Security risk

St. Louis — Wells Fargo Insurance Services Inc., a Chicago-based, bank-owned insurance brokerage, and a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Co., acquired St. Louis-based Insurance Brokers of America (IBA).

IVANS GIVES PROVIDERS HIGH-SPEED CLAIMS PROCESSING

A recent survey of actuaries focused on business intelligence strategies for actuaries coping with new challenges surrounding financial reporting, planning, forecasting and risk management.

Just as carriers are using technology in novel ways to cope with existing regulations, other regs may be waiting around the corner.

Proponents and opponents of a federal charter exchange barbs over its implications for regulation and revenue.

Kansas City , Mo. - The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) this week released a peer review of state producer-licensing laws, practices and processes that identifies areas where the states’ reciprocity and uniformity initiatives need improvement, along with areas where such efforts have been successful.

Washington – Testifying before a hearing of the House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, a representative of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) pushed for the passage of the Homeowners' Defense Act.

Los Angeles — Farmers Insurance Group Inc., announced that Denise Ruggiero has joined Farmers as VP, legislative and regulatory affairs.

London – Instability within the financial markets represent the biggest threat to the global insurance industry, according to a survey conducted last month by Lloyd’s of London. The survey asked 138 Lloyd’s underwriters to answer questions about working in the Lloyd’s environment, including the identification of those emerging risks that will most likely challenge the insurance industry over the coming year.

Brookfield, Wis. — Dallas-based workers’ compensation e-transaction provider P2P Link, a business unit of Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wis., released P2P Direct, a new product specifically tailored to the workers’ compensation medical provider marketplace.

Chicago — In a commitment to client service excellence, Aon Corp. will integrate its worldwide risk and insurance brokerage operations into a single global business, Aon Risk Services, with more than 26,000 colleagues in 120 countries and more than $5 billion in revenues.

Washington, D.C .- The Securities and Exchange Commission furthered its eXtensible business reporting language (XBLR) initiative this week with the launch of its “Financial Explorer” on the SEC Web site.

Though 43% of recently surveyed European insurers expect compliance to cost them less than €5 million, they believe that many of their core risk management capabilities need to be enhanced.

Carriers find their enterprise risk management (ERM) capabilities are no longer a purely internal matter as their organizations come under increased scrutiny by regulators and raters.

Seattle — In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the role of lifestyle-based analytics (LBA) in health insurance underwriting, according to Seattle-based actuarial and consulting firm Milliman Inc. In some instances, proponents of LBA made overly optimistic claims about the use of consumer data as a predictor in the underwriting process. Milliman's Jonathan Shreve, author of the white paper “Lifestyle-based Analytics: A Practical Guide”, examined the appropriate and effective use of LBA as an advance in risk selection and classification.

Kansas City – The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has launched a public database containing the regulatory status of certain insurer-owned securities. The database is intended to assist market participants that advise insurance companies and investment professionals working for insurance companies. The tool shows whether a publicly rated security is subject to regulatory guidance other than as indicated by its credit rating assigned by one or more public rating organizations.

A pair of reports detail what the year ahead has in store for the insurance industry.

Washington – A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) suggests that insurers should make a broader swath of claims data available to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regulators. The suggestion arises in the wake of questions prompted by Hurricane Katrina concerning the responsibility for damages and later allegations that insurers misrepresented wind damage in claims to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in order to limit their financial losses after the storm.

Stamford, Conn. — Towers Perrin is expanding its reinsurance intermediary business to serve the French domestic market.

Kansas City, Mo. — The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) named its 2008 committee chairs and vice chairs.