Latest Small Business Headlines

All the headlines from our Small Business Topic Page, ordered by recency.

How East Insurance Regulators Are Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic

Mar 25 2020 // As insurers continue to monitor the spread and impact of COVID-19, insurance regulators across the East region of the U.S. are issuing guidance on how the industry can respond. “There is almost no aspect of the...

Louisiana Expands Access to Telemedicine, Federal Aid for Small Businesses

Mar 24 2020 // Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has issued Emergency Rule 37, which aims to expand access to telehealth services during the COVID-19 health emergency. The Louisiana Department of Insurance summarized the...

Insurers Reject House Members’ Request to Cover Uninsured COVID Business Losses

Mar 20 2020 // A bipartisan group of U.S. House members has asked insurers to retroactively recognize financial losses relating to COVID-19 under commercial business interruption coverage for policyholders. Eighteen House members made...

Proposed N.J. Bill Would Require Insurers to Pay COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims

Mar 19 2020 // A proposed New Jersey bill, which aims to create business interruption insurance coverage for COVID-19 related claims despite virus exclusions in many policies, has drawn concern about the constitutionality of legislation...

Growing Exodus of Workers from City of London Cripples Small Businesses

Mar 19 2020 // At lunch hour, James Leahy’s Burrito Joe stall in the City of London’s financial district is usually buzzing as people line up from around the corner for their fajitas, tacos, quesadillas and rice-and-meat...

Massachusetts’ Governor Baker Announces $10M Small Business Recovery Fund

Mar 18 2020 // Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has announced a $10 million small business recovery loan fund to help companies struggling because of efforts to slow the coronavirus pandemic. Baker said Monday the fund will provide...

Louisiana Governor Requests Federal Small Business Disaster Loans for 2 Parishes

Mar 17 2020 // Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has requested that the Small Business Administration (SBA) provide Economic Injury Disaster Loans for Orleans and Jefferson parishes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While this request...

Small Businesses in Seattle Pinched as Virus Keeps Workers Home

Mar 11 2020 // The coronavirus outbreak has largely emptied Seattle’s usually busy downtown streets after Amazon and other companies told tens of thousands of people to work from home. That means far fewer customers for...

What Small Business Wants

Mar 9 2020 // Small business doesn’t mean small-in-size when it comes to the commercial insurance market. Direct written premiums ranged between $99 billion and $103 billion in 2013, up from $91 billion in 2011, according to...

Small Business Insurance Digital Distributor, Insureon, Expands Leadership Team in Chicago

Mar 4 2020 // Insureon, a Chicago-based digital distributor small business insurance, has created a new leadership team comprised of experts across the insurance, insurtech, and technology industries. Dan Kazan, CEO and member of the...

Direct Sales of Small Business Insurance Poised to Grow to $12B by 2025: Novarica

Mar 4 2020 // Over the past decade, selling small commercial insurance directly online to customers has gone from an outlandish idea to a reality. In a new report, research and advisory firm Novarica projects significant growth in the...

Pie Insurance Expands Workers’ Comp Coverage Into Alaska

Mar 4 2020 // Pie Insurance, an insurtech offering workers’ compensation insurance to small businesses, has expanded its workers’ compensation insurance offering to Alaska. The addition increases Pie’s coverage area to...

Pie Insurance Expands Workers’ Comp Coverage to Small Businesses in Missouri

Mar 4 2020 // Pie Insurance, an insurtech offering workers’ compensation insurance to small businesses, has expanded its workers’ compensation insurance offering to Missouri. The addition increases Pie’s coverage area...

Intuit to Acquire Credit Karma for $7.1 Billion

Feb 25 2020 // Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, QuickBooks and Mint, has agreed to acquire Credit Karma, the consumer technology platform, for approximately $7.1 billion in cash and stock. The combination brings together two technology...

Small Businesses Hope Employees Like Wellness Benefits Enough to Stay

Feb 24 2020 // Every month, the 30 staffers at Chris Boehlke’s public relations firm each get $100 to pay for anything that contributes to their wellness. And not just for typical expenditures like gym memberships or yoga...

Louisiana Small Business Protection Act Now in Effect

Feb 12 2020 // Louisiana’s Small Business Protection Act (SBPA), passed in the 2019 Legislative Session and effective as of Feb. 1, aims to help make small business owners aware of proposed regulations that could negatively impact...

How Brokers Stay Relevant? Be Nimble With Your Value Props

Feb 10 2020 // Commercial brokers, the future is bright. As you contend with an increasingly automated, digitally-enhanced insurance industry, rest assured your expertise remains valuable for your clients. That is, if you can adapt to...

Disaster Loans Available to Mississippi Businesses Hurt by Beach Closures

Jan 24 2020 // Low-interest disaster loans are available for small Mississippi businesses hurt by toxic bacteria that closed every mainland beach in the state during the summer. Those in adjacent counties in Mississippi, Alabama and...

Insurance Journal’s Top 10 Cyber Insurance Stories of 2019

Jan 10 2020 // An A.M. Best report released in June gave a comprehensive look at the state of the cyber insurance market for 2018, the most recent year data was available, stating that it has seen continued growth and underwriting...

Why Small Business Liability Insurance Must Be Advanced Into the Digital Age

Dec 30 2019 // Liability insurance as we know it no longer suits a large fraction of today’s and tomorrow’s small-business owners. Brokers and insurers are at a crossroads on how to serve small businesses’ changing...