Digital distribution

The individual annuity market continues to be hyper-competitive, with technology playing an ever-larger role in insurers’ ability to attract, retain, and profitably serve clients, according to a new market trends report from Novarica, titled “Business and Technology Trends: Individual Annuity.”

Insurer is approved to provide health care coverage to eligible small businesses in all 58 counties in the state.

Insurance aggregation platform looks to Informatica Cloud to accelerate process automation.

Employee benefits mobile platform upgraded to accept vision claims, provide ID card through app.

The shift to digital means carriers must focus on sales and service portals, agency management and compensation systems.

The new version, ForeSight 6.0, is designed to have improved tablet functionality and added customization.

Among life/annuity insurers, distribution is an area increasingly attractive for analytics investments. More than half of life/annuity insurers surveyed by Strategy Meets Action say they're currently investing in analytics technology to supplement distribution.

The shift to digital means carriers must focus on sales and service portals, agency management and compensation systems.

Online distribution isn't just for personal auto anymore. Insurers are now expanding electronic application functionality to small commercial, life and annuity and beyond, leveraging business rules and third-party data to satisfy consumers and agents, expand their reach and shrink sales cycles.

While small employers are scaling back benefits this year—a potential hedge against higher costs expected under the U.S. health care law—WellPoint plans to spend $150 million preparing to sell on the exchanges.

Motivated by health care reform and the advent of exchanges, the mutual life insurer will offer dental, vision, life, disability and accident products on the Bright Choices Exchange.

Social media and mobile computing serve as a backdrop for several of Deloitte’s insurance tech trends and opportunities for 2013.

Insurer looks to ForgeRock’s architecture to provide the power, economics and agility required to establish secure access controls for mission-critical applications at scale across any population.

To expand its product offerings, distribution and geographic presence, Nevada General Insurance, a midsize P&C insurer, replaced its Web portal for policy quoting, issuance and endorsements with a packaged solution and integrated it with the policy administration system, enabling agent and direct-to-consumer sales.

Aetna, Empire BlueCross BlueShield and 15 other insurers set to participate in New York’s Health Benefits Exchange.

Insurer looks for improved time-to-market capabilities with new policy rating platform.

Clients and brokers are being provided with access to ACE's platform for electronic delivery of policies.

Erie Family Life Insurance set out to streamline the life insurance sales process and make it more intuitive to the independent agents who are used to selling the parent company’s personal lines P&C products.

Scott Schuetz brings senior-level experience from Aviva Life & Annuity, Wells Fargo and Citigroup.

Despite catastrophe losses of $20 billion in the first half of this year, reinsurance market rates on line (ROLs) continue to be driven by an influx of capital from third-party investors at the July 1 renewals, according to a report from Guy Carpenter & Co. LLC, a global risk and reinsurance specialist.