Digital Platforms

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.

While mainframes are still both viable and valuable, perhaps the key to this semantic pretzel is that the needs of the business must come first, and executives shouldn’t rush to adopt new systems simply because they're the latest-and-greatest new tech.

Pharmacists Mutual pointed to the 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak as the catalyst for seeking a unified communications system.

Sixteen percent of Americans online are responsible for 80% of brand impressions in online social media; insurance marketers should take heed, Forrester says.

RiskRover records addresses and GPS coordinates, takes photographs and translates the info into risk models all on a mobile device.

With consumers using digital tools to search for information before making an insurance purchase, insurers must plan accordingly, a new report says.

The rising economic tide, a modest inflationary environment, and larger underwriting losses in 2010 will lead to rate-firming for the property/casualty industry, a new study from Hartford, Conn.-based Conning Research & Consulting finds.

A.M. Best upgrades Grain Dealers Mutual Insurance and affirms Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance, while Moody’s affirms Unitrin’s senior debt ratings.

AIG may pursue Goldman Sachs on losses from $6 billion of insurance deals similar to those that prompted the SEC's recent fraud charges against the bank.

NAIC, ISO and NICN announce streamlined reporting process.

A university study implies that young people are just as concerned as baby boomers about online privacy, but the details tell a different story.

New York City agents vote to bring suit over compensation rules, arguing that the rules should apply to the time of sale, “not when quoting the account.”

Fitch Ratings concludes that most companies experienced solid operating earnings and a significant recovery in investment portfolios in 2009. However, the industry still faces continued earnings and capital pressure.

Insurer says HP Exstream offers interactive and real-time capabilities that allow for convenient distribution of documents to policyholders.

Starting slowly and establishing best practices from the outset are two keys to mitigating cloud computing's risks.

New features of the updated insurance-linked security portfolio, Miu, include a stress test to calculate the impact of multiple historical events, and more in-depth information for each bond.

Emdeon's alliance with FICO offers insurers the ability to scan claims for patterns of fraud and abuse prior to adjudication.

Risk managers are benefitting from lower premiums, but looming catastrophe losses could portend a turn in the market, notes survey.

The agency is pushing for legislation to create a way for the government to conduct an orderly wind down of a large financial companies.

Insurers’ profitability increased to 5.8% last year from 0.6% in 2008.

New report says insurers are making slow, but steady progress remaking their core systems.

The insurer added more than $2 billion to surplus for the year, expanding policyholders’ safety cushion to more than $15 billion.

Insurers must link plans to the overall company strategy already in use, and expect detours along the way, Gartner analysts say.

New report chastises insurance industry for owning shares of fast food companies.

SAS Risk Management for Insurance is designed to help insurers better assesses risks, and can be used in tandem with other analysis software.

Political strife continues to plague the measure authorizing extensions.

Why should insurers use social networks? Celent provides three principle reasons.

FDIC Chair Sheila Bair says that if this law had been in place before 2008, there would have been no chance AIG could have been bailed out.

After more than 100 hours of interviews with insurance execs, SMA unearthed 10 common initiatives regarding market recovery and future changes.

Actuaries say insurers need to develop additional analysis techniques in face of scoring bans.

Aite Group report notes IT offerings, not domain expertise, as differentiation.

Aon says the number of organizations seeking improved performance and decision-making with ERM has risen dramatically since in the wake of the financial meltdown.

Survey results raise questions about bancassurance being the preferred channel, as insurance Web sites and aggregators gain ground.

AIR TruExposure data solutions is available in live consulting or software format, which can be used with AIR’s Classic/2release.

Bill that extends flood insurance, COBRA subsidies, may go to vote later this week.

A.M. Best affirms Aflac, and Moody’s affirms Genworth.