A brokerage staff survey of insurers' performance has givencarriers in the U.S. Northeast higher marks than other segments ofNorth America, while reinsurers and specialty carriers got thehighest marks overall.

London-headquartered Willis Group Holdings said it asked its2,550 employees to rate the carriers in the areas of underwriting,policy administration, claims and service.

The employees were asked to give ratings in four categories on ascale of 1-10, with 10 the highest rating.

Willis said it received responses on 80 carriers throughout theworld. The survey summary breaks the markets down into eightmarkets: reinsurance, North America retail, Asia Pacific,Continental Europe, Latin America, United Kingdom and Irelandretail, employee benefits, and specialty business.

In its summary report, Willis said the 80 carriers overallreceived a mean score of seven, but no carrier received a rankingabove eight.

“There is clearly opportunity for carriers to furtherdifferentiate themselves through service and performance,” thereport said, noting that the carriers received a mean score of 6.7on policy administration and 6.62 on service. Underwriting stood at6.98 and claims was at 6.72.

By business unit, employee benefits came in with the highestranking at 7.23, while Willis International-Asia Pacific stood at6.44. The Willis North America unit was ranked at 6.98. Globalspecialty received a ranking of 7.21 and reinsurance 7.15.

The North America business included teams from the UnitedStates, Canada, Bermuda and London. The survey found clear regionaldifferences, Willis said, with the Northeast, Southeast and Londonreceiving mean scores above seven while Canada and Bermuda had thelowest mean scores at 6.5 and 6.36, respectively.

Willis said there were 17 carrier groups surveyed in the NorthAmerica group.

Similar to the overall rankings, North American carriers scoredwell on underwriting at 6.98 for all Willis associates surveyed and7.16 among employees concentrating on that market.

At the low end of the scale, claims was ranked at 6.72 amongWillis associates and 6.67 among Willis North Americaemployees.

In a statement, Joe Plumeri, Willis Group chairman and chiefexecutive officer, said the carrier evaluation survey is part of awider plan dubbed the Willis Quality Index to help both employeesand clients make more informed choices. It will be a blend offeedback from the evaluation survey and other “quantitativeinformation.”

“We will use the results to enhance our services to our clients,working together with insurers to raise the standards ofperformance–theirs and ours,” he said.

He said Willis intends to conduct the evaluation survey on abiannual basis.

The summary report does not list any individual carriers.