Digital Platforms

Boston - Financial institutions that make online retirement tools readily available can increase consumer retirement account participation and action. That's the conclusion of a study conducted by Compete, Inc., a market research firm, with MSN and Media Contacts.The study, titled " Consumer Adoption of Online Retirement Planning Tools," was initiated to understand how consumers use online retirement tools at leading financial sites to develop and execute their wealth accumulation strategy. It revealed that every month an average of 180,000 consumers use online retirement tools, and consumers who are aware of the availability of online retirement tools and use them, are more likely to take action, according to Mike Bailey, managing director, financial services practice, Compete Inc. "Retirement sites need to seize this opportunity to leverage tools that develop relationships with consumers who will evolve into active customers with higher value accounts."

Jersey City, N.J. - ISO has identified a six-point strategy where technology now exists for the effective management of claims through improved visibility of the claims handling process, establishing best practices and a more accurate assessment of injuries and recovery implications.Statistics from the Insurance Research Council (IRC) have shown that claims cost inflation has risen at an average of around 7% every year since 1997, with the average bodily injury claim cost rising from $4,804 in 1997 to $6,711 in 2002.

Baltimore - Carriers considering new agents pay close attention to how much experience, data and information the agent provides in its pitch, says a major provider of commercial insurance, reinsurance and risk management services.

Pittsburgh - Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield will offer members additional information on hospital quality information and treatment options online through its member Web site. As consumer-driven products shift decision-making responsibility to consumers, insurers are providing more information to help members make health care decisions."Highmark continues to provide additional resources to help our members make informed decisions that give them a greater hand in their health," says Kim Bellard, Highmark's vice president of e-marketing and CRM. "Our goal is to give members clear, accurate information about their health care options --choice of providers, costs and treatment options."

Tampa, Fla. - CGI Group Inc. has signed of a seven-year agreement valued at between $45 million and $75 million to provide Universal Insurance of North America, Sarasota, Florida, with policy and accounting business process services (BPS).CGI will process Universal's personal lines (book of business) including homeowners, dwelling-fire, auto, and umbrella in Texas and Florida. CGI will continue to support Universal's business processing needs as they expand their services into new markets.

Simsbury, Conn. - The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has named Mark Esposito as chief information officer for its individual life division.Esposito, who is also vice president and director of business technology, will lead the division's project management office and technology initiatives. He will be a member of the senior planning group, which helps Executive Vice President Michael Kalen, director of individual life, set direction for the division.

New York - The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences have nominated the Best Insurance Sites in The Tenth Annual Webby Awards. The nominees are:Westfield Insurance: http://www.westfieldinsurance.com

New York - The property/casualty insurance industry will report an increase in its capital base and an overall profitable performance in 2005, enabling it to meet the insurance needs of the growing U.S. economy, according to preliminary financial results compiled by the Insurance Services Office (ISO) and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). Insurers achieved these results despite catastrophe losses totaling a record $57.7 billion before reinsurance recoveries, according to ISO's Property Claims Services unit."A financially strong, stable and secure insurance industry benefits consumers and communities devastated by disaster," says Dr. Robert Hartwig, senior vice president and chief economist of the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.). "U.S. insurers entered 2005 well capitalized and well prepared for major catastrophic losses, having implemented effective risk management strategies which helped insurers better manage losses and control costs. Additionally, insurers' investments benefited from higher interest rates and--like other American industries--a resurgent economy in 2005. Last year's financial performance is also a testament to the efficiency of the global market for sharing and spreading risk, principally through the use of reinsurance, which is insurance purchased by insurance companies. That being said, the $43.2 billion earned by property/casualty insurers in 2005 translates into a 10.1% return on surplus or net worth, well below the 14.9% return on equity earned by the Fortune 500 group of companies."

San Francisco - GuardianEdge Technologies Inc. has released a white paper examining the information security objectives set forth in the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council's Information Security Booklet (FFIEC Handbook) and how enterprise encryption technology can assist financial institutions in complying with the data protection requirements of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.Nearly 26,000 banks, credit unions and other depository financial institutions must adhere to strict federal guidelines for protecting privacy of and tracking access to customer information, or risk criminal and civil penalties.

Newark, N.J. - Horizon Blue Cross Blue of New Jersey and WebMD Health Corp. have teamed up to provide Horizon BCBSNJ's members a new service called My Health Manager. The new online service is a personalized, interactive health application that provides Horizon BCBSNJ members with tools and health information resources they need to better assess, track, and manage their health."Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey members now have access to reliable health information in the privacy of their own home whenever they need it through My Health Manager," says William J. Marino, president and CEO of Horizon BCBSNJ. "Working with WebMD, we are making health care easier by putting at our members' fingertips a powerful new tool and tremendous health resources."

Washington - At a hearing before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, Joseph Smith, senior vice president and chief information officer of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, urged Congress to adopt a realistic timetable for a major shift in medical coding, moving systems from ICD-9 to ICD-10. Smith testified at the hearing, which focused on health care information technology, on behalf of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA).The bill Smith referenced, HR 4157, the Health Information Technology Promotion Act of 2005, calls for the major conversion of diagnostic and procedural codes that providers and insurers must use by 2009. Systems would change from ICD-9 diagnosis codes, which include 13,000 codes, to ICD-10, which includes over 120,000 possible codes.

Hartford, Conn. - Beginning May 3, Aetna will cover online physician-patient communications for members in California and Florida through RelayHealth, a provider of secure online health care communication services.RelayHealth enables online communication between doctors and patients, including clinically based doctor-patient consultations, appointment requests, the ability to get referrals, lab and test results, and electronic prescriptions and medication refills.

Andover, Mass. - CGI's special investigative unit (SIU) operating within Clarendon National Insurance Co. has concluded a probe that resulted in the arrest of four California residents. Six felony charges have been lodged in connection with a fraudulent auto theft claim that was filed with Clarendon.On March 1, 2006, California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi announced the arrests and added: "These types of false claims cost all of us more in the form of higher insurance premiums. My department will continue to fight this fraud to help ensure a fair, affordable insurance system for all Californians."

Washington, D.C. - United States Senators John Sununu (R-N.H.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) have introduced the "National Insurance Act of 2006," legislation that would allow life and property/casualty insurers to choose federal rather than state charters under an "optional federal charter" regulatory system.Sununu and Johnson, both members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, introduced the legislation on Wednesday, April 5. The measure has been referred to the Banking Committee where hearings are expected later this spring.

El Segundo, Calif. - In response to interest, Computer Sciences Corp.'s board of directors has decided to explore strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value, including a potential sale of the company.The company has retained Goldman, Sachs & Co. as its financial advisor in this process. CSC cautions that there can be no assurance the exploration of strategic alternatives will result in a transaction, and the company does not intend to disclose developments regarding its exploration unless and until the Board of Directors has approved a specific transaction.

Santa Clara, Calif. - Itemfield, a provider of complex data transformation software, has formed a relationship with Adobe Systems Inc. to work together to develop a solution designed specifically for the insurance industry.The combination of Adobe's intelligent forms that support the ACORD XML data standard with the process-specific business rules and complex data transformation capabilities from Itemfield can help insurers increase efficiency by accelerating the processing of transactional data in electronic forms, such as quotations and new business submissions, according to the two companies.

Seattle - Safeco has named William Jenks chief information officer, effective April 17, 2006.Jenks most recently served as executive vice president and chief information officer of worldwide operations at Publicis Groupe, one of the world's largest advertising and media companies. At Publicis, Jenks led the consolidation of separate technology platforms following a major corporate acquisition. He also realigned the company's technical resources to support top-line business objectives and improve the efficiency of its global workforce.

New York - Lexington Insurance Co., a member company of American International Group, Inc. (AIG), has launced a new online site, www.lexaehelp.com, to provide relevant information to professionals carrying architects and engineers (A&E) liability insurance. The new Web site was created to provide insureds with access to ongoing education modules, contractual information and legal information resources."Because of the specialized liability concerns of architects and engineers, we created www.lexaehelp.com to give our A&E insureds resources specific to their field--including online classes that satisfy state requirements--to assist in mitigating risks and liabilities," says Kevin Kelley, CEO, Lexington Insurance Co.

Las Vegas - Recognizing the growing role of enterprise systems in assisting companies to meet the increasing challenges of corporate compliance and risk management, SAP AG is acquiring Virsa Systems Inc., a privately-held supplier of cross-enterprise compliance solutions. The announcement was made at Simplify, the 2006 Virsa Customer Conference, being held in Las Vegas.Founded in 1996, Virsa has more than 300 enterprise customers, many of which are global 1000 companies, across all major vertical market segments. SAP stated that the transaction with Virsa is continuing evidence of its strategy to use "fill-in" acquisitions to add to its broad solution offering by gaining specific technologies and capabilities that meet the needs of its customers, within industries or across industries, while maintaining its successful organic growth track record. Terms of the all-cash transaction were not disclosed.

Gilsbar Inc. has had a detailed disaster recovery and business continuity plan in place since 1996. The New Orleans-based third-party administrator, which handles claims for about 150,000 members, employs a certified disaster recovery specialist. And, the company's executives and technical staff go through tabletop disaster recovery scenarios at least twice a year.Like many other insurance companies, Gilsbar is prepared for catastrophes. However, when Hurricane Katrina hit last year, insurance executives were caught by surprise and had to act on their feet and respond to a bevy of unexpected circumstances.

The "whys" of data access management are as far-reaching as the technology used to manage it.According to New York-based Ernst & Young LLC, regulatory compliance is the No. 1 driver of insurance industry information security. However, the devastating consequences of other incidents, from breaches to simple human error, can't be dismissed.

I'm sure you've heard the one about the life insurance salesman who asked his client, "Do you know the present value of your husband's life insurance policy?""What do you mean?" countered the woman.

RESEARCH RATES AUTO INSURANCE WEB SITESNew research released by Change Sciences Group Inc., a White Plaines, N.Y.-based online financial services benchmarking firm, shows that a handful of auto insurance Web sites are working hard to demystify rates, discounts and claims in an effort to win consumer trust and new business. The research, covering 24 sites, identifies a number of trends relevant to carriers and consumers alike, from allowing consumers to compare their rates with other carriers to presenting some information about the things that affect a person's rate. Sites still have a long way to go when it comes to online execution: Only 40% of sites allow a consumer to follow through on a quote and buy the policy online, and 65% of the sites that do allow consumers to buy online don't make the process as easy as it could be. The top 10 sites, according to Change Sciences are:

E-Z DATA LEVERAGES LATEST WINDOWS TECHNOLOGYClient Data System 6, the newest version of the E-Z Data Inc.'s Windows-based solution for practice and relationship management, addresses specific requests from E-Z Data's current corporate customers, and leverages the latest in Windows technology. Version 6 was designed to provide users with more benefits including control over icon size and desktop look and feel, easier query processing and superior performance, refreshed reports, improved integration with Microsoft Office Outlook for an easier, more intuitive calendar, password requirements and expiration, secure contact fields, database encryption, and private form letters for greater security, a complete HIPAA compliance system that helps prevent HIPAA-protected individuals from receiving unprotected mailings.

Insurance Networking News recently interviewed Debbi Marquette on the topic of regulatory compliance. Marquette is a former insurance company compliance officer with 25 years of experience. Currently, she is director of compliance solutions at InSystems, a Markham, Ont., provider of document management and compliance software.INN: What are the most crucial issues in compliance today?

Since the business of insurance is risk management, it's not surprising that the majority of insurers have standards of practice for monitoring, managing and mitigating risk. What's more surprising, is that enterprise risk management (ERM)-identifying, prioritizing, quantifying, mitigating and financing risks from all sources across an enterprise-seems to be catching on fairly quickly.That's a conclusion of a recent survey by New York-based Ernst & Young's Insurance and Actuarial Advisory Services (IAAS), which found that 67% of insurers have a formal ERM committee. Of that 67%, 33% formed their ERM committee within the last three years. Another 21% of respondents say their organizations are considering establishing such a committee.

POLICY PROCESSINGThe Cumberland Insurance Group, a Bridgeton, N.J., multi-line carrier, has placed Mount Arlington, N.J.-based AGO Insurance Software Inc.'s Commercial Multi-Peril Policy System in its production environment. The Windows program will be used to streamline the policy cycle process for CMI.

According to the coalition Against Insurance Fraud, insurance fraud is an $80-billion crime wave. Unfortunately, most insurance carriers have neither the processes nor technology they need to stop fraud.Even so, as fraud schemes become more sophisticated, insurance carriers must examine an even wider array of data to identify fraud trends and detect fraudulent claims. To do this, they must institute a set of technology best practices and techniques to automatically detect fraud and abuse early in the claims process.

Seoul, Korea - In what is being called the largest deal of its kind for the financial services industry in Korea, Kyobo Life Insurance has contracted IBM to operate and manage its IT infrastructure.Under the terms of the 10-year agreement which has a total contract value of approximately 340 million U.S. dollars, IBM will provide IT strategy consulting services to help develop and advance Kyobo's IT vision and strategy. IBM will also manage the company's servers, storage systems, network and desktop computers and operate its data and disaster recovery centers. Additionally, IBM will provide IT skills development and IT management training services, called 'IT University', for Kyobo's employees.

Washington - The American Academy of Actuaries disclosed that a future large terrorist attack in New York City could result in $778 billion in insured losses.Speaking at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) public hearing on "Terrorism Insurance Matters," Michael McCarter, chairperson of the Academy Terrorism Risk Insurance Subgroup, provided potential property/casualty, and group life insurance losses as a result of various types of terrorist attacks. His group estimated potential insured losses from a conventional truck bomb terrorist attack, as well as medium and large chemical, nuclear, biological or radiological (CNBR) events caused by terrorism.

Bowling Green, Ohio - Sky Financial Group Inc. has hired Zahid Afzal as executive vice president/chief technology officer. He will report directly to Les Starr, corporate executive vice president of technology and operations.Afzal comes to Sky from Bank of America, where he was a senior vice president and chief information officer of the consumer banking division. While at Bank of America, Afzal directed the consumer banking information technology initiatives and successfully implemented several programs, which reduced expenses while growing the business organically and through mergers and acquisitions. Prior to Bank of America, Afzal was the chief information officer for Broadslate Networks and a senior technology executive for Citicorp.

New York and Emeryville, Calif. - After the completion of a successful 18-month pilot, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield and RelayHealth Corp. are expanding the RelayHealth webVisit service to all members of Empire's HMO plan.Beginning July 1, 2006 more than 400,000 HMO members will have access to RelayHealth's Web-enabled doctor visits. As part of the expansion agreement, Empire will also make RelayHealth available to all of its national Administrative Services Only (ASO) accounts as a new benefit.

Chicago - The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry will report deterioration in profitability in 2005 because insured catastrophe losses reached record levels in 2005, according to Fitch Ratings.The decrease in profitability is largely due to the destruction from Hurricane Katrina, the most devastating insured loss event in history, and Hurricanes Rita and Wilma, each of which will rank among the top 10 historical insured loss events.

New York City - The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has launched a comprehensive public education program to assist consumers with information about insurance issues.Under the banner of "Insure U," the campaign has two objectives: to help consumers get smart about insurance as their needs change at different life stages, and to educate them about how to avoid being scammed by fake insurance companies. The program includes an online education site and public service announcements in English and Spanish.

Okemos, Mich. - Sircon Corp. and Efficient Forms LLC, Littleton, Colo., have formed an exclusive partnership designed to build on each other's products and customer bases to create an online platform for agent hiring, contracting and licensing for insurance agents, carriers and regulators. The partnership is a step toward creating a single online community where insurance carriers and their distribution partners can collaborate through an integrated, coordinated network, according to the two companies."This combination provides online capabilities that can transform processes between insurance carriers and their distributors," says Gary Gummig, vice president of business development at Sircon. "By integrating online services that will automate transactions and workflow, and virtually eliminate paperwork, this creates opportunity for unprecedented process breakthroughs."

Redwood City, Calif. - When asked about the importance of securing data and the confidence in how well data is secured using encryption technology, there was a significant split among respondents to a recent survey conducted by Ingrian Networks Inc. Fifty-four percent of financial services IT executives agreed or strongly agreed that encrypting "data at rest" is a high priority for their organization, while 39% disagreed or strongly disagreed that it is a high priority."The financial services industry is at a crossroads when it comes to security in general and enterprise encryption strategies in particular," says Lane F. Cooper, director, InfoTech and author of the study.

Bettendorf, Iowa and Edison, N.J. - Fraud Resource Group, a business, insurance and identity fraud investigative and consulting firm, is using StrikeForce Technologies' products to launch a Web-based identity validation and authentication service, called the Trusted Customer program, which is designed to help prevent fraudsters from setting up fraudulent accounts and stealing high-value vehicles, goods and rental equipment.Construction equipment theft is a $1 billion annual problem, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, and only 10% to 15% of stolen equipment is ever recovered, according to the National Equipment Register. Fraudsters, posing as customers and contractors, use false credentials and stolen credit card data to "rent" vehicles, tools, and construction equipment. The rental stores lose equipment and potential income until a replacement arrives, and the legitimate credit card holder is left to dispute the charge.

Newark, Calif. - Increases to hurricane landfall frequencies in the U.S. hurricane model from Risk Management Solutions (RMS) will increase modeled annualized insurance losses by 40% on average across the Gulf Coast, Florida and the Southeast, according to RMS. And modeled annualized insurance losses in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast coastal regions will increase by 25% to 30%, relative to those derived using long-term 1900-2005 historical average hurricane frequencies.This new view of risk is driven by an increase of more than 30% in the modeled frequency of major (Saffir-Simpson Category 3-5) hurricanes making landfall in the U.S. to account for current elevated levels of hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin, which are expected to persist for at least the next five years. When compared with a pre-2004 historical baseline, as has been previously employed for quantifying insurance risk, the increases in modeled annualized losses are closer to 50% in the Gulf, Florida, and the Southeast.

Jersey City, N.J. and Oakland, Calif. - ISO and InsureWorx have formed an alliance to integrate ISO's Workers Compensation Information Services (WCIS) solution modules with the policy and claims administration software applications from InsureWorx.Under the agreement, customers of ISO's workers' compensation products and the InsureWorx PowerComp offering will be able to access and exchange policy and claims data seamlessly between the two companies' applications. This combination of InsureWorx's workflow processing software with ISO's data management and analytic tools is designed to provide workers' compensation carriers with a more comprehensive end-to-end solution.

Warren, N.J. - Property/casualty insurance and risk management increasingly play a role in financial planning, according to a survey by the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.Fifty-seven percent of the 102 financial planners surveyed indicated that they evaluate their clients' asset protection through property/casualty insurance. An even higher number, 72%, said they determine if their clients have an appropriate level of liability insurance.

Chicago - Aon Re Inc. has studied the results of companies that have implemented more sophisticated customer segmentation strategies over the past few years. The results of the study show that while the overall returns for the personal lines property industry still lag the cost of capital, "we are starting to see differentiating results between insurers," says Randall Brubaker, Aon Re Services senior vice president. "This differentiation has been somewhat masked by the increased frequency of hurricanes during the past two years but the underlying progress is evident."According to Brubaker, "It is clear that the core disciplines and customer segmentation tactics that are commonly utilized with personal lines automobile have improved the financial results of the non-catastrophe personal lines property business. The next phase of improvements in personal lines property will include substantial improvements to the disciplines and tactics associated with customer level segmentation on catastrophe risk. The current more active hurricane period has only accelerated the need to implement more sophisticated catastrophe-based customer level segmentation strategies."

Boston - Results from a study conducted by HighRoads, a provider of benefits lifecycle management (BLM) solutions, show that employers can use competitive auctions to provide health benefits more affordably. Its first annual price elasticity survey shows that using a transparent bidding environment reduces contract costs by more than 15%, on average.The survey is based on the outcomes of nearly 50 request-for-proposal (RFP) processes by companies with 5,000 employees or more. On average, vendors revised bids two to three times to win a company's business, reducing fees by 7% to 21% for fully insured and self-insured medical, dental, life, disability and other benefits plans.

Edison, N.J. - More than 90% of insurance agents want 24/7, Web-based access to the information technology (IT) systems of U.S. insurance carriers, according to a survey of independent producers conducted by research firm Celent LLC.Technology tools that improve efficiency, communication and customer service also are highly desired by insurance producers, said the majority of the 215 producers surveyed by Celent for MajescoMastek, a software solutions provider to the insurance industry.

New York - At more than $40 billion in insured losses, Hurricane Katrina is the costliest hurricane on record. Insurers have tallied most of the property damage and business interruption losses, but Katrina's financial effects will continue to be felt for a very long time.Floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina bathed New Orleans and surrounding areas in a "toxic soup" of infectious organisms and hazardous chemicals. Ruptured oil tanks and pipelines covered portions of the area and nearby waters with an estimated 8 million gallons of oil. A resulting large number of environmental-related lawsuits have been filed, potentially exposing the insurance industry to billions of dollars in addition losses.

Bejing, China - IBM and Taikang Life Insurance Co. Ltd., China's fifth largest life insurance company, are launching a collaborative research project to help solve some of the information management challenges facing the worldwide insurance industry today.Taikang Life will use the worldwide resources from IBM's China, Almaden and Tokyo labs to improve the performance and usability of business intelligence applications embedded in the insurer's federated database systems.

Hartford, Conn. -ING, a global financial services leader, has begun offering its defined contribution clients many of the regulatory documents related to their retirement plan accounts in electronic form. Clients can choose to receive account statements and disclosure documents such as prospectuses, prospectus supplements and annual and semi-annual reports via ING's secure site."ING is committed to making it easier for customers to manage their financial information," says Jim Pedrick, senior vice president, worksite and institutional marketing, ING. "Many of our customers have told us they prefer not to get as much paper mail from us. It's a question of volume, and many also have an environmental concern. By offering e-delivery, our customers can now choose to receive regulatory documents from us electronically."

Nashville, Tenn. - Obesity as a major cause of death in the U.S. may still be in dispute, but one thing is certain: It costs American employers millions of dollars each year in higher employee health costs.In the wake of recent studies disputing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's earlier finding that obesity causes 400,000 deaths a year, a new study published in the March Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine finds obesity is responsible for 2.1% of all diagnosed medical claims dollars for men and 2.8% for women. Of ten lifestyle health risks considered, obesity was by far the most costly--accounting for approximately 14% of lifestyle-related health costs for men and 25% for women.

Hartford, Conn. - Aetna has enhanced its suite of consumer tools and information designed to enable members to more easily track and manage their health care expenses. Aetna members now can download their claims information to their personal computer via Aetna Navigator, Aetna's password-protected member Web site, enabling them to manage the information in a data file or spreadsheet. The option to keep claims information in a personal file is particularly relevant at tax time, when consumers often need to create a record of their medical expenses for tax deduction purposes."While Aetna members have long had the opportunity to view their claims activity on our Web site, this enhancement allows them to electronically 'grab' the information, save it in a file or spreadsheet, and sort it to best suit their individual needs," says Christine B. Skelly, head of health-related financial solutions for Aetna.

Armonk, N.Y. - IBM has signed an agreement to acquire Language Analysis Systems Inc. (LAS), a privately held company based in Herndon, Va., that develops multicultural name recognition technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.This acquisition furthers IBM's companywide initiative aimed at helping clients address emerging business challenges and better compete in the global economy through access to accurate, reliable and trustworthy information.

Boston - Each year in conjunction with the IASA Annual Educational Conference & Business Show, IASA's Executive Education Program presents two executive roundtable events designed specifically for chief financial officers and chief information officers.In 2006, the CFO and CIO roundtables will take place on Tuesday, June 6, at the Sheraton Copley Place Hotel in Boston, and the programs will focus on helping insurance company financial and technology executives "Navigate a Changing Landscape."

Arlington, Va. - The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), ERM Institute International Ltd (ERM-II), and the CAS/SOA Risk Management Section are jointly launching a major research project titled, "ERM Analysis of Property-Casualty Insurance Companies.""We are going to establish a new theoretical foundation for enterprise risk management, with practical guidance for ERM implementation," says Dr. Shaun Wang, executive director of ERM Institute International, and lead researcher for the project.

Geneva, Ill. - Professional liability insurer Insight Insurance Services Inc. has launched an upgraded and redesigned Web site with improved functionality designed to enable independent insurance agents to interact easily and quickly with company and better serve their clients.The new site, at www.insightinsurance.com, includes more tools and features to deliver downloadable forms and applications and facilitate paperless policies. The Web site is structured for easy navigation to Insight's three specific areas of professional liability expertise: architects and engineers, accounting professionals and insurance agents.