Thomas H. Lee Partners L.P. (THL), a private equity firm, and French-owned Sword Group have signed a definitive agreement under which THL will acquire Sword Insurance, a global provider of software and services to the P&C insurance industry, from Sword Group. The transaction is expected to close next month, subject to regulatory approvals, and additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The recently released white paper from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners on the role of producers in state exchanges, while helpful, leaves many crucial questions unanswered.

Through May, State Farm provided more than $2.5 billion in catastrophe claim payments to its customers across North America.

Witnesses tell House committee that cross-state sales would reduce the number of uninsured.

As the insurance industry continues to recover from an ailing economy, the focus on life insurers’ overall financial health has been largely a “wait-and-see” one. Unlike property/casualty carriers, whose cash flow is relatively fluid, life insurers’ success is tied largely to superior, sustained financial management.

June 8, 2011 is the last day nominations for Women in Insurance Leadership awards will be accepted.

As the Asian insurance market continues to grow, it faces constraints and opportunities not unlike their North American competitors. A recent report by Boston-based research and consulting firm Celent notes insurers' top three drivers for IT investment in 2011: growing the business, ease of doing business with agents and other distribution channels, and ease of doing business with customers. The report reviews in detail the current business trends facing the market for 2011, and how they are impacting IT investment.

SOA has seen a resurgence, largely because most insurers are contemplating a move to cloud – public, private, or hybrid – and need the supporting infrastructure to make it viable.

At the ACORD Loma Insurance Systems Forum, speakers presented a compelling vision of how the mobility, the cloud and Big Data are set to reshape the industry.

Survey results reveal increase in real-time upload and commercial lines download.

Suite to enable managing general underwriter to deliver agent service, support for multiple carriers.

Product designed to allow agents and brokers to personalize customer communications for increased profitability.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says, in a turnaround from prior rankings, six of 13 small—rather than large—cars earn safety awards.

Japanese companies are selling “one-time” policies for risks that are interesting and surprising, thanks to wireless technology.

Survey targeting several sectors reveals that insurance and mobile telecom rank lowest in respondent satisfaction with communication levels; banks ranked highest.

New version harmonizes an information model from Prima Solutions and business object model from IBM.

Treasury begins to lessen ownership stake as it unloads 200 million shares of the insurer’s common stock.

Electronic file solution designed to provide carriers with flexible, secure access to critical business records.

Functionality to provide agents, financial advisers and policyholders access to application status, account balances and commission payments.

iCRM to provide dashboard with widget interface, personalization, customer experience management and insurance analytics.