Data security

Predictive modeling and emerging claims technologies will affect the nonstandard auto insurance market, according to Conning Research & Consulting.

New studies say climate and demographic changes are two of many interrelated risks that insurers must consider.

Raleigh, N.C. — BB&T Insurance Services Inc., a Raleigh, N.C.-based, wholly owned subsidiary of Branch Banking and Trust Co., plans to expand its Florida operation with the acquisition of Burkey Risk Services of metro Orlando.

Fairfax, Va. — The Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI), a nonprofit research institute focused on risk management, launched an improved Web site designed to ease access to an extensive collection of risk management publications, programs and tools. Among the enhanced features found on the site is an expanded resource library organized by topic, audience and type of resource for more user-friendly research.

Newark, Calif. — Risk Management Solutions Inc. (RMS), a provider of products

St. Louis — Wells Fargo Insurance Services Inc., a Chicago-based, bank-owned insurance brokerage, and a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Co., acquired St. Louis-based Insurance Brokers of America (IBA).

A recent survey of actuaries focused on business intelligence strategies for actuaries coping with new challenges surrounding financial reporting, planning, forecasting and risk management.

London – Instability within the financial markets represent the biggest threat to the global insurance industry, according to a survey conducted last month by Lloyd’s of London. The survey asked 138 Lloyd’s underwriters to answer questions about working in the Lloyd’s environment, including the identification of those emerging risks that will most likely challenge the insurance industry over the coming year.

Chicago — In a commitment to client service excellence, Aon Corp. will integrate its worldwide risk and insurance brokerage operations into a single global business, Aon Risk Services, with more than 26,000 colleagues in 120 countries and more than $5 billion in revenues.

Though 43% of recently surveyed European insurers expect compliance to cost them less than €5 million, they believe that many of their core risk management capabilities need to be enhanced.

Carriers find their enterprise risk management (ERM) capabilities are no longer a purely internal matter as their organizations come under increased scrutiny by regulators and raters.

Seattle — In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the role of lifestyle-based analytics (LBA) in health insurance underwriting, according to Seattle-based actuarial and consulting firm Milliman Inc. In some instances, proponents of LBA made overly optimistic claims about the use of consumer data as a predictor in the underwriting process. Milliman's Jonathan Shreve, author of the white paper “Lifestyle-based Analytics: A Practical Guide”, examined the appropriate and effective use of LBA as an advance in risk selection and classification.

Stamford, Conn. — Towers Perrin is expanding its reinsurance intermediary business to serve the French domestic market.

Boston - AIR Worldwide Corp. (AIR), a provider of risk management data and services, announced results of the latest research by its team of scientists into the link between the formation of hurricanes in the Atlantic basin and landfall activity. The latest findings provide a context for better understanding the 2004-2007 hurricane seasons and demonstrate that using Atlantic basin activity as a proxy for landfall activity can lead to erroneous estimates of both landfall risk and potential insured losses, says the company.

ERM platforms help gather data across siloed risk management domains, presenting an enterprisewide view of risk.

Chicago - While winter storms do not attract the attention of mega-catastrophes such as hurricanes and earthquakes, these smaller events can add up to impact insurers' bottom lines say experts. However, insurers can now avail themselves of such risks by using new technology to better assess the risks from winter storms and fires, risk modeling experts report.

Insurance companies—including actuaries and IT executives—will be under growing pressure to enhance their financial management system capabilities as they face changing financial reporting requirements, and more extensive risk management challenges in 2008.

New York - XL Insurance, the global insurance operation of XL Capital Ltd., has completed the purchase of Global Asset Protection Services LLC (GAPS) from Swiss Re. GAPS is a provider of unbundled loss prevention consulting services, offering individually tailored risk management solutions to risk managers, insurance brokers and insurance company clients operating on a global basis.

Regulators advise the public to become aware of ID theft vulnerabilities, while carriers are using technology and third-party help to thwart the bad guys and bolster customer services levels.

Arson Registry Act Passes House