Distribution

Americans are relying on technology to help with their personal finance needs, but most (60 percent) use it to simplify and automate financial tasks such as banking and bill payment, according to a recent survey conducted by Northwestern Mutual's financial literacy website, TheMint.org.

Less than a month after releasing a report that pointed out the soaring sales of cyber insurance, Marsh announced today that Matt McCabe, a former congressional advisor on cyber security, has joined Marsh’s growing Network Security and Privacy Practice as an SVP. In his new role, McCabe will be responsible for advising clients on emerging cyber security trends and issues and ways in which they can address their unique data and privacy needs.

Online billing system, developed with Guidewire, offers multiple payment options, combined billing and other features intended to build relationships between agents and customers.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has proposed banning force-placed insurance commissions in a blow to banks and other mortgage servicers.

Dovetail Insurance, supplier of cloud-based insurance product-delivery services for P&C insurers, MGAs and brokers, has acquired NetComp Insurance, a growing web-based distributor of workers’ compensation insurance.

In 2012, banks sold $1.6 billion in life insurance premium, the second highest annual production level in the history of the bank channel. The bank’s record year was 2010, when it sold $1.8 billion in life insurance.

The three insurers join Aetna and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois in offering products through the private insurance exchange.

The insurance industry in Puerto Rico had a compound-annual-growth-rate of 5.8 percent between 2007 and 2011, despite a contracting national economy, according to a report from Timetric, a provider of online data, analysis and advisory services on the financial services industry. However, opportunities for further foreign investment and sustained growth in Puerto Rico are limited, due to the high rate of insurance penetration, according to Timetric’s “The Insurance Industry in Puerto Rico, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2017.”

Growth strategies aimed at baby boomers may be losing their effectiveness among younger consumers, as the population becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, according to “Life-Annuity Consumer Markets Annual,” from Conning. Additionally, generational attitudes toward financial services products and technology are not only different, but evolving.

National Life Group has selected iGO e-App to automate the marketing, selling and processing of its diversified life and annuity products.