Digital Platforms

The rhetoric is heating up as Accenture issues clarification, justification statements in response to Guidewire’s strong response to technology patent infringement charges.

HP's acquisition of 3Com will speed the convergence of networking and storage in insurance company data centers.

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You know that you don't have an enterprise BI strategy if:

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, it's impossible to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. A pair of California-based economists probably recognized this following an attempt to construct an “early warning system” to predict another global financial crisis in the wake of the 2008 catastrophe.

Year-over-year growth for Software-as-a-Service is forecast at five times that of the total application market.

Critical to 75% of personal lines P&C carriers, predictive modeling is also becoming a popular pricing tool with commercial lines insurers.

The European Parliament and Council have reached agreement on new solvency rules for insurance companies.

Blue Cross Blue Shield confirms that its laptop containing personal information on healthcare professionals was stolen in Chicago area in August.

The banking committee chairman’s sweeping regulatory reform to limit systemic risk has significant implications for insurers.

The National Committee for Quality Assurance bestowed the “Accreditation with Performance Reporting” rating on the insurer for its health and wellness programs.

AIG's restructuring plan will still rely heavily on government support, advises the ratings group.

Critics contend the failure of Gramm-Leach-Bliley is that it failed to produce a coherent regulatory mechanism that was up to the new powers it created.

An expanded sales force will be expected to sell the company's MainStay mutual funds to advisers, brokers, plan sponsors and consultants.

A.M. Best, Fitch Ratings and S&P react to Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition announcement, and announce changes to 14 other insurers’ ratings.

Pending regulatory approval, Assured Guaranty Ltd., the holding company for Assured Guaranty Corp. and Financial Security Assurance Inc. (FSA), will change the name of FSA to Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. The Company also plans to change the names of the FSA companies worldwide.

Access and authority can be tricky and risky, but someone—or some thing—has to be in charge. Is automation an option?

The legislation, which carries a bevy of new restrictions for insurers, passed in the House 220-215. Industry associations expressed disappointment, and concern about a repeal of its exemptions from antitrust oversight.

Lawmaker proposes granting government authority to preemptively restructure firms that pose systemic risk.

The U.S. insurance industry lost 3,400 jobs in October, and 67,100 jobs in the past year.

New CEO Liam McGee says the insurer is "emerging from the challenges of the last 18 months."

While much progress has been made, the insurance industry still struggles with standardization.

Insurers with thrifts wait for next week when Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd finally unveils his regulatory reform bill.

In the past five years, BB&T Insurance developed a network of agencies in both the Orlando and Tampa-St. Petersburg areas.

The alignment of IBM’s IAA data model with the ACORD Framework is designed to provide insurers with accelerated capabilities to implement ACORD standards and SOA.

Legislation mandates that broker-dealers put client interests above all else.

In addition to offering proprietary life insurance, Phoenix now provides—through its Saybrus Partners unit—life insurance consulting services to financial advisers.

Downward pressure was effectively mitigated by the excess capital built up from several consecutive years of surplus growth prior to 2008, notes research.

As the health care debate drags on, time constraints may end up dashing efforts for broad-based reform.

Rising global temperatures will put the heat on insurance as flood costs rise, says new research from the Association of British Insurers.

A benefit-based approach to a data warehouse project can be boiled down to a list of bullet points.

Although not currently negotiating with firms that took bailout money, Kenneth Feinberg admitted that “egregious” situations may force the feds to recoup payments.

In its fourth annual program, INN recognizes Farmers Insurance for its enterprisewide “IdeaPoint” innovation.

Trillion-dollar losses projected if a medium-sized comet or asteroid strikes Manhattan.

While insurers wait and see what Washington does regarding the proposal to create a systemic risk regulator, experts say firms need greater transparency into decision-making process and an enterprisewide view of their risk.

Arbella Insurance Group upgraded, MassMutual downgraded and Pacific Life’s mortgage-backed securities ratings affirmed. Find out other actions from A.M. Best, Fitch and Moody’s.

A new report says substantial capital outlay will be necessary to fund health care co-ops or a public plan.

S&P places CMG Mortgage Insurance Co., not CMG Mortgage, on CreditWatch.

Bolstering its ranks with experts from within insurance companies, Novarica announces Martina Conlon, previous senior manager at Arbella Insurance, will join the research and advisory firm.

The company has decided not to sell AIG Star Life Insurance Co. and AIG Edison Life Insurance Co., but the future of Alico Japan remains to be seen.

The reciprocal insurance provider will use Maximum Processing’s Web-based, policy, billing, claims and reinsurance insurance administration system.

Congress grants the national flood insurance program another reprieve.

BERKSHIRE HOMESTATE LIVE WITH POLICY ADMINISTRATION

COMPLIANCE AND FRAUD SCREENING TECHNOLOGY

Key processes and underlying technologies enable the insurance industry's drive for enterprise risk management.

Social network analysis can help insurers understand networks often connected to criminal behavior.

To better manage risk, reinsurers are turning to increasingly sophisticated technologies and models.

Hard economic times are invariably busy ones for the foes of insurance fraud. Incorporating more unstructured data, carriers are fine-tuning predictive analytics for fraud detection.

SOA is the way many companies, including insurers, are now choosing to move forward due to its business agility, scalability and return on investment.

S&P contends that because macroeconomic conditions have impacted prime mortgage insurance books, it is placing the ratings for several mortgage insurers, including Genworth and United Guaranty, on CreditWatch with negative implications.

A new report, which shows insurers in Asia-Pacific are taking a closer look at the benefits of outsourcing, profiles three enterprisewide technology firms and six insurance technology firms.

With so many insurers currently pondering best practices for utilizing social media, examining strategies employed by banks may help.