Newark, Calif. - Increases to hurricane landfall frequencies in the U.S. hurricane model from Risk Management Solutions (RMS) will increase modeled annualized insurance losses by 40% on average across the Gulf Coast, Florida and the Southeast, according to RMS. And modeled annualized insurance losses in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast coastal regions will increase by 25% to 30%, relative to those derived using long-term 1900-2005 historical average hurricane frequencies.This new view of risk is driven by an increase of more than 30% in the modeled frequency of major (Saffir-Simpson Category 3-5) hurricanes making landfall in the U.S. to account for current elevated levels of hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin, which are expected to persist for at least the next five years. When compared with a pre-2004 historical baseline, as has been previously employed for quantifying insurance risk, the increases in modeled annualized losses are closer to 50% in the Gulf, Florida, and the Southeast.

Warren, N.J. - Property/casualty insurance and risk management increasingly play a role in financial planning, according to a survey by the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.Fifty-seven percent of the 102 financial planners surveyed indicated that they evaluate their clients' asset protection through property/casualty insurance. An even higher number, 72%, said they determine if their clients have an appropriate level of liability insurance.

Chicago - Aon Re Inc. has studied the results of companies that have implemented more sophisticated customer segmentation strategies over the past few years. The results of the study show that while the overall returns for the personal lines property industry still lag the cost of capital, "we are starting to see differentiating results between insurers," says Randall Brubaker, Aon Re Services senior vice president. "This differentiation has been somewhat masked by the increased frequency of hurricanes during the past two years but the underlying progress is evident."According to Brubaker, "It is clear that the core disciplines and customer segmentation tactics that are commonly utilized with personal lines automobile have improved the financial results of the non-catastrophe personal lines property business. The next phase of improvements in personal lines property will include substantial improvements to the disciplines and tactics associated with customer level segmentation on catastrophe risk. The current more active hurricane period has only accelerated the need to implement more sophisticated catastrophe-based customer level segmentation strategies."

New York - At more than $40 billion in insured losses, Hurricane Katrina is the costliest hurricane on record. Insurers have tallied most of the property damage and business interruption losses, but Katrina's financial effects will continue to be felt for a very long time.Floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina bathed New Orleans and surrounding areas in a "toxic soup" of infectious organisms and hazardous chemicals. Ruptured oil tanks and pipelines covered portions of the area and nearby waters with an estimated 8 million gallons of oil. A resulting large number of environmental-related lawsuits have been filed, potentially exposing the insurance industry to billions of dollars in addition losses.

Nashville, Tenn. - Obesity as a major cause of death in the U.S. may still be in dispute, but one thing is certain: It costs American employers millions of dollars each year in higher employee health costs.In the wake of recent studies disputing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's earlier finding that obesity causes 400,000 deaths a year, a new study published in the March Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine finds obesity is responsible for 2.1% of all diagnosed medical claims dollars for men and 2.8% for women. Of ten lifestyle health risks considered, obesity was by far the most costly--accounting for approximately 14% of lifestyle-related health costs for men and 25% for women.

Armonk, N.Y. - IBM has signed an agreement to acquire Language Analysis Systems Inc. (LAS), a privately held company based in Herndon, Va., that develops multicultural name recognition technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.This acquisition furthers IBM's companywide initiative aimed at helping clients address emerging business challenges and better compete in the global economy through access to accurate, reliable and trustworthy information.

Arlington, Va. - The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), ERM Institute International Ltd (ERM-II), and the CAS/SOA Risk Management Section are jointly launching a major research project titled, "ERM Analysis of Property-Casualty Insurance Companies.""We are going to establish a new theoretical foundation for enterprise risk management, with practical guidance for ERM implementation," says Dr. Shaun Wang, executive director of ERM Institute International, and lead researcher for the project.

Chicago - Most of the insurance industry's discussion post-Hurricane Katrina has focused on the significant rating agency model changes and the compounding effect of catastrophe model changes. But a new study by Aon Re Global tells the investor side of the story."Investors clearly understand the differences between insurers and reinsurers and have set differing tolerances for each," says Stephen Mildenhall, Aon Re Services executive vice president and author of the study. "Our study confirms that investors expect higher earnings and capital volatility from reinsurers than they expect from insurers."

Boston - The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) voted unanimously at its quarterly meeting in Orlando, Fla. to establish a task force to examine the impact of climate change on the U.S. insurance industry and on insurance consumers.The task force will look at how a warming climate may affect the availability and affordability of insurance for consumers and the financial health of insurance companies. The task force will also consider actions necessary to enable state regulators and insurers to mitigate and otherwise respond to these problems.

Mountain View, Calif. - Close to 40% of the financial services and banking industry sector suffered the most Trojan attacks, outranking peer industries as the most exposed to probes and enumeration attempts.This is one of the findings of joint research conducted by Counterpane Internet Security Inc., a provider of networked information protection, and MessageLabs, a provider of messaging security and management services.

Armonk, N.Y. - The IBM Chief Finance Officers Study of 900 senior finance executives worldwide reveals only 14% of insurance respondents rate themselves highly effective in supporting the CEOs efforts to grow the company.The study, developed in co-operation with The Economist Intelligence Unit, finds that at a huge cost to the future competitiveness of companies, almost 50% of executives report finance staff are tied up in transactional activities such as processing accounts and tax transactions, with only a quarter of staff focused on decision support--performance and growth focused activities. Furthermore, respondents state 64% of Insurance finance organizations do not have robust processes and activities in place to support growth.

Washington - The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA), a Washington, D.C.-based national association that represents member insurance agents and their employees who sell and service all kinds of insurance, but specialize in coverage of automobiles, homes and businesses, has reaffirmed its opposition to any proposals that call for a so-called "optional" federal charter for insurers.

Brookfield, Wis. - Fiserv Inc. has acquired certain assets of CT Insurance Services and CCH Wall Street, two product lines of Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. The acquisitions, which include Xchange, Securities Registration and Producer Licensing software from CT Insurance Services and the Financial Training product line from CCH Wall Street, will add online application capabilities for insurance licensing and securities registration, along with NASD exam preparation courses to Fiserv's suite of products. Terms of the asset purchase were not disclosed.CT Insurance Services is a provider of enterprisewide systems for insurance licensing and securities registration. The Web-based systems from CT Insurance Services capture data at the origination point, enabling the filer to prepare and submit licensing and registration filings electronically. The Financial Training solutions from CCH Wall Street provide NASD Exam Preparation, including an interactive virtual learning environment, and innovative in-person and self-study solutions.

Today, various high-tech systems, such as GPS and online map services, help people navigate the physical world, taking the guesswork out of the task of getting from point A to point B.People can now go online, type in some address criteria and a map is generated instantly, detailing critical intersections, which way to go and when to turn. What the claims world needs is an analogous system-one that helps the claims adjuster navigate the complex terrain of business and regulatory requirements.

Rapid growth. It's a "problem" most companies would welcome. Yet, along with accelerated growth comes a bevy of new challenges. At Geico and its affiliated companies, for example, when written premiums grew from $4.1 billion in 1998 to $4.9 billion in 1999, the company had to process twice as many agent licenses with state insurance departments-just to keep enough agents on the phones selling auto policies."In one year, we jumped from about 27,000 active licenses and 48,000 appointments to 55,000 licenses and 115,000 appointments," says Dan Corridon, director of licensing administration at Government Employees Insurance Co. (Geico), the Chevy Chase, Md.-based direct insurer. "We needed a system that was going to do more for us than what we were using."

Shortly after I returned from IsoTech last November, I received one of those forwarded "chain" e-mails. Unlike most chain e-mails I receive, I actually read this one, and, surprisingly, it pertained to a controversial topic that came up at ISOTech during the roundtable session, titled "The Next 'Killer Technology' in Insurance."Panelist Kevin Kelly, managing director, U.S. insurance industry, Microsoft Corp., said he thought sensing technologies were the next killer technology, and he described how radio frequency identification devices could be attached to people or assets to enable the industry to obtain a plethora of information about who or what it's insuring. "There's a privacy element," he admitted. "But people will give up some privacy for convenience."

Cleveland - Axentis, a provider of governance, risk and compliance (GRC) management solutions that is included in a Gartner research report titled, "Adoption of Software-as-a-Service Is Happening Outside of CRM," has made the report available on its Web site at www.axentis.com.The resport analyzes the emergence of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model and its widespread adoption in new industries including compliance management, which Gartner states is currently the second largest market for SaaS solutions.

Kansas City, Mo. - While increased frequency of hurricanes is nothing new in historical terms, the enormous growth in coastal population and development is dramatically increasing the potential for insured losses, according to a new paper from GE Insurance Solutions."Demographic trends in Florida and other coastal locations as well as the likelihood of increased frequency and severity of storms should remind the (insurance) industry of the growing exposures it will continue to face. The cost of hurricanes will rise--sooner or later surpassing even those of Hurricane Katrina," says the paper titled "Coastal Warning: The Rising Costs of Hurricane Frequency and Severity."

Okemos, Mich. - The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) and Sircon Corp. have been working to establish a relationship that would provide additional benefits to PIA members. The result is a partnership that provides online services delivered by Sircon's Compliance Express platform at a special rate for PIA members.With PIA joining the Sircon Partner Referral Program, PIA members can now go to a special co-branded Web site designed specifically for PIA, and take advantage a PIA member discount for online services such as:

Skokie, Ill. - A survey of more than 100 senior IT and data security professionals at Fortune 1,000 and other major companies across the United States found that 28% percent had little or no confidence that they had detected all significant security breaches in the past year. In addition, 26% rated their current IT environment as more vulnerable than it had been a year before. The survey was released by Forsythe Solutions Group.Respondents cited regulatory pressure as the major catalyst for updating their technology, processes and staff. Legislative guidelines and industry standards demand increased control of and additional funding for security programs. Those experiencing increased vulnerability overwhelmingly attributed this to organizational change, such as mergers or acquisitions, the implementation of new applications or outsourcing.