Core systems

Boston - The 78th Annual Educational Conference & Business Show held by Insurance Accounting and Systems Association Inc. (IASA) concluded today after three days of events. More than 1,100 pre-registered for the show in Boston

Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, and Dayton, Ohio -- Whitehill Technologies Inc. has purchased InSystems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Register, a document services provider based in Dayton, Ohio. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed."We believe that InSystems will be better positioned for success as part of a software company," says Dennis Rediker, Standard Register's president and CEO. "InSystems is a recognized software technology leader with an attractive customer base in the insurance market."

Chattanooga, Tenn. - UnumProvident's new Web-based enrollment platform, called plane.biz, is now fully functional for all worksite benefits to help employees navigate the complexity of today's benefits arena.Benefits professionals are facing significant issues: The population is aging; healthcare costs continue to increase; pension plans are strained; and employees are demanding more choice in their benefits options. The result is an unprecedented shift to supplemental benefit options and cost-sharing, heightening the need for effective benefit communications.

McLean, Va. - The transformation of core policy administration systems and processes is one of the most critical success factors for property and casualty insurance companies in the coming decade, according to a report issued today by BearingPoint Inc. a McLean, Va., global management and technology consulting firm.

New York - Results from a recent employee benefits benchmarking report and Web-based companion tool issued by New York-based MetLife revealed that for small companies (with between 2 and 49 employees), "retaining employees" is the number one employee benefits objective (57%). Yet retention rates are at risk, as only 29% of employees who work for a small company are satisfied with the benefits offered by their employer - despite the fact that MetLife research indicates a correlation between job satisfaction, employee loyalty and benefits satisfaction. Additionally, only 16% say that their company's benefits communication effectively educates them about their benefits. Their peers at the largest companies (25,000+ employees), however, are much more satisfied with their benefits (48%) and 39% believe that their company's benefits communication is effective.

Newark, N.J.-Prudential Financial Inc. finalized its acquisition of Northbrook, Ill.-based Allstate Financial's variable annuity business through a reinsurance transaction.Prudential's initial investment in the business, reflecting total consideration to Allstate, related taxes and capital requirements, is approximately $591 million. This amount reflects a price adjustment paid to Allstate for market movements between signing and closing. Over the course of a transition period of up to 24 months from closing, Newark, N.J.-based Prudential will assume the administration of Allstate Financial's in-force variable annuities, with account values of approximately $17 billion (value as of March 31, 2006).

SAFECO NAMES WILLIAM JENKS AS CIO

NEW CSF DESIGNER FEATURESMetavante Corp., Milwaukee, has added a number of features to its CSF Designer document composition application:

ADOBE, ITEMFIELD JOIN FORCES ON E-FORMS DEALItemfield, a San Mateo, Calif., provider of data transformation software, will work with San Jose-based Adobe Systems Inc., to develop a solution designed for the insurance industry. The companies plan to combine Adobe's intelligent forms, which support the ACORD XML data standard, with Itemfield's process-specific business rules and complex data transformation capabilities to help insurers increase efficiency by accelerating the processing of transactional data in electronic forms, such as quotations and new business submissions.

UNIVERSAL SIGNS SEVEN-YEAR BPO AGREEMENTUniversal Insurance of North America, Sarasota, Fla., has signed a seven-year agreement with CGI Group Inc. valued at between $45 and $75 million for policy and accounting business process services (BPS). Montreal-based CGI will process Universal's personal lines (book of business) including homeowners, dwelling-fire, auto, and umbrella in Texas and Florida. CGI will continue to support Universal's business processing needs as they expand their services into new markets. As part of this agreement, CGI will open a processing facility in Tampa to support Universal Insurance and other Florida-based insurance customers. CGI will initially hire 50 professionals and expects staff to grow to more than 200 professionals over the next two years.

Hamilton, Bermuda - Accenture Ltd. launched a technology delivery center in Pune, India, for software outsourcing and systems integration services. The facility is Accenture's ninth delivery center in India and represents further expansion of the company's Global Delivery Network.The new delivery center provides application outsourcing and systems integration services across the full range of technology capabilities. The center develops capabilities in enterprise technologies from Germany-based SAP and Siebel (Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, Calif.); Net-centric technologies like Java and Microsoft; business intelligence and testing.

Durham, N.C. - The Insurance Accounting & Systems Association (IASA) reports that more than 125 insurance industry CFOs have registered to attend the 3rd Annual IASA - CFO Roundtable on Tuesday, June 6 in Boston. As part of IASA's Executive Education Program, the sessions to be presented have been designed to cater to the specific needs and interests of professionals in high-level insurance financial positions.

Boston, Mass. - Players in the global financial services industry must invest in innovation to drive competitive differentiation both with other financial institutions and adjacent industries - as well as to achieve bottom line results.

Fort Collins, Colo.-The U.S. Atlantic basin likely will experience another active hurricane season, but coastal regions may face fewer landfalling major hurricanes than last year, according to the Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo., forecast team. The team maintained its earlier predictions for the 2006 hurricane season, which starts on June 1.Colorado State's forecast for the 2006 hurricane season anticipates 17 named storms forming in the Atlantic basin between June 1 and November 30. Nine of the 17 storms are predicted to become hurricanes, and of those nine, five are expected to develop into intense or major hurricanes (Category 3-4-5) with sustained winds of 111 mph or greater.

Boston - AIR Worldwide Corp. (AIR) released Version 8.0 of CLASIC/2, CATRADER, and CATStation, AIR's catastrophe risk management systems. The version 8.0 releases include updates to several of AIR's catastrophe models and a number of software enhancements to make catastrophe analyses more efficient.

Hartford, Conn. - Cycle management is the key driver of P&C insurance company investment strategies today, according to a new study by Conning Research and Consulting, Inc.

London - Already in use by leading insurance companies, the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) will continue to gain popularity, notes London-based independent market analyst Datamonitor.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Recognizing outstanding accomplishments and achievements as well as leadership in the implementation of standards, The Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD), Pearl River, N.Y., held its 14th Annual ACORD Awards ceremony at the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum in Las Vegas this week.

Englewood, Colo. - Online insurance shopping service company InsureMe, is rolling out its Insurance Resource Center, the Englewood, Colo., company announced. The center, which contains numerous articles on the topics of auto, home, life and health insurance, was designed to educate consumers about insurance, as well as provide them with relevant shopping information and tips for saving money on coverage.

Las Vegas, Nev. - While the independent agency system has benefited by real-time communication improvements among carriers, agencies and customers, frustration remains over multiple workflows brought on by carrier-unique systems, according to findings in the ACORD-User Groups Information Exchange (AUGIE) 2006 Agency Technology Survey. The results were announced in Las Vegas at a panel presentation of the annual ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum, sponsored by the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD) Pearl River, N.Y.