Update Dec. 21, 2018 from my article at P&C Specialist: http://pandcspecialist.com/c/2162903/260673/trade_groups_plan_merger_create_lobbying_powerhouse?
A summer update on a June 2018 post about the creation of a new lobbying and industry advocacy powerhouse, P/C Trades in Merger Talks:
The leader of the combination of the American Insurance Association and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America will be longtime PCI CEO David Sampson, according to an Aug. 1 memo to insurance executives from Sampson and PCI Board Chairman Kurt Bock, CEO of PCI member company Country Financial.
Sampson will be CEO of the merged property/casualty behemoth, “with the goal of retaining and integrating key staff of both organizations,” according to the memo.
However, the board of the combined entity will be filled with current board memberships of AIA and PCI, and PCI’s leaders said they expect the combination to right-side itself over about three-year process, according to the memo and an accompanying joint recommendation note.
PCI is headquartered
in Chicago but has a large office and presence in Washington, where it is close to Congress; AIA is based in Washington DC. Both are very active at the state and regional level and send multiple representatives to meet with state regulators and legislators as well as U.S. Congresspersons.
In the name of equanimity, the powerful new entity’s executive committee of up to 12 members would equally represent both trades for the first four years, according to PCI’s memo and attached note. These first years are referred to as “the trust building period” by PCI, which says on its webpage it represents 1,000 member companies and 340 insurance groups writing 38% of the U.S. home, auto, and business insurance market with $245 billion in premiums per year.
In contrast, AIA states on press releases its membership is comprised of more than 330 companies, collectively writing more than $134 billion in annual premiums.
The combined group, not accounting for overlap, merged entities or those companies who leave, if any, would total companies who together write $379 billion in annual premium.
Helming the combined entity as chairman of the board in a two-year rotation will be current AIA Board Chair and Munich Re America CEO Tony Kuczinski, followed by a new PCI board chair, PCI told its CEO membership in a memo. Of course, this is subject to the successful approval and completion of a merger. The note championed Kuczinski and Munich Re as “highly-regarded partners of many PCI companies.”
Back in mid-June, PCI leaders acknowledged they had been exploring a potential merger with AIA, which is now headed by industry veteran John Degnan, who took the president/CEO role last year after a long career.
PCI and AIA representatives did not immediately return an email inquiry on its alert to members.
Another major p/c trade group, the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies bills itself as the largest U.S. property/casualty insurance trade association, and its numbers are larger than PCI’s although many of its companies are mutuals and smaller in size, or less global. Indianapolis-based NAMIC represents more than 1,400-member companies and 40% of the p/c market in the U.S., with companies writing $253 billion in annual premiums.
WASHINGTON INSURANCE RIDER 