Digital Platforms

The stalwart reputation garnered by global insurance companies over the years may be fleeting, according to a report by rating agency A.M. Best.

While the workers’ comp calendar year combined ratio was 110 in 2009—up 9 points from 101 in 2008—the market still faces a host of challenges, says NCCI Holdings.

For the second consecutive month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports insurers reduced their ranks, and has seen a 3.2% loss in jobs over the past year.

Having weathered the financial storm, life insurers need to shift away from rebuilding capital and towards premium growth, according to a new study by Hartford, Conn.-based Conning Research & Consulting.

As legislators craft reform measures for the financial services industry, insurers are asking to be excluded from funding a bailout mechanism for systemically risky companies.

Aon’s Investment Protection Insurance, the first policy written for space investors, covers satellite-related losses, including failure to launch.

RMS’ portforlio management platform, Miu, includes event mapping and historical cat event analysis features, and the ability to compare historical scenarios with future risks.

Forrester survey finds knowledge workers seeking agile, self-service business intelligence tools to ease backlog.

Novarica reports reveal that policy admin projects are now designed to deliver business capabilities or replace unsustainable systems, not necessarily to reduce costs.

The debate devolved into partisan gridlock as both sides clashed over how much power to give to a new consumer protection bureau.

The insurer, which needed a hefty government bailout, reported a profit of $1.45 billion as a result of fewer writedowns in the quarter.

Progressive Insurance has become a financial sponsor of the Real Time/Download Campaign, an initiative to drive greater efficiency through the Independent Agency System.

The oil slick befouling shores in the Gulf of Mexico is also set to sully the insurance industry’s bottom line.

And so the soft market continues to slither on. Premium and corresponding rates for all lines of commercial property/casualty business in the United States were down 4% in April, mirroring a steady trend throughout the beginning of 2010, according to the latest MarketScout Market Barometer.

White paper says a federal regulator could work in concert with state insurance regulators.

As insurers continue to investigate their next data storage project, or weigh the pros and cons of cloud computing, virtualization or any a document management project, one of the oft-forgotten items is the actual volume of data that they store, and how it's expanding at an almost exponential rate.

New report surveys the impact of aging U.S. vehicle fleet on policyholder decision-making and spending.

In joint letter to legislators, trade associations ask that insurers be excluded from resolution funding.

While insurers' annuity sales seem to be steady, banks' fixed annuity sales fell 16% from Q3 to Q4 in 2009, and 43% year-over-year.

The insurer selected the 4Sight Business Intelligence for Property and Casualty solution, which offers more than 70 standard reports and dashboards.

Sale of common stock and senior notes have brought the mortgage insurer back into compliance with the risk-to-capital ratio and minimum policyholders' position requirements.

Gartner finds organizations drawn to SaaS hype failed to recognize downstream problems.

Sircon for Carriers is designed to streamline a producer’s lifecycle process by automating the licensing and appointing, producer compliance management and agent on-boarding aspects.

A.M. Best, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's (S&P) announced ratings updates. The following are some of the most recent:

Survey reveals that 74% of nation’s insurers are hiring.

Nearly one-third of survey respondents use search engines first when researching policy options.

INN announces a call for nominations for the 2010 Women in Insurance Leadership program.

TransUnion’s Insurance Risk Index falls for the third consecutive quarter.

There is more good news for the life insurance industry as new numbers frame how far the industry has bounced back from the woes spurred by the financial crisis. According to 2009 statutory financial results for top-tier life insurers and life groups from SNL Financial, Charlottesville, Va., U.S. life insurers recovered all of the capital and surplus they lost amid the global financial crisis over the course of 2009.

There are many ways to store data, but mitigating risk must be priority No. 1.

Expert doubts annuity sales to be stellar in 2010 with unemployment to remain high.

A new study charts the progress of carriers in ease of doing business.

ISCS SurePower Innovation Policy Admin Suite is a Web- and SOA-based program designed to automate underwriting and manage claims.

RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 6 AVAILABLE IN BETA

Pharmacists Mutual Selects Interactive Communications Suite

The seeming over-abundance of accolades can obscure real business accomplishments.

Conducting business in what is often termed the nation's epicenter for organized auto insurance fraudsters--namely, those who deliberately crash vehicles and falsely report injuries from auto accidents--is a challenge. For Florida-based Direct General Insurance Co., that challenge may have temporarily lessened somewhat, thanks to a recent eight-month investigation and resultant dismantling of an organized "crash ring."

With the fresh spring breeze may come a breath of fresh air forThe Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., which this week reported a first-quarter profit and improved investment results. This is particularly good news for the insurer, which earlier this month repaid $3.4 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Funds.

Chubb seeks to facilitate discussion on emerging class of risks.

How the top six bank life programs make it work.

NAIFA adopts policy opposing stranger-originated annuities.

Insurers should keep apprised of Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook's latest developments, as they could have profound effects on the business.

Social media outlets are hot marketing tools—and dangerous security risks. What’s an insurer to do?

As the number of claims mount, insurers are in a scramble to manage risk management issues surrounding property/casualty coverage of faulty Chinese drywall. Yesterday, Louisiana became the first state to openly challenge insurers, passing a bill stopping insurers from increasing premiums or canceling homeowners and commercial property coverage because of such claims.

The Qatar-based reinsurer signed a three-year contract with RMS to manage earthquake risk in Asia.

XML-based Thunderhead NOW is designed to simplify the process of making changes to data, eliminating the need for IT involvement.

Despite failure to reach a bipartisan deal, Republicans and Democrats unanimously agreed to allow the debate to move forward on the Senate floor.

But the logjam may allow a full debate to proceed.

Although efforts are underway to harmonize certain areas of insurance regulation, such as solvency margins and the regulation of control and management, until there is overall harmonization of international insurance laws, sellers, producers and buyers of multinational programs face certain challenges. So says Suresh Krishnan, general counsel, Multinational Client Group at the ACE Group of insurance and reinsurance companies, in a new report. The challenges, says Krishnan, involve making sure companies are not inadvertently assuming risks under local insurance and tax laws in the various jurisdictions implicated by their programs.

Gartner analysts predict that 95% of organizations will support a blended approach to enterprise architecture by 2015.

AIG is continuing to repay its debt to the federal government, but much of the progress reflects the numerous exchanges of debt that AIG owed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Revolving Credit Facility.

Perhaps this isn't surprising, as smaller firms have a lot more to lose if they have fraudulent accounts in their midst.