On this installment, we check in with Luke Bills, president of independent agent distribution for Liberty Mutual’s U.S. retail markets. Luke outlines challenges for agents, including consolidation and pricing. Agents have had to deal with suffocating rate increases in recent years—“there was nowhere to hide from that,” Luke says. While auto rates are stabilizing, property is another story: “I don’t see a soft market coming,” he adds. Looking down the road, he says he is “very bullish on the IA channel. This [hard] market has shown the value of the independent agent.” With homeowners having to manage more risk and costly assets, and as insurance coverages “gets more expensive and availability gets more challenging, consumers need to have choice and expert guidance. That’s what independent agents do.” Captive agent models, too, “are moving toward finding choice,” he adds.

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