Core systems

Torus, a specialty insurer, has implemented Guidewire Software’s ClaimCenter, a claims management system.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners voted to exclude broker commissions from calculations of medical loss ratio required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Dan Colarusso, VP, CIO of Cypress Insurance Group, talks with INN about his company's decision to replace its multiple existing technology systems currently used for policy, underwriting, rating, billing, and management of its distribution channel with a SaaS solution offered by MajescoMastek.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued its first rebuke to an insurer under the federal rate review provision of the Affordable Care Act.

According to a new study from the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), the extra weight hybrid vehicles carry around because of their battery makes them safer. In fact, the study found that the odds of being injured in a crash are 25 percent lower for people in hybrids, when compared to conventional fuel models.

With the insurance industry seemingly starved for some good news about itself, it can take solace knowing that more than 4,000 insurance company volunteers were willing to provide time and labor to various nonprofit groups across the nation last week.

In the wake of the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, insurers and bankers feuded over directors and officers' liability policies. At issue: whether D&O policies covered claims brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation against a failed bank's officers. Years of messy litigation failed to settle the question conclusively, and insurers responded by tightening their policies with ironclad exclusions of future FDIC claims.

Survey shows employers not meeting employee desires for health plan programs that are easy to use, motivating, meaningful and personalized.

Former American International Group CEO Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg is seeking $25 billion in damages from the federal government for the manner in which it bailed out the insurance giant in 2008.

Late yesterday both houses of Congress passed a continuing Resolution which provides for a 30-day extension of the National Flood Insurance Program. The program is now set to expire on Dec. 16, 2011.

Surveys and studies show that insurers are actively implementing new policy administration systems. In September, Celent released its “Policy Administration System Vendors, North American Commercial P/C Insurance 2011” report. And this month, the analyst and consulting firm released a similar report for the life, health and annuities industry.

Through conducting a survey at 2011 Professional Liability Underwriting Society’s Annual International Conference in San Diego earlier this month, global specialty insurer Torus set out to identify key issues affecting the management and professional liability insurance market. The results reveal a professional lines market in flux with widespread concerns over pricing uncertainty in 2012, a heightened awareness of the current regulatory environment and fast-emerging new risks for small businesses. Thirty percent of the 102 insurance professionals surveyed, among them brokers, agents, insurers and risk managers, affirmed that the changing pricing environment is a major cause for unease, viewing it to have the biggest overall impact on the market over the next 12 months. Respondents also note that an increase in market competition (25 percent), the current regulatory environment (23 percent) and the creation of new products (17 percent) were also major concerns.

As 2011 winds down, few would dispute the centrality of mobile communications to the insurance industry.

People in Portland, Ore. are mad as hell at distracted drivers and they’re not going to take it any more, according to a poll conducted by PEMCO Insurance. The problem is: some of those same drivers admit to the driving-while-distracted behavior, violating safe driving laws on a regular basis.

Staying connected while away from the office is taking on increasing importance to insurers, according to a new survey. Conducted in September by technology solution provider FirstBest Systems Inc. as part of Market Scout Entrepreneurial Insurance Symposium in Dallas, the survey queried 67 respondents from the carrier/MGA/MGU area, 94 percent of whom primarily represented commercial lines and 46 respondents from the agent/broker area, 90 percent or so representing commercial lines.

As President Obama grapples with a complex series of geopolitical issues during his state visit to Australia, he can take solace in the knowledge that his family will be provided for if he is attacked by a man-eating crocodile.

With catastrophe damage creating insured losses across the country, property and casualty insurance carrier results suffered in the first half of 2011.

State Farm Insurance has put a new spin on why people living in the United States should be grateful this Thanksgiving—they are less likely to be burned or have their homes catch fire as a result of cooking a turkey.

Roughly two-thirds of life and annuity producers surveyed by Deloitte (http://www.deloitte.com) expect to change carriers within the next 12 months. Twenty-nine percent plan to add carriers and one-third expect to both add and drop carriers. Sales support, speed of underwriting and policy issue, and carrier brand are the top factors influencing these decisions. Forty percent are not satisfied with the support they currently receive. And, with more than 80 percent of a producer’s total compensation coming from two favored carriers, there is room for improved producer loyalty and sales through better support, said Rebecca Amoroso, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP and insurance leader.

A group of 13 U.S. Senators are questioning a provision of the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2011 that would require homeowners and businesses to purchase coverage from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).