Security risk

WESTWOOD, MA.--North American life insurance application activity declined 4.6% in November year-over-year according to the MIB Life IndexSM, marking 2003's ninth month of decline. Application activity in the U.S. and Canada decreased 3.6% and 11% respectively when compared to November 2002 levels. Year-to-date (YTD) results reflect continued downward pressure on life insurance applications with U.S. activity declining 4.9% YTD and Canadian activity declining 1.8% YTD versus the same period, prior year.

Bolivar, MO--Duck Creek Technologies, Inc., a provider of product management software and services to the insurance industry, today announced that California-based, Mercury Insurance Group has selected Duck Creek Technologies' Example Author(TM) and Example Server(TM) as the rating solution for Mercury's Next Generation systems. In addition to offering the scalability required to support Mercury's growing business, the Duck Creek solution provides integration with the new Web-based systems.

Penn-America Group, Inc., which includes the nationally recognized insurance operations of Penn-America Insurance Company and Penn-Star Insurance Company, has selected the TyMetrix' electronic invoicing solution across its claims services group.

New Haven, CT--Metaserver, Inc., a leading provider of business process integration (BPI) solutions for the insurance industry, today announced the release of Metaserver 4.6. The new release builds on Metaserver's rapid, business-focused approach to integration projects and includes several features designed to make it easier for insurance companies to transform data from agencies and service providers into the format required by underwriting, policy administration, and other insurance systems. Metaserver 4.6 also offers a number of enhancements that give organizations increased flexibility for incorporating business rules into the automated processes that orchestrate the interaction of multiple systems.

LA QUINTA, Calif.---Gallaudet Technologies announced the release of Version 2 of their "Do Not Call" software introduced in October. This upgrade adds several new features making compliance with the new Federal Trade Commission laws easy for anyone who may have to call potential customers. The program, that has a free, 7-day trial period, is available for download from the www.DNCLookup.com website. After the 7-day free trial, the one-time registration fee is just $29.95.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn - UnumProvident Corporation announced today that its insurance subsidiary in the United Kingdom, Unum Limited, has reached a new arrangement with the Swiss

HARTFORD, Conn.--Three years of rising property- casualty rates have finally had a favorable impact on loss reserves, substantially reducing estimated deficiency, according to the latest annual study on the subject by Conning Research & Consulting.

HARTFORD, Conn.--Insurity Inc., a ChoicePoint company, today announced that Insurance Company of the West (ICW), a business unit of The ICW Group, has selected Insurity's Commercial Intellisys property/casualty policy processing services to support its nationwide commercial P&C business. ICW's primary decision drivers were Insurity's large existing client base, and a track record of similar applications already in production servicing the wider industry.

PARSIPPANY, NJ--MFXchange Holdings, Inc. (MFX) announced the launch of its end-to-end application service provider (ASP) commercial lines solution. The comprehensive processing system is Web-based and features the many benefits of ASP-based products. MFX's Ray Roy, Chairman, explains, "MFX's founding mission is to build technology solutions specifically to meet insurance carriers' needs for increased productivity, shorter processing timeframes and lower costs. We provide this, in part, through ASP processing that does not require large capital outlays for hardware and software and is highly cost effective."

POOLESVILLE, Md., Dec. 12-- The insurance Fraud DetectionSystem (FDS), developed using Visual Analytics, Inc.'s award winning product, VisuaLinks, was successfully launched this past week by the Korean Financial Supervisory Services, FSS. The FSS announced that they have implemented and will be using this system to detect fraud through the integrated analysis of insurance-related data including accidents, contracts and claims.

HARTFORD, Conn., Dec. 11-- Aetna InteliHealth, Aetna's online consumer health information resource, and Aetna Navigator, the company's self-service website for members, have received 2003 eHealthcare Leadership Awards for Health/Healthcare Content and Interactive Site, respectively.

Most consumers admit that purchasing life insurance is not something they relish-mainly because of the issue of their mortality. For life insurers, selling their various products has been difficult as well, but this shortcoming has little to do with consumer resistance.

The insurance industry appears poised to remove the "technology laggard" label. Despite a back-to-basics management philosophy brought on by the two-year economic slump, insurance companies continue to move forward with their Internet strategies.For the third consecutive year, Internet-related categories ranked at the top of Insurance Networking News' "Best of the Newest" survey, a poll of 17 technologies rated by insurance company executives and industry experts. The panel rated each technology based on its impact on carriers' operations and its level of innovation.

The old adage of "What, me worry?" isn't part of the lexicon of CIOs, CTOs and other senior level executives in charge of IT functions at life/health and property/casualty firms, according to a survey completed by Celent Communications Inc. in partnership with Insurance Networking News.Twenty executives from small, medium and large carriers paint a picture of insurance IT organizations in a double bind of diminished resources and increased demand this year and anticipated again in 2004.

As insurance companies develop a blueprint for compliance to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, an alarming number of U.S. corporations admit they are still uncertain about how they plan to adhere to the mandate.Moreover, industry experts believe that insurers who disregard the role of technology to comply with the Act might be in for a rude awakening.

In the past, insurers could write off fraud expenses with investment income and capital reserves. But those days are over. Reduced investment income and reserves have forced insurers to face such operational bugaboos as fraud and subrogation head on. Fortunately, insurers ahead of the curve have identified technology-based strategies to get to the heart of the matter.

The term "Web service" was coined only three years ago, according to Celent Communications Inc. And, already, U.S. insurers are spending roughly $78 million--or 5% of their integration dollars--on Web services-related initiatives (see "Web Services Spending By Insurers," page 14).What's more, by 2006, more than 40% of insurers' new systems integration spending will involve Web services, the Boston-based research and advisory firm predicts.

Rising somewhat like the Phoenix, an alternative bill that would provide compensation for workers injured by exposure to asbestos clawed its way through Congress in mid-October.Accepting a proposal drafted by Senate Majority Leader William Frist, R-Tenn., and his aides, insurers and defendants accepted a proposal on Oct. 16 to seed a trust fund projected to have enough capacity to settle $115 billion in claims over 27 years.

Forty years ago, mischievous adolescents got their kicks by calling people on the phone and asking them, "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" Today, they concoct computer viruses and worms designed to knock out the networks of global corporations.

One of the core activities regularly performed by insurers-its telemarketing efforts is about to undergo modifications now that the federal Do Not Call (DNC) list has been given the green light for national enforcement.In October, a federal appeals court ruled that the Do Not Call registry-a list that currently includes about 50 million phone numbers-was within the legal boundaries of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC).