NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL AGENTS UNDER INVESTIGATION
Three Northwestern Mutual insurance agents in New Hampshire have been permitted to resign after the state Insurance Department began investigations against the men, the NH Union Leader reported.
The trio are in addition to four current Northwestern Mutual agents who are also under state investigation but have been allowed to continue to sell insurance products from Northwestern.
The seven agents, mostly from a Manchester office, are named on the website of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a government-authorized, nonprofit organization that oversees U.S. broker-dealers.
A Northwestern Mutual spokeswoman confirmed all seven are current or former registered representatives of Northwestern Mutual Investment Services LLC. and that three no longer work there.
M/S MT. WASHINGTON OWNER ACQUIRES WINNIPESAUKEE BELLE
The Winnipesaukee Flagship Corp., operator of the M/S Mount Washington and several other vessels, has acquired the Winnipesaukee Belle, another Lake Winnipesaukee passenger boat formerly owned and operated by the Wolfeboro Inn in Wolfeboro.
Launched in 1985, the Winnipesaukee Belle is 65 feet long and can accommodate 150 passengers. The vessel will be transported to the Mount Washington Cruises shipyard in Center Harbor, where it will be refurbished. It is expected to return to service in 2025 for her 40th anniversary.
Besides the M/S Mount Washington, Winnipesaukee Flagship Corp. also operates the U.S. Mailboat M/V Sophie C., the Winnipesaukee Spirit and the M/V Doris E.
CONCORD GROUP MOVES HQ TO BEDFORD
After 95 years in Concord, Concord Group Insurance has moved its headquarters from North State Street in the Capital City to Bedford, seeking more access to workers and a more modern building.
The Concord Monitor reported, though, that the company will maintain several offices in and around Concord, including about 80 workers at Granite Place in Concord.
Concord Group, which has been based in Concord since starting as a farm insurance company in 1928, is a major insurance carrier for independent agents in the four northern New England states. It is expanding its presence in Massachusetts, the company said, and moving the headquarters to Bedford is designed to get closer to that area and draw more employees.
The company’s new headquarters is at 35B Constitution Drive, in an industrial park off Route 101 in north Bedford, not far from the Everett Turnpike.
BARNES & NOBLE RETURNS TO UPPER VALLEY
Over five years after Barnes & Noble College closed the Dartmouth Bookstore in downtown Hanover, the national bookstore chain will open a new shop along the busy Route 12A commercial strip in West Lebanon.
The bookstore chain says it has been “experiencing a period of tremendous growth” in recent years and opened more new bookstores in 2022 “than it had in the decade since 2009,” when the Great Recession, coupled with a sharp rise in online shopping, devastated the traditional brick-and-mortar retail industry.
The chain plans to open more than 30 new stores in 2023.
