Data and information management

PORTSMOUTH, NH--Bottomline Technologies today announced the expansion of the company's financial Business Process Management (fBPM) solutions. These fBPM solutions are designed to streamline paper-driven order-to-cash and purchase-to pay processes -- enabling organizations to more effectively manage their financial assets and trading partner relationships.

Newark, Calif.--Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the world's leading provider of products and services for the management of catastrophe risk, today announced that it provided the risk analysis for a securitization of U.S. hurricane and earthquake risk by The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.

Seattle--Safeco announced it is once again expanding the product breadth available on its single-platform online sales center Safeco Now. In a breakthrough move for small-business insurance sales, the company has introduced functionality allowing independent distributors to quote and issue commercial multi-peril (CMP) policies in as little as five minutes.

One problem facing insurers who write commercial automobile coverage is that in states with mandatory auto liability reporting, also known as ALIR, carriers must report policy changes and cancellations electronically to state Dept. of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Rating agency Standard & Poor's Corp. has identified four insurers that it believes distorted their financial statements by using "financial risk reinsurance." In a report released Nov. 16, S&P claims that the financial results of Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co., Argonaut Group Inc., CNA Financial Corp. and Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. were "materially distorted in an accounting context that contrasts with Standard & Poor's perception of the true economics of the transactions."

Camilion Solutions, a Toronto-based provider of product management and underwriting solutions for the insurance industry, announced Nov. 15 a "Preferred Partnership" with ISO Rating Service. The partnership will enable Camilion to provide automated ISO-validated rating, forms and statistical information to property and casualty insurers, through Camilion Underwriter.

Exstream Software Inc., Lexington, Ky., announced today an agreement with Kanematsu Electronics Ltd. (KEL) in Tokyo to market the company's products in Japan. Under the terms of the agreement, KEL will offer Dialogue, WebVerse, AFP Studio and future Exstream products as part of its solution set for managing document information infrastructures. Exstream chose Kanematsu for its strong customer relationships in the Japanese market, specifically in the mail order, insurance, security, credit card and utility industries, the company stated.

Websense Inc., a San Diego-based provider of employee internet management solutions, today announced that Penn National Insurance, Harrisburg, Pa., is utilizing Websense Enterprise to comply with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act by safeguarding confidential consumer financial data from new web-based attacks. Founded in 1919, Penn National Insurance offers property-casualty insurance through 750 independent agencies.

DARIEN, Ill.--Quotesmith.com Inc., a provider of insurance quotes from over 200 leading companies, has received a subpoena requesting documents and seeking information from the State of Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Insurance. Quotesmith.com intends to cooperate fully with the Illinois Division of Insurance.

New York, NY--MetLife announced that it's online employee benefits management portal, MetLink, received the 2004 E-Fusion award for Customer Service and Benefits Management. This prominent industry award, presented at the AM Best Insurance and Technology Conference, is awarded to insurance companies and their affiliates for outstanding, resourceful uses of technology in the insurance industry.

FALLS CHURCH, Va.--The Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 and the Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA) have launched the ASC X12 Implementation Guide Request for Interpretation Web site.

The incentive of insurers to explore online learning, beside the low travel costs and reduction of lost agent and employee productivity, is the fact that carriers can turn around training relatively quickly. This is essential with so many new products, regulatory compliance requirements and other liability issues nipping at their heels.

BOSTON--According to an analysis conducted by AIR Worldwide (AIR), a leading risk modeling company, the 2004 hurricane season should not be considered rare. The analysis, based on the AIR hurricane model, revealed that insurers should expect to see four hurricanes make landfall in the U.S. approximately once every 12 years. The expected frequency of four loss producing hurricanes in Florida is about once every 150 years--still within the range to which most insurance companies manage their catastrophe risk.

PORTLAND, Ore.-- Standard Insurance Company, a subsidiary of StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., today announced the release of The Standard Select(SM) suite of insurance products, which feature enhancements to the company's Group Life, Long Term Disability (LTD) and Short Term Disability (STD) insurance options for small businesses.

Troy, NY--A survey of more than 130 insurance industry executives and IT managers, conducted by MapInfo Corp., shows increasing adoption of Web services and integration technology.

Nothing tests the resolve of an insurance company's claims processing division more dramatically than a natural catastrophe.Typically, one natural disaster is enough to test the capabilities of the most competent claims units, but when four hurricanes struck the Southeast during a six-week period between August 13 and late September, it proved to be an unprecedented succession of disasters, insurers concur.

Y2K brought the issue of IT assets to the executive table. To prevent the collapse of their operations when the clocks struck midnight on December 31, 1999, companies worked furiously to find out what computer hardware and software they were using, whether or not their systems were Y2K-compliant, and if they weren't, how to fix them.Five years later, companies are still struggling to get their arms around their infrastructures. Now, the Internet is ubiquitous and real-time system availability is expected. Multi-tired platforms with highly distributed IT assets are the norm-especially in larger companies. And, regulations-such as SOX, HIPAA, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley-are forcing executives to take personal responsibility for financial statements and customer privacy-information housed in their IT systems.

Although lending institutions have been using credit scores since the 1990s, most consumers still don't know what their credit score measures, what good and bad scores are, or how their scores can be improved.What's more, most consumers (81%) know that mortgage lenders use credit scores, but fewer (47%) know that insurers use them when underwriting homeowners policies.

Reducing costs and stimulating corporate growth can be a tough proposition for insurance companies. Often, reducing costs only serves to inhibit growth as a reduction in spending undermines targeted growth areas.A new study released by three insurance industry technology providers delves into the challenge life and annuity insurers are facing as they strive to remove costs from the equation while ensuring corporate prosperity, as defined by profitability.

Insurance companies that have learned to use technology to become information users rather than information gatherers have a decisive competitive advantage over their peers. But few insurance companies have "turned that corner."This is the assessment of John Bareiss, senior director at Fitch Ratings, New York. Fitch and Pearl River, N.Y.-based ACORD recently released a strategic briefing to provide insight into how the rating agency evaluates the technological capabilities of insurance companies, reinsurers and intermediaries.