Subject Root Tag

Washington — The Office of Management and Budget has released a "statement of administration policy" threatening a presidential veto of legislation aimed at extending the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA).

Washington — Insurance industry associations are giving mostly favorable reviews to the passage of H.R. 2761, legislation that would extend and expand the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). The bill, which passed the lower chamber yesterday by a vote of 312-110, aims to extend TRIA for 15 years, and expand the number of lines covered within it.

Needham, Mass. — A new research report from TowerGroup Inc. says insurers should go above and beyond current regulatory requirements when dealing with the issue of annuity suitability.

Washington — The heads of two insurance industry associations have issued a joint letter urging the National Governor's Association to drop their opposition to the National Insurance Act.

Washington — The need to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is only having a minimal effect on enterprise risk management (ERM), new research has found.

State College, Pa. — Optical Image Technology Inc. (OIT), developer of DocFinity workflow and document management software, announced its strategic alliance with compliance content management solution provider Conexxus.

Hopkinton, Mass. - EMC Corp., a Hopkinton, Mass.-based information infrastructure solutions provider, announced that it has acquired American Fork, Utah-based Berkeley Data Systems Inc., a privately held provider of online information backup and recovery services. Berkeley Data Systems provides Mozy, an online subscription service for the protection of data that resides on desktops, laptops and remote office servers.

Fremont, Calif. — Tricom Document Management Inc., a company specializing in outsourcing services, has been awarded a Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal "Fast 50" Private Companies listing for 2007. The award designating Tricom as the 12th fastest growing private company in Silicon Valley was announced in the Journal's special publication, The 50 Fastest Growing Private Companies in Silicon Valley for 2007.

Conyers, Ga. — ImageRight, a Vertafore Inc. company, has acquired Computers by Design Inc. (CBD). CBD provides imaging and document management solutions for the insurance industry. CBD will function as the retail agency division of ImageRight.

Chicago — Destiny Health, a Chicago-based provider of wellness-based health insurance, is launching operations in Missouri, and intends to make its products available across the state. The products are pending approval by the Missouri State Department of Insurance.

Westlake, Ohio — Wilton, Conn.-based Wilton Re has signed a multi-million dollar administrative services agreement with Westlake, Ohio-based Antares Management Solutions and U.K.-based GeniSys Group.

New York – New York Life Insurance Co. promoted Richard Eppink, Jr. to vice president in the Special Markets Department, reporting to first vice president Victoria Buhrow. Eppink is now responsible for developing and executing strategic direct marketing plans for the AARP Lifetime Income Program, New York Life's Tampa-based operation which markets and administers income annuity products to AARP members. Eppink joined New York Life in 1999 as an assistant vice president of marketing with the AARP Life Insurance Program, and was promoted to corporate vice president in 2002.

Smithtown, N.Y. — Bank of Smithtown Insurance Agents & Brokers Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Smithtown, acquired all assets of Payne & Palmieri Inc., an independent insurance agency located in East Setauket, N.Y.

Los Angeles - Farmers Insurance Group of Companies appointed Keitha Schofield, president and chief operating officer of Farmers Services, a new support services entity which will include finance, audit, human resources, communications, procurement, real estate, service point/service centers and information technology. She also serves on the Farmers Group, Inc. board of directors. Schofield joined Farmers in 1995 as senior vice president and CIO and until this recent appointment served as executive vice president—support services.

New York - New York Life Insurance Co. promoted Alexander Burbatsky to senior vice president in the corporate information department--giving him responsibility for all aspects of delivery of infrastructure services.

Houston — Stewart Information Services Corp. plans to merge its two related technology subsidiaries, Stewart Transaction Solutions and PropertyInfo Corp. Stewart expects the merger to be completed by Jan. 1, 2008.

New York - Empire BlueCross BlueShield launched its Empire Prism suite of health plans, the New York company reports.

Toronto — Camilion Solutions Inc., a Markham, Ontario-based provider of product development solutions and next-generation policy administration systems to the insurance industry, announced that accelerated business growth has necessitated a relocation of their corporate headquarters to a facility twice the size of their previous location.

Los Angeles - The Automobile Club of Southern California (Auto Club), the largest AAA affiliate in the nation, has selected the ClaimCenter product from Guidewire, San Mateo, Calif. ClaimCenter will consolidate and ultimately replace the company’s existing legacy claims systems, performing end-to-end claims handling functionality for all Auto Club lines of business.

Westlake, Ohio - Hyland Software Inc. released of version 7 of its OnBase enterprise content management (ECM) software suite. OnBase 7 introduces process modeling and business activity monitoring (BAM) capabilities to help organizations model, monitor and continuously improve document-driven business processes. The new release features the ability to search the OnBase repository using Microsoft Office SharePoint Search as well as several new content-enabled vertical applications for hospitals, law enforcement agencies and universities.