agency effective on January 1. Their E&O policy expired on December 31 in the previous year. The purchase agreement provides that the book of business will roll to the purchaser at renewal. There is the potential for the book to have policies that will roll over for 12 months after the purchase.

During this period, the seller may still be servicing the policies that have not renewed. In this case, the selling agency needs to maintain their E&O policy until such time as all policies have rolled to the purchaser and no further servicing will be done by the seller. Once all business has moved and all of the seller's servicing responsibilities have rolled to the buyer, the seller should purchase an ERP that becomes effective concurrent with termination of the policy. If any claims occur after the date of sale, but before all policies roll over and their E&O policy remains in place, the claims would be covered under the terms of the policy as usual.

Subsequent claims for errors/omissions that occurred during the policy period would be covered pursuant to the terms of the ERP. Here's the tricky one. The facts are just as in 1. above, but for some unknown reason, the selling agent is contacted by a former customer on February 20 www.viaa.org

(after the sale and transfer to the buyer) to take some action behalf of the customer, which may be as simple as answering a question about coverages/limits. The selling agent takes the action requested by the customer, e.g., answers the question, but commits an error. At some later date, the customer makes a claim against the seller for the error. Because the policy expired on December 31, there would be no coverage for the claim. Why? The E&O policy itself expired on December 31. But what about the ERP? Why won't that cover the claim? Because the policy only provides coverage for claims for wrongful acts while the policy was in place and active, and the acts occurred after the policy expired, there is no coverage for activities after that time, even though an ERP has been purchased. The ERP only provides the ability to report claims for wrongful acts while the policy was in place and active, NOT for acts after the policy has expired. Every inquiry, no matter how small or seemingly innocuous, needs to be referred to the buying agency that is now responsible for servicing that account.

Those are just a few of the potential ERP examples. Another frequent scenario is when the buyer and seller put their heads together and decide, "Hey, we can save a bunch of money if we skip the ERP and have [the buying agency] cover any claims!" Have you ever heard the phrase "penny wise and pound foolish"? That's exactly what this is. Unless the buying agency's E&O policy expressly accepts coverage for the selling agency's errors and omissions, they probably will not be covered, regardless of any agreements 31

To ERP, or Not ERP, That is the Question" continued

made by them. E&O insurance carriers are not necessarily going to agree to accept those conditions. More importantly for both the seller and the buyer, that ERP cost represents the risk presented by years of possible errors & omissions that won't come to light until after the sale. The selling agency doesn't want to be 'naked' with respect to coverage for E&O claims made after the sale, and the buying agency doesn't want to bear the reputational and financial cost of its predecessor's mistakes.

The best bet for both parties is for the seller to purchase an ERP, the cost of which is considered in negotiations between buyer and seller.

So, back to the title: "To ERP or Not ERP, That is the Question". The answer is:

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If you do these things, then you can take time to enjoy fond memories of your former profession.

For more information about buying, selling, and merging agencies, there is a great webinar on the E&O Happens website called " Agency Risk Management Essentials: Navigating the Hazards of Buying, Selling and Merging an Agency" available to IIABA members who are also Swiss Re Corporate Solutions insureds. It provides a more in-depth discussion, more examples and additional information from industry professionals who have helped agency owners navigate these waters.

This article is intended to be used for general informational purposes only and is not to be relied upon or used for any particular purpose. Swiss Re shall not be held responsible in any way for, and specifically disclaims any liability arising out of or in any way connected to, reliance on or use of any of the information contained or referenced in this article. The information contained or referenced in this article is not intended to constitute and should not be considered legal, accounting or professional advice, nor shall it serve as a substitute for the recipient obtaining such advice. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of the Swiss Re Group ("Swiss Re") and/or its subsidiaries and/or management and/or shareholders.

1. As long as you are actively in the insurance business, even if it is only to provide servicing of a sold book of business, you need to keep your E&O policy in place.

2. When you are no longer actively in the insurance business, you should terminate your E&O policy and purchase an Extended Reporting Period. *Richard F. Lund, JD, is a Vice President and 3. What time period should the ERP Senior Underwriter of Swiss Re Corporate cover? Ask your attorney what the Solutions, underwriting insurance agents errors and applicable statute of limitations is in the omissions coverage. He has also been an state(s) where you do business, and go insurance agents E&O claims counsel and has with the longest applicable time period. written and presented numerous E&O risk 4. And after the effective date of the ERP, management/ loss control seminars, mock trials and articles nationwide since 1992. you should no longer provide any Copyright 2022 Swiss Re services to your former customers.

Instead, refer them to the firm that purchased their business. That agency has E&O coverage in place for current errors and omissions. You do not. www.viaa.org

An Agent Call To Action: Underinsurance

William C. Wilson, Jr. CPCU, ARM, AIM, AMM is the founder of InsuranceCommentary.com. He retired from the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America in December 2016 where he served as Assoc. VP of Education and Research and was the founder and Director of the Big "I" Virtual University for over 17 years. www.viaa.org

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Is it time to re-visit the methodology used by agents to determine replacement costs and/or re-construction costs? How confident are you that the real property replacement values that you develop are sufficient to either replace or rebuild? If a natural catastrophe hit your community, would you have the same confidence in your replacement or rebuild figures? As the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters occur, one of the first questions in their aftermath is why does underinsurance one of the first issues.

In the aftermath of the Marshall Wildfire in Boulder County, Colorado, the Denver press has continuously explored these questions from the insured survivor’s perspective, but there has been little discussion from the insurance industry perspective regarding this issue. The purpose of this blog is to start a discussion on the continuing perceptions of underinsurance especially after natural disasters to determine if there are changes needed to better estimate the replacement costs on both personal and commercial policies that agents sell to our customers.

Insurance to Value (ITV) is a basic concept which many insurance personnel are trained at the onset of their careers. Although counselled that we are not appraisers, adjusters, agents, and underwriters were provided with training and valuation tools aka costimators which seem to work very well over the years. Based upon conversations with many front-line agent/brokers assisting with their customer’s valuations, these tools do not change in their basic structure and do not regularly leave their customers underinsured. In retrospect, were they just lucky because they did not face many total losses or did their continual efforts to monitor and adjust the replacement cost values (RCV) help achieve those excellent valuation outcomes.

Bottom line, this methodology and training has worked quite well over the past fifty years to 36

assist customers with valuing RCVs. Many agents have experienced occasionally competitor agents / companies using similar tools to undervalue required limits which permitted them to underbid higher, more correct valuations. While this behavior still exists, it does not occur as frequently as it once did and, in the new insurance marketplace used to occasional natural catastrophes, it presents another opportunity for the agent to advocate protection over lower prices.

Why does this subject matter to the author?

When he was embarking into semi-retirement, he was asked to serve as a volunteer insurance consultant to the Waldo Canyon wildfire recovery team, Colorado Springs Together (CST) because he was not directly contracted with any of the insurers who faced 347 total losses and some additional damaged properties. Starting that volunteer effort, he was initially concerned about the potential for underinsurance based upon other insurance catastrophes, local rumblings in the local press, and chattering in social media. This recovery process was a huge learning experience in many different aspects of how insurance policies deliver in a major natural disaster, but happily the issue of underinsurance did not prevent one of the most complete major wildfire recoveries experienced by a large urban fire.

His early fears of underinsurance became unfounded as the Waldo survivors, their builders, and their companies navigated through the many different coverage “buckets” ie debris removal, law and ordinance, extended replacement, inflation guard, and landscape allowances which helped to close most rebuild gaps. In fact, the most extreme Coverage A dwelling underinsurance situation that he encountered (approximately 40%), the policy holder was able to close the gap with the above additional coverages and their company’s endorsement which doubled the extended replacement and law & ordinance limits when it resulted from a declared natural disaster.

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An Agent Call To Action: Underinsurance continued What were the lessons learned from his CST experience? There are too many stories to recount in this short piece, but the following were most significant: A community-based recovery team that allows for many segments of the local community to participate in the recovery goal is an important attribute to a quick and complete recovery.

The recovery team needs a strong leader to keep the team focused on the main task – rebuilding the neighborhood.

A community and team focused on minimizing politics, controversy, and adversarial relationships among any of the stakeholders is a critical component of a solid recovery.

The encouragement of the survivors to better understand their policies and limits as well as the insurance claims process facilitates quicker resolution of any outstanding issues.

Local economic conditions can be a positive driver of the recovery. The Waldo Recovery occurred during the end of the 2008 recession, so labor and supplies were more readily available to the recovery.

The recovery team had a self-imposed oneyear recovery time limit because virtually all the pieces for the Mountain Shadows Neighborhood recovery were in place by the end of the year. Survivors, neighbors, the city, and team members were pleasantly surprised that, despite the early alleged obstacles, an amazing outcome was collectively achieved.

more bureaucratic approach that government must take to conduct all of its business. Why does this matter in a discussion of underinsurance? Slow recoveries exacerbate the effects of underinsurance.

As Boulder County faces its recovery from the Marshall Fire, the topic of underinsurance seems to dominate its early recovery preparations. Certainly, the recovery challenge is more than three times greater than the Waldo Recovery which will certainly further slow the recovery based solely on the scale of recovery.

Without being imbedded in the Marshall recovery team, it is difficult to fully access the extent of the underinsurance at this time although there are some early warning signs of potential concern:

After such a positive recovery experience, he followed many other wildfire recoveries both in Colorado and other areas in the United States.

Interestingly, he is not aware of another publicprivate recovery team approach as done here in Colorado Springs. In most cases, it appears that recoveries are driven by the local governments which tend to be slower due to the www.viaa.org

The limited supply of builders needed to rebuild all the destroyed residences may be a driver of higher replacement/reconstruction costs; The unprecedented increases in the local building costs over the past two years that may not have yet been incorporated into the costimator valuation processes; Initial indications of added building code requirements needed to rebuild are very concerning and would not have been included in any costimators; Debris removal delays which will slow the actual reconstruction; 37

An Agent Call To Action: Underinsurance continued Unusual supply chain challenges; Popular insurance advertising that promotes price competition v coverage adequacy; Other natural catastrophe competition for resources ie Kentucky wildfires, California wildfires, Louisiana hurricanes, etc; Less streamlined rebuild permitting processes; and The continual reminder of underinsurance which creates more negativity among the survivors that their recovery will be impossible.

to check to make sure that they agree with your valuation and have continuous conversations regarding insurance to value.

Start tracking any variations in valuation so valuation adjustments can be made as necessary.

Share any variations in values with your local agency associations so the magnitude of any underinsurance can be assessed.

This is especially important in locations more frequently visited by natural catastrophes.

Going forward, it is critical for the insurance industry to take the lead in starting to diagnose any shortcomings in the procedures and systems for both valuing properties, as well as best practices to streamline recoveries. As we know, insurance coverages/limits may differ among the homeowners policies that different insurance companies write. Perhaps, it is also time to realize that there may be different valuation needs for natural disasters. Of course, the biggest hurdle is to overcome the average consumer’s belief “it can’t happen to me” paradigm.

As a long-time independent agent, John knows agents can make great differences for both their customers and the industry.

What can front line agents do to start or aid this discussion? Here are some initial first steps:

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Identify either personal or commercial accounts where you think whatever costimator being used that may either under or over insure.

Identify any differences within your agency on how real property valuations are done and re-train as necessary so there are consistent processes.

Check with local claim departments and construction businesses to determine what the going rate is to build in your community/region.

Double check a sampling of real property valuations periodically to make sure they are responsive to local building costs and national inflation and supply line conditions.

Refer any valuations which are either over or under valued to the insurer and ask them

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COMPANY & AGENCY NEWS www.viaa.org

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Union Mutual Raises Over $85,000 for Special Olympics Vermont Union Mutual was proudly represented by nearly four dozen employees, independent agency partners, and family members at the Burlington Waterfront for the Penguin Plunge to benefit Special Olympics Vermont on Saturday, March 12, 2022. The Union Mutual Popsicles were the event’s leading fundraiser for the fourth year in a row, with a grand total of over $85,000. The event raised over $500,000 in total.

The team fundraising all-time record was set by Union Mutual in 2020. Since 2016, Union Mutual has raised nearly $370,000 for Special Olympics Vermont through participating in the Penguin Plunge.

At the time of this release, four of the top 10 fundraisers were Union Mutual Popsicles, led by Chief Financial Officer Jen Galfetti and Keysar. The event’s 10th-highest fundraiser was Union Mutual employee Jeff Staples, a first-time Plunger. Laura Buermann is one of two Union Mutual participants who have taken the Plunge in all seven years the Popsicles have fielded a team.

Union Mutual is also the proud lead sponsor of the Special Olympics Vermont Summer Games. The Company was the organization’s first Champion for 50 in honor of its 50th year in operation, and its continued partnership has provided support for several key initiatives, including: Athlete Leadership Program, Inclusion through Employment, USA/World Games Sponsorship, Advisory Committees, Employee Volunteers, Virtual Fitness Programming, and more.

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Vermont Mutual A+ Superior Rating Affirmed by AM Best Company AM Best, the global rating agency for the insurance industry, has once again affirmed the rating of A+ (Superior) for Vermont Mutual and its two fully reinsured subsidiaries, Northern Security Insurance Company, Inc. and Granite Mutual Insurance Company.

AM Best’s Financial Strength Rating is an independent appraisal of an insurer’s financial strength and their ability to meet policy and contract obligations. The internationally recognized rating is the result of a comprehensive examination of a company’s finances and operations. AM Best acknowledged Vermont Mutual’s very strong Balance Sheet, their strong Operating Performance, favorable Business Profile and appropriate Enterprise Risk Management. AM Best also assigned a stable outlook for the organization, expecting Vermont Mutual will maintain its superior balance sheet and operating performance.

Vermont Mutual Named as a ‘Best Place to Work’ for Seven Consecutive Years For the seventh year in a row, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group® was recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in Vermont by Vermont Business Magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce.

Each year Vermont Business Magazine surveys and reviews the policies, systems, practices and demographics of Vermont companies to identify the best places to work in the state. Included in the assessment are anonymous survey responses from employees, which account for 75% of the total evaluation.

The awards program takes place on April 6, 2022 and is presented in partnership with the Vermont State Council, Society for Human Resource Management, the Vermont Department of Labor, the Vermont Department of Economic Development, and Best Companies Group.

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Department of Financial Regulation Summer Internships Available The Department of Financial Regulation has three paid summer internships available. Below is a summary of the job description and who to contact for more information.

As a summer Intern, you will gain valuable hands-on experience working at The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation in Montpelier, Vermont. We are seeking interns who will rotate through various Departments including Legal, Banking, Insurance, Captives and Securities. You will apply your educational insights and learning in a real-world regulatory setting. The Interns will be responsible for various projects under the guidance of Department leaders. The Internship will include job shadowing, reviewing regulatory rules, participating in consumer service processing of complaints, financial analysis and examination and the legal process of Financial Regulation. Ideal candidates should be detail-oriented and well organized, have a strong desire to learn and apply knowledge and exhibit effective interpersonal skills with a collaborative style. This is a paid internship, and we provide support required to obtain college credits if needed and permitted by your college/university.

Minimum Qualifications-Current College student entering Junior or Senior year. Must live in or attend a College in Vermont as this position is in-person at the Montpelier, VT office.

Please follow this link to apply on the Vermont Human Resources Website https://bit.ly/34PylNC

The Vermont Association of Insurance Professionals announces New Member The Vermont Association of Insurance Professionals is pleased to announce that Tasha Cochran has become the newest members of the VTAIP. Please join us in congratulating Tasha for investing in her insurance career.

For information about the VTAIP please contact President Becky Adams at 802-229-5660 X117.

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