MTW Corp., a Kansas City, Kan.-based software company, in July was acquired in whole for approximately $85 million by London, U.K.-based The Innovation Group, with consideration being split between cash, loan notes and the issue of new ordinary shares in the capital of The Innovation Group. MTW's Insurance Systems Group's customers are expected to benefit from the acquisition due to significantly broader product lines, a strategic alliance with IBM and the international reach of The Innovation Group. Recent acquisitions include HUON of Farmington, Conn., and Pyramid Group of Danbury, Conn.Toronto-based DWL Inc., a provider of transactional customer relationship management solutions to carriers and financial service providers, has struck an alliance with Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun Microsystems Inc. The alliance makes available what the two partners call the industry's first Enterprise JavaBeans architecture-based transactional customer relationship management (CRM) solution. It was designed to enable financial services and insurance companies to leverage and consolidate back-end legacy and administrative systems to create personalized portals that support key CRM functionality.
InsLogic Corp., a Columbia, S.C.-based provider of turnkey, private label e-insurance agency solutions, has inked an arrangement that enables it to provide insurance services and products to customers of Atlanta-based Wachovia Bank, N.A., a provider of banking services and the principal banking subsidiary of Wachovia Corp. The products will be marketed through the bank's subsidiary, Wachovia Insurance Services Inc. The InsLogic partnership will enable Wachovia customers to purchase insurance products through InsLogic's insurance sales and service center, with the live assistance of licensed customer service representatives.
Hartford Life Inc., a member of Hartford, Conn.-based The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., has entered into an alliance with AnnuityNet Inc., a Leesburg, Va.-based software technology firm. The alliance provides an Internet-based annuity sales platform to Hartford Life's network of more than 1,700 broker/dealers and their representatives. This relationship is expected to streamline the annuity purchasing process, providing brokers a faster, more convenient and accurate electronic process for completing fixed and variable annuity sales. The system, available through www.hartfordinvestor.com, enables a party to use a desktop or laptop computer during the annuity application process to automatically check for accuracy and validate key information.
The Catastrophic Risk Exchange Inc., an electronic market for commercial insurance and reinsurance based in Princeton, N.J., has formed a strategic partnership with Captive.com, a Southington, Conn.-based online information resource for captive insurance company managers and brokers. By using Catex's Transactional Control Board and Premium & Claims Settlement System, a risk manager or captive manager now will be able to place, record, pay premium, submit and manage his claims online. Captive.com receives more than 8,000 international hits per week from risk managers, captive managers and others interested in captive insurance company formation and practices.
El Segundo, Calif.-based Computer Sciences Corp., a consulting and information technology services firm, and Hayward, Calif.-based AvantGo Inc., provider of mobile infrastructure software and services, are teaming on a mobile application program directed at life insurance carriers. The alliance combines AvantGo's M-Business server with ViLink, CSC's Web-enabled platform for the life insurance industry. The solution will enable carriers to securely disseminate critical information to agents, third parties and consumers via a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA) or Web-enabled digital telephone.
Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wis., has acquired Austin, Texas-based EPSIIA Corp., a provider of large-scale electronic archival, retrieval and presentment solutions. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. EPSIIA's technology leverages the Internet to provide online document management applications. Its product line includes Digital Xpress Reports, an advanced archival tool with multiple output capability that provides Web presentment and microfiche replacement.
