Security risk

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.

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.

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.

ALPHARETTA, Ga.-- ChoicePoint, a provider of identification and credential verification services, today announced its acquisition of InsurQuote, a leading provider of insurance rating solutions to the property and casualty carrier markets.

University Park, IL--Vista Equity Partners and James P. Kellner have acquired Applied Systems, Inc., the insurance software company born 20 years ago in suburban Chicago as a one-product, home-based business that grew to become the leading provider of automation solutions in the property and casualty insurance industry.

The saying goes: "If you want something done right, do it yourself." And, when it comes to sales and marketing analysis, risk management and financial reporting, insurance analysts, managers and executives are taking matters into their own hands-thanks to software that gives them immediate access to corporate data.Instead of waiting in line for an IT department to generate static (often paper) management reports, more and more insurance companies are employing business intelligence tools to interact directly with the data they need for planning and decision-making.

As insurers in September mobilized their claims efforts following three powerful hurricanes, many insurers came to the realization that risk assessment for hurricanes is under closer scrutiny. Some insurers that conduct business in Florida might be best served reassessing their strategies to reduce their exposure to risk.An actuarial executive for one Florida-based insurance company asserted that the industry needs to have a better grasp of the cyclical nature of hurricanes. The industry must also better understand hurricane frequency over a short period of time, such as the three hurricanes--Charley, Frances and Ivan--that walloped the U.S. mainland in just over one month's time.

As it relates to their online activities, insurance companies are jeopardizing their relationships with customers by failing to protect the privacy of their personal information.That's according to the Customer Respect Group, a Bellevue, Wash.-based research firm that studies how corporations treat customers online.

NEW YORK --Even before the full impact of the recent hurricane activity is known, the majority of the 150 senior insurance executives surveyed are less optimistic about premium growth and the industry's ability to increase margins, according to KPMG LLP.

Newark, Calif.--Responding to increases in the frequency and severity of global terrorist activity in each of the past three years, Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the world's leading provider of products and services for the management of catastrophe risk, today announced the launch of a new suite of tools designed to help insurers and reinsurers manage terrorism risk outside the U.S. The tools include the industry's first Global Terrorism Risk Model, as well as a multi-country expansion of the RMS(R) Terrorism Scenario Model and accumulation management functionality in the company's RiskLink(R) catastrophe management software.

PeopleSoft and IBM will jointly market and deliver integrated, cross-functional industry solutions targeted at solving some of the most difficult business process challenges facing companies today.

ANDOVER, Mass.-- CGI Group Inc. (CGI) announced the release of INSideOUT Version 9. INSideOUT's Version 9 offers significant value to customers by improving productivity and lowering maintenance costs.

NEW YORK, Sept. 20--Total data storage-related industry revenues are expected to increase approximately 5% for full-year 2004, says Standard & Poor's Equity Research in a new, semiannual study of the industry.

BATON ROUGE, La. - While Louisiana's new insurance high-risk pool hasn't had enough time to build up a financial cushion to absorb the potential effects of Hurricane Ivan, other reforms in place should enable insurers to pay ensuing claims.