Insurance

Fraud is on the rise in the United States and globally, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’s 2011 Global Economic Crime Survey, with cyber crime making the most significant increase in the two years since the firm’s last survey.

Commercial lines carriers focused on risk mitigation tied to business continuity have reason for additional concern. According to a newly published survey, 85 percent of companies reported at least one supply chain disruption over the last 12 months, with 40 percent of analyzed disruption originating below the immediate supplier. The survey, sponsored by Zurich Financial Services Group (Zurich) and conducted by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) Caversham, United Kingdom, queried companies from across 62 countries.

Glatfelter Insurance Group, a multifaceted insurance broker and MGA/program manager, and SPARTA Insurance Co., a property/casualty carrier dedicated to writing program business with Program Administrators as well as retail agents, share few things in common.

A comparison of third-quarter data from 2009, 2010 and 2011 reveals a notable increase in the number of questionable claims submitted, according to a new report issued by the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Des Plaines, Ill. In its third-quarter 2011 questionable claims (QC) referral reason analysis, the Bureau examined six referral reason categories of claims—property, casualty, commercial, workers' compensation, vehicle and miscellaneous—for the quarters listed above.

A recent study of IT spending among small businesses (from $40 million to $350 million in annual revenue) reveals that the budgets will grow slowly. The report—“IT spending and staffing forecast for 2012”— from Computer Economics predicts IT operational budgets should grow about 2.0 percent at the median for small organizations and 0.5 percent for medium ($350 million to $1 billion in revenue) and 0.8 percent for large (revenue of $1 billion or greater) organizations. Growth in the financial services sector, including banks and insurance companies, is weaker than other sectors—health care, professional and technical services, and distribution and manufacturing—but the net trend is still positive.

It’s no secret that the Green Bay Packers are chasing perfection this season. But what many might not know is that they are quietly leveraging their success to help bring health tips to fourth grade classrooms across the state of Wisconsin.

Properly going through the steps leading up to an IT project, means that by the time actual work begins, the battle should be more than half over.

Foreign insurers are meeting a wall of resistance as they try to penetrate the Chinese market, new analysis from Moody's indicates.

XL Group announced yesterday that EVP, strategic growth Greg Hendrick will serve as CEO of their insurance segment as of 2012.

Celent analysts join USAA executive in discussing the nuances of creative disruption, and how insurers can benefit from its philosophies and practices.INN is pleased to present, with permission, occasional videos from Celent, a research and consulting firm and a member of the Oliver Wyman Group. These videos originally appeared on Celent's website as part of the firm's educational offerings.

Sponsored by Swiss Re, a new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) finds risk management practices surrounding renewable energy projects wanting.

Thanks in large part to health information technology, small businesses in Arizona’s Maricopa and Pinal counties are about to be pitched on an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) insurance plan called Aetna Whole Health, a collaborative effort by Aetna and Banner Health Network. Experts say that the ACO model of care shifts the focus of payment from a fee-for-service model to a focus on tying payments to quality metrics and decreased costs of patient care.

JHPInsite.com, an insurance quote engine technology company and off-shoot of Health One Insurance Agency, found that “35 percent of website visitors clicking for information on additional products that are entirely different than what they were initially looking for." To address unpredictable shoppers, the vendor has developed a cross-sale platform enabling insurance brokers to place any product they wish into the quote engine environment for prospective clients.

In a new report, Forrester Research Inc. identified edge IPK, the provider of edgeConnect, an insurance user experience platform (UXP) designed to provide the optimal user experience to any insurance user, through any device, browser, and language, as a vendor to watch.

The International Insurance Society (IIS) announced the three industry leaders who will be recognized at the society’s 48th Annual Seminar in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 17-20, 2012.

Needs analyses and face-to-face contact greatly improve the odds of closing life insurance sales, according to a new study from LIMRA.

Bertrand Poupart-Lafarge has been named EVP, and earlier this month, the board of directors confirmed his appointment to chief investment officer and treasurer of AXA Financial and its subsidiaries, including AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company.

The introduction of telematic technologies will help improve overall road safety, new data from U.K.-based The Co-operative Insurance shows.

Yodil Inc., a provider of business intelligence, data analytics and management reporting to the insurance industry, has developed OneSource for Affirmative Insurance Holdings Inc., a writer of non-standard auto coverage. According to Yodil, OneSource is now in live production and interfaces with Affirmative's multiple systems to rate, quote and sell auto, home and ancillary products.

The conveniences of small size outweigh certain impracticalities as tablets and smartphones enamor insurance executives and agents.