Digital Platforms

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.

The National Flood Insurance program, which has limped along on a series of temporary extensions, may be due for a more substantial resolution.

Online tool enables single, uniform reporting to multiple entities.

American Association of Insurance Services data center is designed to allow member companies access to its traditional premium and loss data, plus geographic, demographic, weather, crime and other types of data collected from public and private sources.

Despite the setback, Democrats remain convinced they do not have to compromise very much on the bill to get it passed.

Recovering equity markets may foretell consolidation in the insurance industry, a new report says

Report says P&C insurers' combined ratio improved to 101.2 in 2009, down about 3.0 percentage points from 104.0 in 2008.

A dialogue is necessary to identify emerging risks and help risk managers achieve full value from their ERM investments, says RIMS report.

A.M. Best revises State Farm General Insurance’s outlook to positive from stable, S&P places Reserve National Insurance on CreditWatch with negative implications.

A model is needed that better reflects the tension and compromise inherent in making insurance technology decisions, concludes Celent.

Steering a car with one’s eyes seems like a neat idea ... until you look the wrong way.

New York Life says 64% of its record $1.9 billion in fixed immediate annuity sales last year was to women purchasers.

Sen. Dodd's bill calls for dozens of studies on important topics, including the debate over a federal insurance charter.

Prakash Shimpi will oversee the enterprisewide risk monitoring and management program for ING's U.S. insurance operations.

Insurers’ predictions that, as a result of the volatile economy, consumer fraud would steadily increase, may cringe at the latest fraud-related stories—committed by agents—that are making headlines.

With economy leveling, carriers are opening new offices nationwide.

Insurers plotting mobile payment plans would be wise to watch what unfolds as Apple decides the iPhone's future as a mobile payment device.

Narragansett Bay Insurance’s CIO offers tips for insurers on how to best leverage the cloud while minimizing risks.

The advisory organization says this is the industry's first standardized plan for rating homeowners insurance by individual perils.

Business intelligence, analytics and performance management prove less cyclical than other software areas, Gartner says.

Although Democrats and Republicans continue to disagree over whether talks ever really broke down, lawmakers from both sides say they're making progress bridging the gap.

With the health care debate receding, President Obama has stepped up his efforts to aid passage of comprehensive financial services regulatory reform. While most of the reform measures are aimed squarely at banks, the breadth of the proposed reforms may well encompass many activities currently performed by insurers. Indeed, while insurers may have avoided the purview of a proposed consumer financial products regulator, the issue of whether large insurers will have to help fund a bailout mechanism for systemically risky institutions remains an open question.

A report from the Insurance Research Council concludes the current cost shifting means significant costs for the property/casualty insurance industry.

Reaching out to touch someone via the Yellow Pages and other conventional marketing tools has been rendered ineffective as insurers attract customers using LinkedIn, Facebook.

Planned acquisition of compliance specialist firm will pay dividends in an industry sharply focused on complying.

Making its auto insurance application available on Google’s mobile Android smartphones, Progressive sees immediate uptick in Web site traffic.

Industry weighs in as legislators seek long-term fix to the troubled National Flood Insurance Plan.

The competitive marketplace is a challenge for all lines of insurance, but a new report from New York-based Novarica notes that the workers comp line is particularly susceptible to ongoing pressure.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Pegasystems Inc., a provider of business process management (BPM) software, has acquired Cupertino, Calif.-based Chordiant Software, Inc., a provider of claims management and business acquisition software to the insurance industry.