Most carriers, brokers and vendors expect to acquire more new groups this year. The Eastbridge Voluntary Industry Confidence Index climbed to 84 percent for 2010; a year ago, only about 73 percent of respondents were predicting new group growth.

Just 4 percent currently expect to see any decrease, which is down from the 12 percent in last year's survey. Interestingly, carriers were more optimistic than brokers about new group growth. Ninety percent of carriers expect to see more new groups compared to just 79 percent of the brokers.

The Voluntary Industry Confidence Index study is conducted semi-annually and includes responses from individuals active in the market–carriers, brokers, and vendors. Like other confidence indices, the index is a single number that compares the current results to a baseline measure. The report is available only to Eastbridge Insight and Information Partner companies as well as to participants. The survey will be conducted again in December of 2010. For more information on becoming a participant, contact the company at [email protected].