Digital Platforms

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.

The health insurer reveals an additional 521,761 members are at risk following the theft of 57 hard drives last year.

Recent security breaches have focused attention on Indian outsourcers at a time when they can least afford it.

If workers’ comp premiums continue to moderate, it will be a clear sign that comp insurers are beginning to increase premiums, notes MarketScout.

Senators expected to vote soon on measure that could restore funding for lapsed program.

The iPad may help in achieving mass adoption of electronic signatures in the agent channel.

Report says proposed changes to USDA program would tighten margins for participating companies.

IIABA’s new senior director for government affairs, Ryan Young, brings Republican representation and Capitol Hill experience.

In its first report profiling IT service vendors for the insurance industry, Boston-based insurance consultancy Celent concludes that the most successful partnerships insurers have with IT service vendors those that are not just about replacing staff or lowering costs. Though a cost-minded insurer may find significantly lower expense from a good relationship with an IT service vendor, many find these engagements save costs in one area while requiring unexpected expenditures in others. The best partnerships, Celent says, are those that are long-term, strategic engagements in which a vendor is leveraged to bring in new expertise, add both technology and domain knowledge to the business, and is relied on as a true partner.

The composite rate for property and casualty coverages in the United States was down 4% for March 2010, according to According to MarketScout, a Dallas-based electronic insurance exchange that underwrites and distributes product lines to a 35,000-member agency network across the United States. The composite rates for February 2009 and 2010 were down 8% and 5% respectively.

Anomalously warm tropical sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic portend an active hurricane season according to forecasters at Colorado State University.

The latest results collected from Northwestern Mutual’s Optimism Barometer, an online measurement tool, indicate a distinct upward trend in positive outlooks among Americans, despite the near-term challenges of the current economic climate. Most notably, recent data has revealed a 60% year-over-year jump in people who scored at the highest end of the optimism scale.

Brendan Voss will help establish new policies and procedures for the settlement of claims.

Macroeconomic climate and soft market are dampening insurance merger activity, reports find.

S&P affirms AIG and CIGNA, while A.M. Best downgrades First Beacon Insurance Co. and affirms Securian Financial Group subsidiaries.

State-by-state variances factor large in latest analysis of P&C insurer performance.

Insurers should mandate risk management exercises be a part of every IT project.

Analysts skeptical of The Hartford's new plan to cross-sell its life and retirement capabilities to existing customers who own businesses.

The Obama administration recently came out in favor of annuities, but so far, only a handful of large employers offer this option.

NAIC study says only 45 % of Americans feel confident making insurance decisions.

House Financial Services Committee is tentatively considering addressing flood insurance later this month.

As insurance claims mount, the NHTSA charges Toyota with failing to act in a timely manner to notify customers of acceleration problems.

After about nine months on the job, AIG's CEO says he's not yet ready to return to his retirement.

Study shows data needs better protection; insurers require more training and IT participation when evaluating cloud computing.

The economic downturn has not altered the level of retirement planning, a new report finds.

The most talked-about provisions of both the House and Senate bills would give regulators powers they already have and, so far, have largely ignored.

Association says flexible approach suggested by European regulators augurs well for U.S. insurers.

Gartner lists technologies that will challenge business processes, support new business models and drive revenue growth.