New York-based Solomon Agency Corp. has begun merger and acquisition procedures with HUB International, marking a major consolidation move in the eastern

Hub unit fails to overturn $6.6 million microcaptive tax penalty. * by Richard Sine A Hub International subsidiary has lost its bid to overturn a $6.6 million IRS fraud penalty tied to its use of a microcaptive insurance arrangement, after a federal judge rejected its claim that its right to a trial was unfairly burdened. The decision, in HDH Group, Inc. v. United States of America, was issued Monday by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. A microcaptive is a small, affiliated insurance company that a business sets up to insure risks it can't easily cover through the standard market. The arrangement can carry tax benefits, but the IRS has long treated many microcaptives as vehicles for disguised tax shelters. The IRS audited HDH's captive program in 2015 and, in 2023, assessed $6.6 million in penalties against the company for tax years 2013 through 2018 under a statute that punishes people who organize or sell interests in abusive tax shelters. HDH paid roughly $989,000, the minimum 15% required to challenge the penalty in court, and sued for a refund, arguing the assessment violated its Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. Judge William S. Stickman IV had already rejected that argument once, last September, but agreed to revisit it after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a related case, FCC v. AT&T. In that case, handed down in June, the Court upheld an earlier decision on when agencies can impose fines without a jury. HDH also argued for the first time that requiring it to prepay 15% of the penalty before suing improperly burdened its right to a jury trial. Judge Stickman rejected both arguments again. He found the statute doesn't deny HDH a jury since it allows a full "de novo" trial in district court. "The IRS's fact findings have been rendered irrelevant by HDH's filing of this action, and they have no bearing on these proceedings," the judge wrote. On the prepayment question, the judge reasoned that 18th-century common law often required a defendant to post security before trial, making the 15% prepayment rule a reasonable modern analog. "The critical question," he wrote, "is whether a member of the generation that framed and ratified the Seventh Amendment would view the requirement that HDH pay fifteen percent of the amount the IRS claims it owes as effectively depriving HDH of its right to a jury trial. The answer to this question is no." The judge denied HDH's motions to dismiss the government's counterclaim and for summary judgment, setting the case on a course for a jury trial. September 29, 2026

Insurer and wealth manager HUB rebrands ahead of planned IPO. Hub's rebrand aims to elevate its $207 billion workplace and individual wealth division in the marketplace, as well as its insurance and employee benefits services. Alex Ortolani, Senior Reporter, Wealth Management September 28, 2026 Want a quick summary? Hub International, an insurance brokerage and financial services firm based in Chicago, announced its first brand refresh in 10 years on the heels of filing papers for an initial public offering in late June. Hub is an insurance aggregator that has built a workplace retirement and wealth division with about $208 billion in assets under management and advisement, including $38 billion in individual wealth, according to its most recent filings. The firm said the brand refresh was to reflect its size and scale after completing more than 600 acquisitions and adding services and capabilities. Hub is majority-owned by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, which took a stake in 2013, with minority backing from firms including Leonard Green & Partners, Altas Partners and recent investors T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Alpha Wave Global and Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek. When the latter three took a minority stake in the firm in May, 2025, Hub pegged its value at $29 billion. Hub's rebrand includes the brand signature "For every ambition," paired with a redesigned look and the website HUBInternational.com. The work was led by Chief Marketing Officer Ellina Shinnick, and drew on interviews with clients, prospects, focus groups, employees, firm leadership, carriers and banking partners, newly acquired firms, and an "audit of the macro dynamics shaping the requirements" of clients, according to the announcement. "Clients expect more foresight, more technology and (artificial intelligence)-infused resources, and more specialized expertise than they did even five years ago," President and CEO Marc Cohen said in a statement. "In the complex, high-stakes work we do, they also want a broker who knows them, is never out of reach, stays with them all the way through a claim or crisis till they achieve their goals." Hub declined to comment on any connection between the rebrand and its Form S-1, or proposed IPO filing, with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Hub expects to use the proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include the repayment of indebtedness," the firm wrote in a release regarding the filing. A public offering by Hub would put it among a few other publicly listed insurance firms with wealth practices, including Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Marsh & McLennan Companies, and Willis Towers Watson. Hub offers institutional and retirement services to organizations and private wealth management services to individuals and families, with securities offered through its own broker/dealer or partner broker/dealers, according to filings. On the insurance side, it offers property and casualty, reinsurance, life and health and employee benefits services. A Hub IPO would give investors a chance to consider a wealth management business with hundreds of billions in client assets, with no other large RIA, at least publicly, poised to go public. Currently, the public markets have access to investments in the wirehouses and broker/dealers such as Ameriprise, LPL Financial, Raymond James and Stifel Financial. Hub had been listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange before being taken private by Apax Partners and Morgan Stanley in 2007. Since the firm's last brand refresh in 2016, it has grown to more than 21,000 employees across more than 700 offices, according to its website. Along with a new look, Hub said its new website will get "clients and prospects to the right specialist and expertise faster and is built on modern architecture designed for how clients, and increasingly AI-powered search tools, find and evaluate a broker." Senior Reporter, Wealth Management Alex Ortolani is a New York-based senior reporter with Wealth Management with a focus on deals, moves and trends in the registered investment advisor space. In addition to financial and business reporting, he has worked in media relations and corporate communications for tech firms and Fortune 500 companies.