According to REBNY president Steven Spinola, Aon, a Chicago-based firm that tailors insurance packages to specific needs, is consulting to REBNY on the model, which is expected to save the member-owners up to 30% on insurance costs. But the savings won't come from lowered premiums, he tells GlobeSt.com, but rather there would be "tax and profit potential that would reduce costs." According to a Wall Street Journal report, some 15 members of the board are currently in the vanguard of the movement, including SL Green, Tishman Speyer and the Related Cos.

"It's not a done deal yet," Spinola explains. "We're exploring the economic feasibility, but the possibilities look good." A decision is expected within the next two months, and if the concept passes muster, the program will be in place as soon as "the experts" can roll it out, the president says. The member-owned firm would solicit real estate clients around the country.

The focus, at the start at any rate, is on liability and casualty, Spinola says. The model won't touch terrorism insurance for two reasons. First he says, there is renewed optimism in the possibility that Congress will move on a terrorism insurance bill now that President George Bush has put the weight of his opinion behind the measure (click on Bush Joins Industry to Press Terrorism Insurance Law). Also, potential terrorism claims are too "open ended," he states. "Liability and casualty are clearly understood."