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The market for insurance in China is huge. With a population of 1.3 billion-that's 20% of the people in the entire world - China's insurance premiums are projected to grow from $60 billion this year to $100 billion by 2009 (see "Chinese Insurance Premiums," page 13).That's because between 1949-when the People's Republic of China was established-and the 1980s-when Deng Xiaoping opened the market to private insurers, there was no insurance industry in China. The government took care of the people, from the "cradle to the grave."

Just when insurance companies were feeling better equipped to solve the puzzle of requirements presented in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), the United Kingdom and the 24 other member states in the European Union (EU) are now commenting on the EU Commission's proposed regulations on solvency that could be finalized as early as 2008. Called the Solvency II proposal, the regulations are not unlike the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and could add more layers of regulatory reporting for insurers.American carriers and reinsurers need to get up to speed on Solvency II, say analysts, because down the road, the regulations could impact U.S. accounting and insurance standards.

For many years, building computer software applications was the modus operandi in the insurance industry. "No one knows our business," was the common refrain.Since then, software vendors customized their products for the industry, and buying prepackaged software applications has become the preference.

All this talk about merging business goals with IT seems to have reared its ugly head. With the best possible intentions and following the ultimate in best practice methodology, insurance CIOs are trying to make the marriage work. Is their time and effort well placed? Are they being successful?Not according to a recent report issued by Aberdeen Group, a Boston-based research firm, which cites the two most powerful "disruptors" to the CIO's mandate for 2005: the need to provide better solutions in a business environment of growing risk and uncertainty, and changes in the technology landscape.

With new research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Arlington, Va., finding that drivers using cell phones are four times more likely to get in a crash serious enough to injure themselves, auto insurers are beginning to educate drivers about the risks of driving while talking on cell phones.Dan Cohen, a spokesperson for 21st Century Insurance Group, says the study underscores the need for insurance companies to encourage their clients not to drive and call at the same time.

Since the promise of further USA PATRIOT Act promulgation by the U.S. Treasury Department fell away in June, life insurance and annuity companies have been holding their breath, waiting for an imminent vote by the 109th Congress that could add even more regulatory compliance requirements for carriers.And while the final version of Section 352 of the USA PATRIOT Act may be looming, what it will mean for the life insurance industry is still in question.

Contrary to public opinion, the IT department typically can't foretell the future. IT teams usually can analyze the effectiveness of an existing systems implementation, but for some, rather than using a crystal ball, it's more a matter of acknowledging what works and what doesn't.Thanks to growing requirements and a fundamental technology shift, an insurance consortium faced such a challenge when the implementation of a policy administration system dragged on for years.

Offloading non-core functions to an outsourcer, and thereby relieving your company of the responsibility of maintaining expensive equipment and escalating personnel costs, is increasingly seen as not only a viable option but in many cases the best or most logical way to go.The Robert Plan Corp. (RPC), an auto insurance carrier and underwriter specializing in urban automotive markets, was facing such a choice several years ago.

From pumping your own gas to checking your luggage and getting a boarding pass at the airport, self-service is becoming the name of the game in our economy.For the insurance industry, which has long had a reputation for providing personalized service-from the agent through the claims adjuster-transitioning to the self-service world can require an adjustment in thinking.

Okemos, Mich. - A new self-service tool that uses advanced technology to tap into and analyze extensive claims information has been launched to help Delta Dental customers administer their dental benefits."We developed the new tool to help benefit professionals save time by accessing their dental benefits information when they need it," says Thomas J. Fleszar, president and chief executive officer of the Delta Dental Plans of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.

Seattle - PEMCO Insurance, provider of auto, home, boat, life, and umbrella insurance to Washington state residents, has launched a teen drivers Web site designed to educate parents, teachers, and teens about the dangers young drivers face. The Web site can be found at http://www.pemco.com/teen_driver/index.asp."Teens have the highest car-crash death rate of any age group," says PEMCO spokesperson Jon Osterberg. "The main reason is, they're inexperienced drivers, and only experience can sharpen their skills. PEMCO wants to help teens grow into experienced, safe drivers."

John Hancock Financial Network, a subsidiary of John Hancock Life Insurance Co., Boston, Mass., has signed a three-year renewal agreement with Financial Profiles, a Carlsbad, Calif., provider of financial advice software, consulting, training and support services, to use its industry standards planning software.

Santa Ana, Calif. - The principal subsidiary of The First American Corp.--First American Title Insurance Co.--has formed a strategic alliance with Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash., for early testing of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 using First American's FAST Transaction System (FAST) database.FAST is an integrated title and escrow system that unifies disparate systems into a centralized database and is currently one of the largest SQL Server 2005 implementations with more than 4 terabytes of data. Microsoft encouraged First American's FAST development team to test SQL Server 2005 against one of the largest and most complex databases available. Using a version of FAST with all personal information removed, Microsoft was able to validate SQL Server 2005 and improve system capabilities, ensuring that the new release of SQL Server will be "FAST Certified" at the product launch on Nov. 7, 2005.

Hartford, Conn. - The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. has unveiled a new home page to its agency portal. The new home page of The Hartford's Electronic Business Center (EBC) was designed based on agent feedback requesting a cleaner, user-friendly page that will quickly and efficiently support agency workflows.

Chapel Hill - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) has made its eInfoNOW tool available to all local and national self-insured employer groups. eInfoNOW(SM) is an online reporting tool that enables employer groups to track claims utilization data and to perform data analysis.Having this capability enables BCBSNC and the employer to tailor insurance plans to meet the specific health needs of each employer group, according to John Friesen, BCBSNC's vice president and chief actuary of Actuarial and Underwriting.

Ipswich, Mass. - In a report that analyzed 47 health care, life and health, and property & casualty insurer Web sites, the insurance industry slipped slightly in its Customer Respect Index (CRI), according to The Customer Respect Group, Inc., an Ipswich, Mass., research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat their online customers. The findings, from its Fourth Quarter 2005 Online Customer Respect Study of Insurance firms, represent the fifth such study conducted on insurers.

Des Plaines, Ill. - Ernie Csiszar, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) is calling on insurers to re-think their approach to regulatory reform, saying that the issue will be a top priority for PCI in 2006. Csiszar made his remarks during the opening ceremony of the association's Annual Meeting in Chicago today."Because of our inability to make meaningful changes to the regulatory system, perhaps it's time to reassess our tactics and try an entirely new approach," said Csiszar. "All of us have been pointing out the flaws in the regulatory system for the past decade. It's disjointed, inefficient, stifles competition, expensive and antiquated. Most importantly, it is untenable in the long term and must change."

Palos Hills, Ill. - A special online database consisting of motor vehicles and boats affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is being made available to the public, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), Palos Hills, Ill., reported today.

New York, N.Y. - Commercial insurance premiums took a sharp downward turn in the third quarter, according to the Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. (RIMS) Benchmark Survey, which targets current policy renewal prices as reported by corporate risk managers.

Hartford, Conn. - On Oct. 22, The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. will unveil Select Customized Pricing, a predictive underwriting model designed to bring agents a highly refined policy price at the beginning of the submission process for its Spectrum business owners' policy, commercial auto, and workers' compensation insurance."We've turned a multi-step process into a single step for agents by pulling in several unique business characteristics upfront and using the results to differentiate one business customer from another," says Jim Ruel, senior vice president of Small Commercial business at The Hartford.