Analytics

The Hague and New York — AEGON and Merrill Lynch announced they will form a strategic business relationship in the areas of insurance and investment products. As part of this relationship, an AEGON company has signed an agreement to acquire Merrill Lynch Life Insurance Co. and ML Life Insurance Co. of New York for U.S. $1.3 billion in cash. The purchase price includes excess surplus of approximately $425 million. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the fourth quarter of 2007, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.

Denver - Colorado Casualty's appointed agents in Arizona and New Mexico are the first in the Liberty Mutual Group member's six-state territory to be equipped with Commercial IQ, the company's, Web-based technology for commercial lines quoting, binding and policy issuance.Commercial IQ is designed to deliver an automated underwriting process with expanded, yet simplified, eligibility criteria, and a sophisticated pricing system with multiple price points, which results in fewer referrals, less intervention, the best price up front and quicker policy issuance. Commercial IQ's "Quick Quote" feature enables agents instant access to a faster online quote with minimal entry of information, according to Liberty Mutual Group. Agents also can select the most appropriate product for a commercial risk using Commercial IQ's SmartNav, the pre-qualification tool that requires only a business class code and responses to a few basic eligibility questions to best meet customers' needs.

Brookfield, Wis., and Norcross, Ga. — Fiserv Inc., a technology solutions provider, and CheckFree Corp., a financial e-commerce services and products provider, entered into a definitive agreement whereby Fiserv will acquire CheckFree in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $4.4 billion. Under terms of the agreement, CheckFree shareholders will receive $48 in cash for each share of common stock.

Dublin, Ireland - FINEOS Corp., a global provider of enterprise software solutions for insurance, bancassurance and social insurance, has extended its relationship with IBM to enable the FINEOS Claims solution to now run on IBM System z. The IBM System z enablement will allow insurers that rely on mainframes at the heart of their enterprise infrastructure to run FINEOS solutions on their preferred platform, says FINEOS.

Los Angeles — Farmers Insurance Group received the "Sammy Award" and five other top awards at the Insurance Marketing Communication Association's (IMCA) Annual Meeting and Showcase Awards in Newport, R.I. The Showcase Awards are given for creative excellence in insurance advertising.

Fort Myers, Fla. and Milwaukee — Sitkins Group Inc., a Fort Myers, Fla.-based consulting firm providing services relating to sales, management and operations for independent insurance agencies and Sitkins 100 has partnered with Zywave Inc., a Milwaukee-based provider of insurance technology services for insurance brokers, to allow for the marketing and promotion of Zywave tools to Sitkins 100 members.

San Angelo, Texas - Fletch Data LLC, a San Angelo, Texas-based electronic directory assistance and telephone appending provider signed an agreement to partner with Simi Valley, Calif.-based CDS Software to offer CollectOne customers access to Fletch Data's batch processing telephone database. Customers will be able to access Fletch's database through CDS' CollectOne software suite.

Bermuda and Bahrain — Scottish Re Group Ltd., a global life reinsurance specialist based in Bermuda, announced the sale of its Middle East Life portfolio to Arab Insurance Group (Arig), Bahrain-based reinsurance companies in the Middle East and North Africa.

New York – Deloitte & Touche USA LLP’s insurance sector has added industry veterans Rick Berry, Ann Connolly and Don McNees to the organization, further strengthening Deloitte’s capabilities in distribution and channel management.

Fairfield, Ohio — Ohio Casualty Group, now operating as Ohio Casualty, a Fairfield, Ohio-based regional company within Liberty Mutual Agency Markets, has been honored with the 2007 National Company Award of Excellence by the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA).