Chicago - Stating that 50 individual sets of individual insurance regulations results in a lack of transparency and a bottleneck to global trade, Frank Keating, president and CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers, called for an optional federal charter yesterday during his address to the International Insurance Society here.

Chicago - Attendees at the International Insurance Society 42nd Annual Seminar in Chicago identified natural catastrophes--over pandemics, geopolitical instabilities, terrorism and man-made catastrophes--as the biggest threat to the future of the insurance industry.The question was posed to the more-than-100 attendees of the July 19, 2006 CEO Panel V: Catastrophic Risk and Insurability: Can the industry cope? Edward Liddy, chairman and CEO of Northbrook, Ill.-based Allstate USA and Pierre Ozendo, head of Americas Property & Casualty, Swiss Reinsurance America Corp. USA, Armonk, N.Y., spoke to the attendees on the subject.

Washington, D.C. - In the first of in a series of government meetings on modernizing insurance regulation, the focus on whether insurers should be given the option of being federally regulated took center stage this week at a U.S. Senate Committee On Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing on "Insurance Regulation Reform."

Jersey City, N.J. - Catastrophic wildfires cause extensive damage to property and significant disruption to the lives of property owners. In 2005, more than 8.5 million acres burned, nearly twice the 10-year average. This is according to ISO, a provider of products and services that help insurers measure, manage and reduce risk.With more people living closer to brushfire areas, which also happen to be preserves of privacy, the exposure has nearly doubled for insurers between 1970 and 2000.

Washington, D.C. - NASD has introduced a new series of free, on-demand video Webcasts for compliance professionals that's aimed at taking the mystery out of key regulatory processes and making firms' interactions with NASD more productive and efficient.The first installment of the new "What to Expect" series focuses on what firms can expect before, during and after an NASD examination and offers practical tips for making the process go smoothly. While all NASD-registered firms can benefit from viewing this Webcast, "What to Expect: Preparing for an NASD Routine Exam" will be of particular interest to firms on a four-year examination cycle whose examinations are coming up, given significant changes in the regulatory environment in recent years.

Cary, N.C. - Reaping business benefits now matches regulatory compliance as the key driver of enterprise risk management (ERM) systems according to a global survey of 339 financial services executives. These benefits include improved performance management, better risk-based pricing, and reduced capital allocation and credit loss. These are the results of research conducted by SAS, a business intelligence provider.A full 83% of participating financial institutions view ERM as a strategic priority, per the survey. Many are setting up new ERM or "integrated compliance" programs. The survey also found that credit risk management is still the top risk management expenditure priority for most firms. In addition, 78% of respondents view credit risk management as critical and anticipate significant, quantifiable economic rewards over the next 24 months, including a 10% reduction in economic capital and a 14% reduction in cost-of-credit losses.

To many insurance industry executives, compliance means spending gobs of money to avoid having their companies go public with ugly security lapses or pay fines from regulators, or avoid having themselves hauled off to the slammer for misstating information. However, the process of meeting compliance mandates need not be costly-and may actually help increase profits in the long run.For many carriers, there are ways to establish a common base of processes to address multiple mandates, as well as any future requirements. In addition, compliance management can bring new opportunities for gaining better efficiencies and supporting new business growth.

Do drivers who wear turtlenecks get in more accidents than drivers who don't? What if the theory proved true? Although it would be nice to find out whether this level of minutia affects accurate pricing of risk, when it comes to ratings, this question is not one insurers are asking-yet. But insurers are finding unique ways to price risk-from aggressive braking patterns to career choice. Progressive is one such insurer taking steps toward accuracy, and it's using technology to do so. Most recently, Mayfield Village, Ohio-based Progressive Direct Insurance Co. launched an odometer-reporting, Web-based pilot program in Iowa and Virginia. And, in the summer of 2004, the carrier began piloting a usage-based program in Minnesota called TripSense.Using a device called a TripSensor, which plugs into the ODBII port in newer vehicles, Progressive is collecting driver data in the hopes of creating a win-win for its underwriters and its policyholders.

AGENCY WEB PORTALNew York-based P&C Insurance Systems Inc. introduced a Web portal that allows direct Web-based upload of ACORD data from agency management software. The portal leverages the architecture of the PCIS management system to provide Web-based multi-line rating, real-time agency access to quote documents, and up-to-date agency production reports.

DESPITE DEADLINE, MANY FIRMS LACK AML PROGRAM

Alpharetta, Ga. - ChoicePoint (NYSE:CPS) is acquiring the assets of Memphis, Tenn.-based USCerts, which provides technology and data management services to facilitate the remote ordering of certified birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.USCerts combines technology with user-friendly interfaces to provide a secure, remote vital records ordering system. The company also provides a network for processing vital record requests by telephone, facsimile or the World Wide Web.

Houston - Scalable Software LLC, an IT compliance and asset management solutions has launched IT Compliance Magazine, a magazine dedicated to the topic of IT compliance across all vertical industries and the public sector. IT Compliance Magazine is designed to showcase best practices and insights on revised, new and emerging regulations and standards that impact IT compliance, including:* Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)

Kansas City, Mo., - Health insurance--critical to the peace of mind of most Americans--has become increasingly complex and expensive, according to The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). A maze of options and cost considerations--from health maintenance organizations to health savings accounts--now confront consumers.To help individuals clear up the confusion and gain a better understanding of the costs of their coverage, the NAIC has assembled useful information about health insurance--all organized by life stage needs--on its new consumer education Web site called Insure U at http://www.insureuonline.org/.

Hartford, Conn. - Travelers now offers new resources to assist businesses with disaster preparedness planning. Two new online tools and a new Safety Academy class, titled "Business Continuity Planning," have been added to help Travelers customers create customized disaster recovery plans that will ensure optimum business continuity in the event of exposures from natural or manmade disasters.Bob Brody, senior vice president, Travelers Risk Control, says, "Emergency planning should be at the top of every "To Do" list for today's businesses. With more than a century of experience in risk control, Travelers is uniquely positioned to help its customers anticipate and respond to a wide spectrum of exposures from catastrophic risks faced by businesses and homeowners."

Kansas City, Mo. - The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) voted to amend its Model Regulation Requiring Annual Audited Financial Reports, commonly known as the Model Audit Rule. The amendments relate to auditor independence, corporate governance, and internal control over financial reporting.

Boston-- AIR Worldwide President and CEO Karen Clark will advise members of Congress and their senior staff today that hurricanes and earthquakes have the potential to cause insured losses in excess of $150 billion and total economic losses approaching $500 billion. Clark is participating in a seminar at the U.S. Capitol Building hosted by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) titled "Insuring and Mitigating Risks of Large-Scale Disasters: Is Federal Disaster Insurance Needed?""There are many potential natural catastrophe scenarios resulting in insured property losses exceeding $100 billion," says Clark. "Examples include a Category 5 hurricane making landfall in Miami, which could result in insured losses of more than $130 billion, and a large magnitude earthquake in the Central U.S., which could result in insured losses of more than $150 billion."

Okemos, Mich. - Minnesota Department of Commerce has implemented Sircon for States, a Web-based solution from Sircon Corp., making Minnesota the 14th state to adopt the online compliance technology for producer licensing and appointment.The conversion from a legacy system to a hosted solution is aimed at increasing the online services Minnesota provides to insurance carriers, agencies and producers across the country, enabling customers to connect with the Minnesota Department of Commerce 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Tampa, Fla. - Ninety-five percent of companies had inaccurate information on the number and configuration of their IT assets, according to study of IT asset management (ITAM) programs conducted by TekMethods LLC, a provider of IT asset management (ITAM) consulting services and solutions. The research findings also showed that for many enterprises that do have inventories of technology assets, the data is out of date, resulting in inaccurate financial and tax statements.In order for a company to be in full compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley, corporate executives need to be fully aware of all the technology assets owned by the enterprise and must certify financial reports. The potential risks of non-compliance include costly fines, jail sentences and damages to a company's financial health and reputation.

Chanhassen, Minn. - Only 22% of companies have implemented a storage security solution, while nearly 67% believe their companies were either somewhat or extremely vulnerable to data security breaches. These are the findings of a recent survey conducted by Datalink, an independent information storage architecture firm.Regarding host security, 61% felt that their companies were either somewhat or extremely vulnerable. Whereas, 58% of respondents worried that their company's network was not as secure as it could be.

From call centers to data centers, the insurance industry continues to turn to outsourcing in an effort to manage costs and secure access to resources. Information technology assets have become vital to ongoing operations and new growth, making these outsourcing relationships more than technology arrangements-they are now critical to business success. Combined with new regulatory mandates, this trend may be forcing carriers to push deeper and engage more proactively with outsourcing vendors.IT industry analyst firm Gartner Inc., Stamford, Conn., calculates that outsourcing will capture up to 33% of all IT services spending across industries by 2008-up from 26% in 2003. The analyst firm also predicts the insurance sector will be spending more than $10 billion on outsourced services by that time.