Insurance

J. Michael Kirchgessner will officially take up his post and join CNA Monday, August 13.

21st Century, Argo, Infinity, EMC, Manulife, Tower and XL Group all released their second-quarter results.

A new chief audit executive and VP of insurance operations systems head the list of eight executive appointments.

Multiple billing systems to be consolidated to cloud-delivered STG Billing solution.

With the acquisition of Harris, Rothenberg International Inc., the health insurer expects to expand its employee assistance program and work-life offering.

Tom Barta shifts the focus of his office while Erik Helding receives a promotion to SVP, treasury and investor relations.

The specialty insurer looks to the claims management software to support its goal of increasing effectiveness and efficiency of payments.

The showdown came at a hearing held by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners on the controversial product, which is a kind of property insurance policy that banks purchase when mortgage borrowers stop paying for homeowners insurance. Banks receive a portion of the premiums through commissions, reinsurance deals and other payments from the specialty carriers that offer it.

Michiel van Katwijk will be CFO for the Americas, and Darryl Button will become EVP, head of the corporate financial center.

IT projects tend to become riskier as the size of the project increases, to combat this, insurers should consider "chunking."

After purchasing ClaimCenter from the provider five years ago, the insurer is also implementing Guidewire's billing, client data management and policy administration systems.

Coverage Counselor is designed to help consumers understand how their personal circumstances impact their insurance premium and enable them to compare different levels of coverage.

In July, severe drought and heat waves effected great swaths of the United States, causing billions in insurance losses, according to Aon Benefield’s “July 2012 Global Catastrophe Recap.” Up to 64 percent of the continental United States is experiencing at least moderate drought, according to the National Climatic Data Center, and half of all U.S. counties have been declared disaster areas.

The Innovation Group plc released a new version of Insurer Analytics, which includes new functionality for policy analysis, insurance analytics, usability and extract/transform/load (ETL) process. The new version is designed to enable users to measure, monitor and manage and uncover insights and opportunities.

Company expands executive risk claims team in Atlanta office.

The number of insurers looking to increase staff is now at the highest level since July 2009, according to “The Mid-Year Insurance Labor Market Study,” produced by Jacobson Group, an insurance staffing company, and Ward Group, an insurance consultancy. The majority of insurers, 54.5 percent, intend to increase staff this year, compared to 51 percent in January; and the number expecting to increase revenue is 78.4 percent, up from 69 percent for the same period.

Insurance is among the industries found to have significant scanning requirements due to a continued reliance on paper, according to a recent survey.

Barbara Luck will report to Ken Riegler, president of XL Group’s North American Casualty unit.

This month’s MarketScout report cites a stable personal lines market with a composite rate growth of 2 percent for August, while composite commercial P&C rates were also noted as steady at four percent.

Upgrading claims systems is a high priority, ranking among the top three projects for 41 percent of large property/casualty carriers and 23 percent of midsize carriers, according to “Novarica Market Navigator: US Property/Casualty Claims Solutions 2012.” This year, insurers will select between 65 and 75 new systems, compared with 50 to 60 claims systems last year.