The Board of Directors meets under the auspices of FICP – Financial & Insurance Conference Planners, a non-profit organization headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Within this organization, there is no agreement, expressed or implied, regarding any activity pertaining to market share, rating, or expenses, including but not limited to, agreement concerning coverage provided policyholders, policy forms, endorsements, or underwriting rules and manuals. There is no agreement, expressed or implied, concerning activities, which could be construed as a boycott, coercion, intimidation or other anticompetitive act in violation of the public interest.
The Board of Directors is advised that FICP members may freely discuss and agree on coordinated efforts regarding conference sites, meeting management techniques and new trends, how to improve communications with hospitality partners and how to enhance the value of meetings in general.
However, FICP members, who represent a variety of insurance and financial services companies, must remember that their respective companies are competitors in the marketplace outside FICP and that the insurance and financial services industry has only a limited immunity from federal antitrust scrutiny under the McCarran-Ferguson Act and under the laws of some states.
Therefore, FICP members must exercise care in discussing non-meeting planning subjects as even innocuous discussions about rates or underwriting policies might later be misinterpreted as evidence of collusion.
FICP members should adhere to the written agenda and not discuss, formally or informally, at meetings or other events connected with them, any matters relating to rates, underwriting, coverage, or marketing; or costs or profits of any aspect of these operations, of any particular company.
Members are advised that there should also be no discussion of any individual company’s market response to legislative or other developments.