Claims

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.

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.

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.

When you're running an insurance company with a business model based on Internet distribution, you need to develop a top-notch Web site. That was management's goal when online insurer Esurance Inc. was launched in 2001 at the height of the dot-com bubble, and that's still the company's intention today.Esurance has implemented two new Web technologies over the past year to keep its Web site running smoothly and enable customers to effortlessly contact a service representative when they encounter a problem.

NEW YORK, NY--The Tillinghast business of Towers Perrin today announced that the EPIC Consulting staff has joined its property/casualty insurance practice. Consulting actuaries Michael Miller, Klayton Southwood, Richard Smith and Kenneth Leonard are among the new hires.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--Workscape, Inc., a proven provider of outsourced benefits and workforce management solutions, today announced the introduction of its new nationwide partner program. Known as the Workscape Broker Alliance Program, it is available to insurance brokers and consultants that service employers with greater than 2,500 benefits-eligible employees and wish to supplement their offering with Workscape's benefits administration solution, OneForce/Benefits.

HARTFORD, Conn.-- MassMutual Financial Group today introduced Web-based enrollment for its Strategic Edge group universal and group variable universal life insurance products, making participant enrollment fast, easy and accurate.

WARREN, N.J.--The Chubb Corporation today reported that net income in the third quarter of 2004 was $364.0 million or $1.88 per share, compared to $259.8 million ($1.37 per share) in the third quarter of 2003.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- In response to the growing need for affordable health benefit plans for small and mid-size employers, Humana Inc. today launched SmartExpress, a family of health insurance plans designed for businesses with 2 to 299 employees that want to better control and predict health care costs while giving their employees expanded benefits and a better health plan experience.

Newark, Calif.-- Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the world's leading provider of products and services for the management of catastrophe risk, is now offering software developer tools for its RiskLink and RiskBrowser systems. The RiskTools software development kit allows companies to efficiently integrate key components of RMS products into their internal underwriting and portfolio management systems, allowing users to access RMS decision support tools via internal system interfaces.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Jefferson Pilot Financial, one of the nation's leading providers of universal and variable universal life insurance and fixed annuities, recently expanded its continuing education program for insurance agents with five new courses of study.

LONDON and PRINCETON--Aon Re International has today announced that it has licensed the Pivot Point insurance transaction system from CATEX Inc. Pivot Point is a web-based system handling the full reinsurance process from business production and quoting through to IBA ledger.

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) announced today that the Web site of its Technology Evaluation Center has been awarded Health Web Site Accreditation from URAC, a Washington, DC-based healthcare accrediting organization that establishes quality standards for the healthcare industry. The accreditation applies to the Technology Evaluation Center Web site at bcbs.com/tec

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued insurance giants Marsh & McLennan, American International Group and several others Thursday, alleging policy brokers have been taking payoffs from insurance companies to steer corporate clients their way rather than get the best prices, as they are required.

PEARL RIVER, NY--ACORD, the global leader in standards for the insurance and financial services industries, is launching an advocacy campaign that features original print and web advertising that takes a humorous look at a world without standards.

BOSTON, Oct. 14--OneBeacon Insurance, a wholly owned subsidiary of White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd., today announced that Matt Mueller has joined the company to lead its high-tech commercial insurance business.

DALLAS--Docucorp International, a leading provider of enterprise information solutions, announced today the introduction of QuickConnect, a process designed to upgrade the company's longtime Documerge customers to its rules-driven, real-time publishing solution.

SEATTLE--Safeco announced today that its aggregate pretax catastrophe losses for the third quarter are estimated at $195 million. The estimated effect on third-quarter net income is $127 million after tax, or $0.96 per diluted share. Safeco expects its total catastrophe losses to increase the company's third-quarter combined ratio by 13.9 percentage points and that, as a result, its third-quarter combined ratio will be 101.6 percent.

PEARL RIVER, NY--ACORD released a new Strategic Briefing, Impact of Technology and Data in Rating A Company's Financial Strength, that provides insight into the process used by one of the industry's leading ratings agencies when evaluating the technological capabilities of an insurer, reinsurer, or intermediary.

New Haven, CT--Metaserver, Inc., a leading provider of business process integration (BPI) solutions for the insurance industry, today announced the release of iConnect 2.0 for P&C, the latest version of its agency interface solution for Property and Casualty carriers.