Data and information management

WAUSAU, Wis.--Wausau Signature Agency has increased its focus on employee benefits by forming a Group Benefits Division in the upper Midwest states.

CAMBRIDGE, England--Autonomy Corporation plc, a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise, today announced that Autonomy has been awarded a contract by Norwich Union Life, the largest provider of life, pensions and long-term financial services in the UK.

WASHINGTON, March 17--With health benefit costs still rising at double-digit rates, more employers are adopting health management and consumer-directed health care programs to help control costs. And some employers keep increases remarkably low by getting employees involved in health care decision making. These are among the major findings in the 10th annual survey of large employers conducted by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT--- A single point of entry for access to insurance information, services and tools for consumers, regulators and industry will be available on March 16 through the National Portal for Insurance Regulatory Information on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' (NAIC) Web site at www.naic.org.The NAIC's Information Resources Management (H) Committee began demonstrations of the National Portal search engine at the NAIC Spring National Meeting in Salt Lake City.

Warren, NJ--The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies has redesigned its Web site, www.chubb.com, to make it easier to do business with the insurer and help increase agent productivity. The upgraded Web site features new content, easy-to-use navigation, a simplified design and direct access for agents to @chubb, a secure Internet platform. "The clean, information-focused site will enable agents and brokers, customers, investors and journalists to quickly find the information they need," said Scott Wickstrom, Chubb's e-business manager.

SEATTLE, WA-- Only Financial Group (OFG), a national Insurance Brokerage and Lead Generation company has announced the launch of OFG Agent Web Sites for its nationwide network of OFG member agents and brokerages. OFG's new Agent Web Sites provide life insurance agents and brokerages across the country with a customized Web site that boosts new business and streamlines the sales and marketing process. Agents who use an OFG Web Site can:

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.--OneShield, Inc. and NetRate Systems are collaborating to address the rating system needs of small to mid-sized insurance carriers. The companies remain separate organizations but have agreed to combine efforts to address the needs of insurance carriers who want a tools-based configurable architecture provided by OneShield along with dedicated resources having over 25 years in the rating engine business offered by NetRate.

CHICAGO, March 4-- Aon Corporation has reached a comprehensive agreement with five agencies in three states to settle investigations relating to contingent commissions and other business practices that may have created actual or potential conflicts of interest. Parties involved in the settlement, in which Aon admits no wrongdoing or liability, include the attorneys general of New York, Illinois and Connecticut as well as the insurance departments of New York and Illinois. The settlement involves no fines or penalties.

Farmers Mutual Protective Association of Texas (RVOS) has selected Duck Creek Technologies' Example Platform for the development of a Web-based quoting and submission system. Future plans include utilizing the Example Platform for the implementation of a complete policy administration system.

Ever since the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 removed barriers between insurance companies, banks and securities firms, insurers have been pushing states for regulatory reform. If insurers are to remain competitive, they argue, insurance companies must get products to market faster. But they are stymied by redundant and cumbersome filing, licensing and reporting requirements across the 50 states. What's needed? Uniform laws and streamlined filing and approvals, according to industry sources."The NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) needs to focus on the bread-and-butter issues of regulatory reform," says Lenore Marema, vice president of industry and regulatory affairs for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), Des Plaines, Ill. Chief among those issues is speed to market.

Everybody likes to talk about the weather, but nobody wants to do anything about it.The same axiom could be applied to U.S. insurers' approach to customer service. Most insurers will declare that customers represent the lifeblood of their business, but what are they doing about it? The proliferation of siloed databases across organizations-compounded by multiple systems and processes-inhibits insurers' ability to quickly identify cross-sell and up-sell opportunities and provide quality customer service.

Three years ago, The Baltimore Life Insurance Co. implemented an automated sales and underwriting system in conjunction with striking a marketing deal with a large membership organization. The Owings Mills, Md.-based carrier believed the affinity deal could drive unprecedented new premium growth for its death benefit products through a concerted campaign of television ads and mailers."It was a significant opportunity," says Garry Voith, Baltimore Life's assistant vice president and director of distribution technology and marketing.

Although the specter of organized crime rings receives the brunt of the publicity, the proliferation of "garden variety" insurance fraud continues to badger insurance companies.In their efforts to implement best-practices claims management, fraud and buildup (the inflation of an otherwise legitimate claim) added between $4.3 billion and $5.8 billion to auto injury settlements in 2002, representing between 11% and 15% of all dollars paid for private passenger auto injury insurance claims that year.

Consumers of auto and homeowners insurance are vulnerable to the same potential conflicts of interest as commercial insurance buyers, according to a report recently released by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), Washington, D.C.Using data from Best's Aggregates and Averages, 2004 Edition, total commissions paid to agents and brokers in 2003 for home and auto insurance ranged from zero to 30% of premium, the CFA reports. Overall, commission income was made up of roughly 90% regular commissions and 10% contingency commissions-the kind criticized by N.Y. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Credit-scoring significantly improves insurance pricing accuracy when combined with other rating variables in predicting risk. That's the conclusion of a study commissioned by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI).In December, the department released its preliminary findings, which showed poor credit scores were associated with more claims activity, and blacks and Hispanics on average have lower credit scores than whites (see Feb. issue, page 8.)

It's no surprise that the workers' compensation market has been challenged by a host of issues that have driven costs skyward for carriers and agents. According to the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers (CIAB), Washington, D.C., commercial property/casualty insurance premiums continued to decline significantly during third quarter 2004.

SIMSBURY, Conn.--Looking to meet a growing financial need, The Hartford Financial Services Group is introducing a new last survivor universal life insurance policy to help affluent couples transfer their wealth to children and other loved ones. Hartford Advanced Last Survivor UL is a flexible premium universal life policy that is issued by Hartford Life Insurance Co. and Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Co., subsidiaries of The Hartford. Last survivor policies insure two people, typically couples, and pay a death benefit upon the second death. Hartford Advanced Last Survivor UL provides affordable, permanent life insurance protection with an available secondary guarantee for the death benefit. The death benefit guarantee for Hartford Advanced Last Survivor UL is based on the claims-paying abilities of Hartford Life and Hartford Life and Annuity.

New York--Tower Group, Inc. today announced the appointment of Joseph P. Beitz to a newly created position as Managing Vice President, Program Underwriting, reporting to Michael H. Lee, Tower Group, Inc's President & Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Beitz's primary responsibilities will be the production and management of new program opportunities for the company, which will be underwritten by its own insurance company and through other insurance companies for which its managing general agency produces premiums.

TAMPA, Fla.-- SCI, a national leading Professional Employer Organization (PEO), announced today that it has renewed its agreement with top-rated insurance carrier Zurich, North America to provide workers' compensation coverage for its client company employees effective March 1, 2005, through February 28, 2006. "Our renewal with Zurich, once again, reflects the continued strength of SCI as a leading provider of PEO outsourcing services in the marketplace," said J.C. Dominguez, president, SCI. "We continue to improve our performance and refine our processes to exceed customer expectations. Working with the best companies in the market will allow us to extend the best products and services to our clients; Zurich is just one example of that."

PEARL RIVER, NY--ACORD and XBRL examine the need for data standards and their own roles in the overall communications flow in their newly released white paper, "XML Standards and the Insurance Value Chain." The document focuses on the flow of data within the insurance value chain and the importance of data standards to transport the information along the path for financial reporting and regulatory compliance.