For your information and reading pleasure, Sam Friedman has posted a review of Bob Hunter’s recent appearance at the annual conference of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America.
There’s too much good stuff in the article for me to attempt to summarize, so I will simply point at the link above, and say that it’s an interesting article.
However, there is one passage in the post that I need to comment on:
During lunch, I was surprised by three points. For one, Bob’s dad was a marine insurance adjuster, frequently dealing with the London market. He raised Bob on the belief that insurance was a business of utmost good faith, and he says he has devoted a large portion of his life to making sure the industry lives up to that ideal.
There have been times where I have been rather critical of folks like Bob Hunter in this blog. Part of that is because I disagree with many of the positions that folks like him take when it comes to the insurance industry. However, that aside, I will give Bob props with his apparent motivation.
I would be deceptive or deluded if I didn’t acknowledge that there are a few individuals or entities in the insurance industry who operate as if they forget that we are in the business to provide customer service.not just to make a profit (assuming a for-profit entity). The reports of how some insurers acted in the wake of Katrina, if true, are prime examples of this.
I think such behavior is wrong. And, to the extent that Bob is attempting to act as a foil to such behavior, I salute him.
I just wish he’d be a little more realistic about the demands placed on insurers to satisfy investors’ desire to see a return on their investments in the insurance industry.