Core systems

BillingCenter to provide billing management system for all Amica’s lines of business.

Contract covers application maintenance and development services in six countries.

Nearly a decade since the enactment of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, the industry asserts that a national backstop is still needed.

Separate studies from ING and MetLife show that couples don’t discuss and lack adequate life insurance.

Hurricane Isaac is not likely to be a market-changing event that would tip the balance to a hard property market.

More than half of insurers surveyed now use anti-fraud technology solutions, according to “The State of Insurance Fraud Technology: A study of insurer use, strategies and plans for anti-fraud technology,” from the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud and SAS. However the study found that while the majority of respondents (79 percent) said that special investigations units are the sponsors of anti-fraud projects, other departments typically control the project budgets, which could slow the implementation of the technologies, the study said.

Company to purchase up to $5 billion at $2.50 per share.

Workers’ compensation and commercial property experienced the largest price adjustments.

Reinsurers look to new opportunities for growth as buyers remain tepid.

Island Insurance has selected Guidewire PolicyCenter to replace its underwriting and policy administration solutions. The initial rollout of PolicyCenter will serve Island Insurance’s commercial auto business and eventually will be deployed for all personal and commercial lines.

New report indicates that the portion of the typical IT budget—in a number of industries, insurance included—allocated to outsourcing is up nearly 23 percent.

The life and health insurer expects increased productivity and greater flexibility to enable increased scalability and forecasting capabilities.

The insurance industry uses just 20 percent of mobile apps' potential, research firm says. However a few insurers are doing it right.

The branchless bank is combining retail banking, retirement and insurance services in its online banking site.

As Costa Rica sends rescue teams to an area hit yesterday by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake, risk modelers have more natural catastrophe data to contend with: flood loss. Flood losses are on a rapid upswing, according to a report issued today by Swiss Re. Affecting an estimated 500 million people worldwide annually, the increase in flood-related claims has been significant, notes Swiss Re’s new report, “Flood - an Underestimated Risk: Inspect, Inform, Insure.”

American International Group Inc., the bailed-out U.S. insurer, is raising as much as $2 billion selling a stake in AIA Group Ltd. as Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche accumulates funds to repurchase his company’s stock from the Treasury Department. AIG is offering about 600 million AIA shares at HK$25.75 to HK$26.75, according to a term sheet obtained by Bloomberg News. AIG plans to spend as much $5 billion buying back its shares, it said in a statement released via Business Wire.

CNA Financial Corp. has named Cheryl Paton as the assistant VP for umbrella teams, and Andy Cohen as the VP of field operations.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. will use Guidewire PolicyCenter as its underwriting and policy administration system and Guidewire BillingCenter for its P&C insurance lines. Nationwide Mutual already is in the process of deploying Guidewire ClaimCenter for claims handling for all P&C lines of business.

WellPoint Inc., the second-biggest U.S. health insurer, is planning a four-part debt offering to help fund its $4.9 billion acquisition of Amerigroup Corp. The operator of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance plans may sell three-, five-, 10- and 30- year notes as soon as today, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

Long-term care insurance decisions are not being made only by the elderly, according to a new report. A study conducted by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance notes that the youngest claimant was 24 years old when he began receiving benefit payments from his long-term care insurance policy. Now in his seventh year of receiving payments, the coverage was purchased when the claimant was 21 years old.