BenefitMall.com Acquires Premier Mid-Atlantic Benefits Leader.Business Editors & Technology Writers DALLAS and BALTIMORE Baltimore, city (1990 pop. 736,014), N central Md., surrounded by but politically independent of Baltimore co., on the Patapsco River estuary, an arm of Chesapeake Bay; inc. 1745. COUNTY, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE) Feb. 28, 2000- Combined effort with two units of The Mather Companies to result in more than $1 million in daily insurance premiums sold through Internet-enabled brokers. Independent insurance brokers selling small business employee benefits programs in the Mid-Atlantic region now have the same set of emerging online resources as the thousands of independent brokers across the nation. These capabilities are now available through an acquisition with The Mather Companies announced today by BenefitMall.com. Through the agreement, Mather & Morgan Morgan, American family of financiers and philanthropists. Junius Spencer Morgan, 1813–90, b. West Springfield, Mass., prospered at investment banking. Insurance Services, Inc., and Mather & Strohl Administrative Services of Cockeysville, Md., trading as The Mather Companies, are becoming part of Dallas-based BenefitMall.com, the leading online exchange for small business benefits. Unlike many new technology-based business models that ultimately reduce the human factor, BenefitMall.com uses the Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the to empower empower verb To encourage or provide a person with the means or information to become involved in solving his/her own problems independent brokers to personally serve a wider range of small business customers who previously could not be serviced profitably. Through the Internet, brokers can gain greater efficiency through reduction of administrative paperwork and time, making it possible to effectively serve smaller employee groups. The interactive nature of the Internet reduces the time needed to design and open a small business group benefits plan from an average of 45 days to a single meeting lasting approximately 45 minutes. "While the benefits business always has been based on one-to-one relationships and interaction with clients, it's been costly to put together programs for a major part of American business - the businesses with as few as 2 to 100 employees," said Bernard Ber·nard , Claude 1813-1878. French physiologist noted for his study of the digestive and nervous systems. DiFiore, president and chief executive officer of BenefitMall.com. "Our teaming with the Mather organization now allows their brokers to expand the use of the Internet to connect with clients, who will be able to research, compare plans and have a wide variety of options. This permits brokers to focus all of their personal involvement in working hand-in-hand with their clients to fine-tune and implement their employee benefits plan." Greater geographic reach for BenefitMall.com According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. U.S. government statistics, businesses with fewer than 100 workers represent more than half of the total number of businesses operating in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . The expanding national footprint The amount of geographic space covered by an object. A computer footprint is the desk or floor surface it occupies. A satellite's footprint is the earth area covered by its downlink. See form factor. 1. of the BenefitMall.com organization gives businesses access to brokers and insurance carriers across the country. This provides brokers and their customers across the country with a broader range of expertise and services, according to Dennis B. Mather, newly named general manager of the Mid-Atlantic region for BenefitMall.com. "Our movement into the BenefitMall.com organization provides our brokers with access to greater resources, both today and in the future," said Mather, who previously was a principal with both the Mather & Morgan and Mather & Strohl organizations. "Our strength in third-party administration of benefits and use of technology, coupled with BenefitMall.com's additional technology capabilities and our shared, exclusive belief in the independent broker business model makes our combined company the undisputed leader in the online small business group benefits arena." "This acquisition gives BenefitMall.com significantly greater geographic reach and strengthens its national leadership," said Gary Craft, E-finance Research Analyst and Managing Director, Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. "The increased bargaining power will accelerate the shift to electronic distribution of insurance." While the Mather & Morgan and Mather & Strohl units are being acquired by BenefitMall.com, three other units within The Mather Companies are not part of this transaction. Mather Benefit Administrators, LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control ; Mather and Massa Massa, in the Bible Massa (măs`ə), in the Bible, seventh son of Ishmael. Massa, city, Italy Massa (mäs`ä), city (1991 pop. 66,737), capital of Massa-Carrara prov. , LLC; and Voluntary Benefits Solutions, LLC, will remain independent of the expanded BenefitMall.com organization. All business aspects with brokers to remain in place Officials of the two companies emphasized that the people and practices long associated with The Mather Companies are remaining in place. The more than 100 Mather employees working for the companies acquired by BenefitMall.com are continuing in their current positions, serving brokers and their customers from existing offices in Baltimore County and Rockville, Md. Most importantly Adv. 1. most importantly - above and beyond all other consideration; "above all, you must be independent" above all, most especially , all broker relationships, contracts and ownership of commissions, bonuses and overrides are continuing unchanged. When the two units of The Mather Companies have been fully absorbed - which is expected to occur in the next 30 to 45 days - BenefitMall.com's resulting network of more than 10,000 brokers will sell in excess of $1 million in insurance premiums each day to small business employers and benefits administrators from an online selection of more than 80 insurance carriers and thousands of plans. The company will manage nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars of annual insurance premiums, up from approximately $400 million before the acquisition. About The Mather Companies The Mather Companies is one of the Mid-Atlantic region's largest and fastest growing general agencies and third party administrators of employee benefits programs. Founded in 1983, the company provides employee benefits and group insurance products marketed exclusively through more than 1,000 independent insurance brokers. Using award-winning technologies, The Mather Companies provide products and services to more than 100,000 employees through more than 10,000 companies and associations in Delaware Delaware, state, United States Delaware (dĕl`əwâr, –wər), one of the Middle Atlantic states of the United States, the country's second smallest state (after Rhode Island). , the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). , Maryland Maryland (mâr`ələnd), one of the Middle Atlantic states of the United States. It is bounded by Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean (E), the District of Columbia (S), Virginia and West Virginia (S, W), and Pennsylvania (N). and Virginia. About BenefitMall.com BenefitMall.com is the complete online exchange for small business employee benefits. With 20 years of experience and a proven heritage of both online and traditional insurance sales and support, BenefitMall.com utilizes the power of the Internet to "E-mpower" its brokers to offer the most efficient, effective and personalized per·son·al·ize tr.v. per·son·al·ized, per·son·al·iz·ing, per·son·al·iz·es 1. To take (a general remark or characterization) in a personal manner. 2. To attribute human or personal qualities to; personify. service for their small business customers. Headquartered in Dallas, the company operates sales and service offices in most major population centers in the United States, as well as a national customer service and sales center to support Internet-based sales at the national level. The company is a former subsidiary of Humana, and today is an independent company owned by Humana Ventures, Austin Ventures, Technology Crossover Crossover The point on a stock chart when a security and an indicator intersect. Crossovers are used by technical analysts to aid in forecasting the future movements in the price of a stock. In most technical analysis models, a crossover is a signal to either buy or sell. Ventures and Morgan, Stanley Ventures and company management. BenefitMall.com is a registered trademark of Centerstone Insurance and Financial Services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. , Inc. Certain information in this release may be considered forward-looking in nature and may involve expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future. By nature, forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. involve risks and uncertainties. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to BenefitMall.com as of the date of the release. The company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement. The statements in this release are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences. |
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