June 12, 2017

Message to Your Senators: Preserve The Employer Market

It’s been widely reported that Senate Republicans are considering taxation of employer-sponsored health plans in order to pay for the Affordable Care Act reforms. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated last week that he’d like the Senate to vote on its version of healthcare reform before the July 4 recess.

With time of the essence, we encourage you and your clients to contact your two United States senators as soon as possible and urge their strong opposition to taxation of benefits. You can access this joint letter, of which The Council is a signee, for more points about the damage caused by destabilizing employer-sponsored healthcare system. The letter was sent to Majority Leader McConnell, Democratic Leader Schumer and Members of the Senate last week.

Click here to contact your home-state senators and copy/paste our suggested text.

More on Treasury Sec. Mnuchin and FATCA

In a follow up to his questioning of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last month, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) submitted specific questions to the Secretary last week on the treatment of property/casualty insurance premiums under the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Sen. Scott’s leadership on this issue highlights our position that international property/casualty insurance transactions have no cash value and therefore can’t be used to evade taxes. The inclusion of these transactions under FATCA does not help fight tax evasion, but brings about a significant cost in regulatory compliance.

Click here to see Sen. Scott’s questions to Sec. Mnuchin.

Webinar: Current Geopolitical and Economic Risks and Opportunities for Brokers, June 20, 10:00 am ET

Economies around the world increasingly look with hesitation into the future. The traditional political landscape is going through a seismic shift, while emerging global risks have transformed brokers’ approach to servicing multinational clients. What does all this mean for brokers’ international practice?

Join us for this 60-minute webinar on Tuesday, June 20, featuring Axco Insurance Information Services.

 Are you coaching around a process or just throwing out ideas?

By Alycia Kiley, SVP, Membership

 A few weeks ago I attended an industry conference. One of the speakers posed the following question: “Are you coaching around a process or just throwing out ideas?” The point being made really hit home. For anyone who knows me, discipline and process are two words with which I’m often associated (makes me sound like a blast to hang out with doesn’t it!). That aside, I’ve admittedly caught myself on more than one occasion sitting in a meeting throwing out ideas without a plan in place to measure the success of those ideas. The recommendation at the conference was that firms that have $8-10 million (and above) in revenue need a true sales process in place—one that that is formalized and repeatable—in order to sustain growth.

I appreciate that too much structure sometimes stifles creativity and flexibility. I would argue, however, that not enough structure makes it difficult to measure accountability, performance and the ability to know which sales techniques and strategies actually work. With growth top of mind for virtually every organization (including ours), having a process for your sales team that is known, repeatable and in place is critical. Is your team’s process due for a tune up?

To engage more on this topic, contact Alycia Kiley at alycia.kiley@ciab.com.

Susan Rushford, SVP, Marketing & Communications:

Brianne Spellane, Director of Communications & Content Strategy: