Keystone Insurers has agreed to expand its business into Georgia, US with around 15 'pioneer' partners, during the second quarter of 2012.

Keystone vice president of sales and marketing Elizabeth Schenk said that the group has been designed to enhance the value of an independent agency providing mutual benefits to individual partners and the larger group.

Each independent agency within Keystone gains from an enhanced array of services and support by being part of the larger group. Keystone has grown from 16 to 233 franchise partners to date in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern regions of the country.

Keystone Insurers, founded in 1983 and headquartered at Northumberland, is owned by its franchise partners and employees in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, with property/casualty premiums in excess of $1.6bn.