Digital Platforms

Report on financial modernization includes a call to reassess the federalization of insurance regulation.

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies sent members of Congress and state insurance policymakers a report, analyzing the causes of the nation’s financial crisis.

A Treasury Department spokeswoman says that the agency has given regulators until Jan. 15 to finish processing any remaining holding applications for non-banks seeking government capital.

The firm estimates that reinsurers will enter 2009 with 15% to 20% less economic capital than in 2008.

The financial crisis for the life and annuity industry began in earnest in the fourth quarter of 2008, but what does the future hold?

Company closures, layoffs, cost cutting, outsourcing and retirees who have had to return to the job market because of investment portfolio losses have combined to make it hard on today’s IT professionals.

Allianz says the long-term demand for retirement services is strong despite the current economic climate.

The insurer’s use of technology to track customer experience garners honors for excellence in insurance operations.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank says his bill would require the Treasury Department to use the money for foreclosure relief, institute lending requirements for banks that receive capital from the program and strengthen executive compensation requirements.

The insurance exchange says that rates may increase in a year.

The insurer appointed Russell Johnston president and CEO of AIG Environmental, one of the largest pollution liability insurance providers.

The organizations will demonstrate ways to implement the 5010 HIPAA transaction standards through existing testing tools, best practices and public-private collaborations that are already broadly recognized within the healthcare industry.

In a collection of essays, actuaries ponder the role of risk management in the financial crisis.

Spun off from Fiserv, the well-known insurance tech giant will take the name StoneRiver—a brand signifying “strength and transformation,” and akin to its adoptive parents, Stone Point Capital LLC.

According to a new Impact Forecasting LLC report, approximately 86% of Californian homeowners do not have earthquake coverage, despite most of them having mortgaged their homes.

The industry won't be without challenges, maintains Willis, as access to new capital in 2009 will become more difficult and expensive because of the current economic climate.

For the time being, tech takes a back seat to cost minimization and operational efficiency, which are at the top of the operational agenda for many in financial services, according to the New York research firm.

American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) proposed a plan to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to loosen capital requirements to help life insurers meet required reserve levels amid falling stock prices and a worsening economic climate.

Despite last year’s variable annuity sales drop off, experts believe they should rebound along with the stock market.

Allegations of mismanagement at the life insurer are incurring the wrath of state regulators.

Insurance association says ordering insurers to surrender customer data poses a risk.

According to a new book, an IT professional's knowledge constitutes precious currency in a world dependent on computer technology, regardless of vertical market selected.

The Dutch company says its four newly assigned U.S. business units will create “appropriate alignment” for the U.S. retirement savings market.

A group of insurers says that more needs to be done to enable insurers to fairly present their financial statements for year-end 2008.

Recent deals for technology software and services

GUIDEWIRE RELEASES VERSION 3.0 OF POLICYCENTER

Unrelenting pressure on expenses, improvements in networking and communication technology and an increased appreciation for flexible business models are driving insurers to outsource core processes.

National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) says the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) decision to order nine major insurance companies to provide data for a study of credit-based insurance scoring and homeowners insurance is unnecessary and a waste of money.

The 10-year moving average of insured catastrophe losses costs continued to rise in 2008, increasing by 7% over 2007—from $35.5 billion to $38 billion.

Advisen Ltd. predicts that general commercial insurance prices will begin increasing by the fourth quarter of 2009 or the first quarter of 2010.

The move should allow the insurer to cancel an equivalent amount of swaps contracts that its finance subsidiary had written on those securities.

Some of the new statutes are designed to reduce claims for accidents or medical needs, push the current limits of employee benefits and refresh the staid regulatory rating environment.

Swiss Re says the catastrophes led to overall financial losses of $61 billion across the globe, with property insurers contending with losses totaling $25 billion.

Citing the average age of an insurance professional at 54, the Big “I” and its Agency Universe Study reveals independent insurance agency system lacking representation among younger subgroups.

London - According to the latest report by independent market analyst Datamonitor, global financial institutions, in response to evolving marketing conditions, are beginning to view operational risk (OpRisk) as a means of providing a more proactive management decision-making framework.

New York — Columbia University ’s Science & Technology Ventures (STV) reports that it has licensed MedLEE, a natural language processing technology, to Columbia spin-out, NLP International Corp.

Waltham , Mass. – For the second consecutive year, worries about bribery topped the list of crucial concerns addressed by global corporations, according to a 2008 study conducted by Integrity Interactive Corp., a Waltham , Mass. , firm that helps global corporations manage and reduce risk of compliance failures.

Reston , Va. — NAVA, the association for insured retirement solutions, is praising the selection of former Securities and Exchange Commissioner Mary Schapiro to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Indianapolis — California insurance consumers and the state’s economy could be severely harmed if proposed changes are made to the state’s insurance rate approval structure. That was the message delivered in written comments to California insurance officials last week by the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC).

Seattle — U.S. insurers and actuarial firms are increasingly outsourcing, offshoring and importing actuarial talent from abroad, actuaries were told at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Casualty Actuarial Society, held in November in Seattle.

Chicago — Taking a step toward putting its financial house in order, New York-based American International Group (AIG) has sold its specialty insurance subsidiary HSB Group to Munich Re for $742 million in cash. The transaction marks the first major divestiture for beleaguered AIG after it agreed to accept a bailout from the U.S. Treasury.

Zurich, Switzerland — Acknowledging the need to improve its capital position, insurance giant Swiss Re has secured $1.5 billion in loans from New York-based JP Morgan. The insurer says the loan will guarantee it access to financing at competitive rates for years to come.

Honolulu – Decision Research Corp. (DRC), a rating and policy processing software solution provider to the property & casualty insurance industry, announced today that Chicago-based Unitrin Direct has expanded its production use of DRC’s DecisionMaker Policy Administration Suite to include its homeowners line of business. The company, which went live with its implementation within seven months from contract signing in three states, currently supports homeowners business in 10 states.

Region’s first paperless system is designed to save small businesses and brokers significant time, and eliminate up to one million pieces of paper annually.

Currently, Rob Howard is Farmers’ AVP, national auto physical damage operations.

The head of the House Financial Services Committee says that such an important decision should have been handled by the incoming administration.

The association is condemning a vote to bring indexed annuities under federal regulation.

Consumers should continue to seek side air bags and anti-rollover technology as standard, says the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

According to the SEC, the move to use XBRL to find and sort information makes it easier to compare financial results, and has the potential to increase the speed, accuracy and usability of financial disclosure while eventually reduce costs for investors.

MGAs and wholesale brokers see opportunities to apply more of the technologies that the standard market is implementing, such as the ACORD XML electronic standards, Real Time workflows and the use of ACORD forms.

Karen Clark tells INN that insurers should not rely solely on near-term catastrophe modeling in light of overestimating the previous three hurricane seasons.

Real Time users report using the technology with at least half of their companies for the following functions: policy view, claims status, billing inquiry, endorsements and single-company quote.