Practice management

As also seen in the United States, technology isn’t the only deciding factor for UK brokers placing business, according to a new survey.

Directors' and officers' liability insurance (D&O), along with errors and omissions (E&O) coverage and fiduciary liability, constitute property and casualty (P&C) insurers' most direct underwriting exposure to the financial crisis, says Moody's Investors Service.

ISO and Atmospheric and Environmental Research team to deliver instant online weather forensic data through ISO ClaimSearch.

Recent study notes low customer satisfaction among corporate risk managers as carriers and brokers retrench to improve their own bottom lines.

Commercial property & casualty business is suffering from excess capacity in the hunt for market share, resulting in another quarter of declining renewal pricing, according to The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers’ second quarter Commercial P/C Market Index Survey. On average, renewal rates dropped by about 6% in the second quarter, compared with a 5% decrease in the first quarter of 2010, notes CIAB.

Giving customers what they want seems like a no-brainer, but where do we draw the line between service and servitude?

Ascinsure Specialty Risk to offer insurance solutions for crane owners and operators, scaffolding, rental equipment and party goods dealers and all types of inland marine markets.

Insurers may want to note that as the use of mobile banking increases, many consumers still prefer traditional channels for more-complex transactions.

Imagine the benefit of agents logging in and accessing application processing or customer verification services, or internal departments helping with claims processing or adjusters in the field.

To reach consumers, the confectioner, like many insurers lately, is eschewing traditional e-mail marketing in favor of social media.

A survey shows that 3% of firms were “customer-centric organizations,” while 33% of firms were “customer-oblivious organizations.”

The Department of Health and Human Services says it wants "well-intentioned providers to become meaningful users of electronic health records."

Allegient Systems’ Expense and Reporting Management Suite will provide Southern Pioneer with legal bill review and performance management services.

Agents responding to a survey say their customer service reps save several hours daily by using electronic, real-time carrier sites/portals, but there’s still room for improvement.

The platform should help Dearborn National eliminate the cost of keeping up with changes to desktop word processing tools.

FAB Billing is designed to enable better service for insureds and agents.

Personal lines property/casualty carriers received confirmation yesterday of a business strategy that works: Claimants of insurance companies that provide highly satisfying property claims experiences are considerably more likely to renew with their insurer and recommend their insurer to others, according to the J.D. Power and Associates’ (http://businesscenter.jdpower.com/) 2010 U.S. Home Claims Satisfaction Study released yesterday.

Experts contend there's a market for mobile transactions, which aren't limited to mobile-related purchases, but anything consumers might pay for over the Internet or in person, including insurance.

National Western Life Insurance, an Austin, Texas-based provider of individual universal life, whole life and term insurance plans, annuity products, and investment contracts, launched the iGO e-App for its life and annuity products on a global scale. The technology deal between National Western Life and iPipeline, an Exton, Pa.-based provider of on-demand software, makes it possible for iGo users to take advantage of intelligent fillable forms designed to simplify and accelerate the marketing, selling and processing of insurance applications.

Unusual circumstances, geographies and risk concentrations contributed to higher-than-normal natural catastrophe losses, notes German reinsurer Munich Re, which points to the first half of 2010 as being marked by an exceptionally large number of natural catastrophes and the scale of the losses they caused.