Core systems

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.

Society Insurance, a provider of workers’ compensation insurance, has selected CSC’s comprehensive legal management software, Legal Solutions Suite, as a Software as a Service (SaaS). Society will access the CSC-hosted offering online to improve consistency in legal matter planning and bill review.

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.

Aviva Canada Inc., a P&C insurance group, has chosen communic8 as its broker integration hub. The iter8 connectivity hub product will expand its presence within the insurer's IT infrastructure to include uploads from multiple broker management and bridge systems, enabling a one-and-done broker workflow.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

AgentsofAmerica.org (AoA) reports that it will publish a 26-chapter e-book on risk management in early 2012. The “E&O Loss Control & Risk Management Program for Insurance Agents and Brokers” represents a collaborative effort by more than 25 top E&O insurance attorneys and experts from across the country, notes AoA, and includes an appendix on best practices.

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 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded CGI Federal Inc. (CGI), a wholly-owned U.S. operating subsidiary of CGI Group Inc., a $8.9 million, two-year contract to develop and implement the CMS Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight's Rate and Benefits Information System (RBIS). CGI Group is an information technology and business process services firm.

The retail theft claims insurers expect to pay out this holiday weekend may take a back seat to those presented by clients with commercial package policies that include business interruption. CNBC reports that demonstrators are taking the Occupy Wall Street movement to retailers with an organized effort called “Stop Black Friday.”

The Department of Health and Human Services has rolled out an enhanced version of a public Web site, mandated under the Accountable Care Act, to aid small businesses and consumers in comparing and purchasing health care coverage.