What’s in a Name? How To Change the Name on Your NY License

​It doesn't happen often, but occasionally a New York licensed insurance agent or broker changes their name and needs to show that on their license. Subsection (f) of Section 2102 of the New York Insurance law requires a "licensee" to notify the state Department of Financial Services "upon changing his, her or its legal name."Probably the most common reason for this is when a woman marries and assumes her husband's last name. The reverse may also occur - a marriage ends and the former wife wants to become known under her maiden name. And some folks just like to change names every few years.Whaever the…

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Big I NY Submits Comments on Draft Cyber Regulation Amendments

​This week, Big I NY submitted commen​ts on the DFS' pre-proposed draft amendments to the Cyber Regulation. You can read more about the draft amendments in an earlier post here.​In our comments, we recommended changes to the amendments that would help alleviate new burdens on producers, while still ensuring non-public information (NPI) is protected.Some of the key points include:Expanding the revenue threshold of the limited exemption to correspond with the proposed higher thresholds for employee count and assets, and clarifying that only independent contractors with access to NPI be counted towards the employee count.Expanding the total exemption for inactive licensees to include brokers in addition…

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Insurers, Get Your Act Together on Commercial Lines Renewals

​[The following is an updated version of a post from 2014. Unfortunately, the message is still very relevant in 2022.]I turned 61 last month. (Insert jokes about old age here.) A few weeks before I turned 25, way back during the Ronald Reagan years, the New York State Legislature passed and Gov. Mario M. Cuomo signed a bill into law, formally known as Chapter 220 of the Laws of 1986. It slapped new requirements on insurers​ that wanted to cancel or non-renew commercial insurance policies or make major changes to them. No longer could insurers double a business’s premium or exclude important coverage with no advance…

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