broker News Updates

Hellman & Friedman LLC has agreed to buy Hub International Inc. in a transaction that values the insurance broker at about $4.4 billion, Bloomberg News reported.

The Association of Independent Property Brokers & Agents has filed a federal lawsuit claiming a requirement to increase broker bonds to $75,000 from $10,000 violates the Fifth Amendment right to due process.

In today’s America, money wins out over sound judgment, and politics are used by powerful lobbies to secure laws and regulations favorable to them and their interests.   Take, for example, the $75,000 property broker bond, commonly referred to as the “freight broker” bond.

Carriers that seek the ability to “rebroker” freight without separate broker authority and bond will keep the door open to marketplace fraud and nonpayment. Worse still, the practice will expose carriers to the ever-increasing risk of liability for accidents they did not cause.

The founders of freight brokerage Partage LLC said they have launched an automated, Web-based brokerage service that allows shippers to enter their load information, get a final rate on the spot and book capacity without speaking to a broker.

Several organizations said they are pushing to repeal or modify parts of last year’s highway funding law that set new registration and bonding requirements for freight brokers and forwarders.

I have been feeling a calling to do what I can to help stop and raise awareness against human trafficking in some way, and today I came across an organization called Truckers Against Trafficking.

Freight brokers and third-party logistics companies are making inroads in the less-than-truckload market, a trend that reflects the desire by those firms to expand and diversify beyond traditional truckload markets, according to industry analysts.

A provision in the recently enacted federal transportation legislation aimed at protecting truckers and shippers by dramatically raising the bond freight brokers must pay has ignited a storm of controversy.

I am writing today regarding the June 18 Opinion titled “Higher Bonds Still Not the Answer” by Daniel Larson, president and chief operating officer, Pacific Financial Association Inc.