Digital distribution

Life Settlement Insights has launched what the company claims is the life insurance settlement industry's first online exchange. Called LifeX (www.life-x.com) institutional buyers will be able to electronically submit bids for an individual's unneeded life insurance policy in an open-forward auction format.

McCamish Systems L.L.C., an Atlanta-based BPO service provider to the life and annuity market, is now offering a broad range of agent management services on a business process outsourcing model (BPO). Previously, the company offered this service only to its life insurance and annuity policy administration clients, but it now offers these same services on a standalone basis.

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Nationwide Insurance and Washington D.C.-based ID Theft Assist are joining forces to offer ground-breaking identity theft protection and recovery service that surpasses IDtheft policies currently on the market.

MISSOULA, Mont.--RemoteScan Corporation, the makers of network connectivity software for document scanners and digital cameras, today announced the release of RemoteScan for Insurance Agents.

SIMSBURY, Conn. - The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., for the third consecutive year, is the No. 1 seller of variable life insurance, posting a year-over-year sales increase of more than 28 percent in 2004.

WINDSOR, Conn.--The head of LIMRA International, a financial services research and consulting association, is urging the life insurance industry to help American households bridge the wide gap between the amount of life insurance they own and the amount they believe they need for adequate family financial protection.

Internet security is a major concern for independent agents, with 80% saying they're most worried about viruses and worms, and 42% saying it's their second-biggest worry. That's according to a new survey released by IVANS Inc., Old Greenwich, Conn.

Novato, Calif.--Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. will provide identity theft restoration services nationally, offering customers access to a personal counselor who can help identify-theft victims with the legal and logistical burden of putting their lives back together.These services represent one of the first major programs by an insurer to deliver these services as part of an insurance policy. The enhancement comes at no additional cost, and with no deductible, to Fireman's Fund policyholders who have Prestige Home Premier with Added Measure coverage. This service became available effective March 30.

Insurance carriers have been hearing an incessant mantra from independent agents for years now: "Make it easy for us to do business with you." In fact, surveys consistently reveal that, when placing business, aside from price and product features, agents are most influenced by accurate, fast quote turnaround and ease of doing business with carriers through automation.One way carriers can make it easy for agents to do business with them is by building real-time interfaces to various agency management systems. Using XML, carriers and agencies can transfer data back and forth, eliminating re-keying of policy, billing, claims and other information.

As independent agents identify the best ways to download files from carriers, a controversy is brewing that pits the established value-added agency download technology against emerging alternatives.Over the past couple years, many property/casualty insurers have used download technology developed jointly by Old Greenwich, Conn.-based IVANS Inc. and Applied Systems, a University Park, Ill.-based agency management system vendor.

The Internet sometimes is referred to as the "wild, wild West"--a moniker earned by the manner in which the Web represents an open, loosely policed territory where traditional rules and procedures don't apply.In recent years, it became abundantly clear to executives at Penn National Insurance Co. that this relatively new frontier needed some taming-through a higher level of governance and accountability.

Insurers' growth strategies largely are based on their ability to sell more policies; competitive pricing, quicker time to market, effective marketing and new product development are common tactics to achieve that goal.For carriers like Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. that rely on a network of independent agencies, there's the added dimension of improving agent loyalty: Agents are known to steer their business to insurers that are easiest to work with. That's why the Novato, Calif.-based carrier in 2004 implemented a multi-year plan, dubbed Enterprise Partner Integration Program, which is the centerpiece of Fireman's desire to align its IT infrastructure to support more than 3,000 agents working at 59 offices in 26 states.

CHICAGO--Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) Consumer Markets Division, as part of its ongoing effort to meet the growing demands of consumer-directed health care, announced today that it is offering two new Health Savings Account (HSA) compatible health plans: the BlueEdge Individual HSA and the BlueEdge Individual HSA 5000.

WESTBORO, Mass.---Ascential Software Corporation, an enterprise data integration provider, today announced that CNP Assurances, the leading personal insurance company in France, has standardized on Ascential DataStage, a core component of Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite, to reduce infrastructure costs, optimize the company's IT system, and achieve a single view of customer portfolios in real time.

WAUSAU, Wis--Midsized companies now have better access to expanded umbrella capacity since Wausau Insurance is more than doubling its in-house individual account coverage limits up to $25 million --the amount typically sought for such programs.

ORANGE, Calif.-- CalSurance, a national insurance sales, service and support organization comprising many diverse and specialized programs, today announced that it has enhanced its specialized errors and omissions program for broker-dealers with 75 or fewer registered representatives. Recently CalSurance and Quanta Specialty Lines Insurance Company teamed up to offer this program.The program enhancement now provides each broker-dealer with its own policy limits without sharing a master policy aggregate with other broker-dealers in the program.

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.