IVANS STUDY REVEALS SECURITY CONCERNS FOR AGENTSInternet security is a major concern for independent agents, according to a recent survey by IVANS Inc., Old Greenwich, Conn. A full 80% of agents are most worried about viruses and worms, and 42% said hackers are their second-biggest worry. The survey also revealed that 100% of respondents currently use an agency management system. In a November 2003 survey, 86% used an agency management system. In addition, 76% of this year's respondents prefer to retrieve carrier information through their agency management systems, versus 52% in 2003. Only 10% of agents prefer to retrieve data through carrier Web sites, while 8% prefer to receive information via paper.

Life Settlement Insights has launched what the company claims is the life insurance settlement industry's first online exchange. Called LifeX (www.life-x.com) institutional buyers will be able to electronically submit bids for an individual's unneeded life insurance policy in an open-forward auction format.

U.S. property/casualty insurers are expected to pay homeowners and businesses an estimated $2.1 billion for insured property-loss claims from eight catastrophes in the first quarter, according to preliminary estimates by ISO's Property Claim Services (PCS) unit.

RLI Corp. a Peroia, Ill.-based provider of property/casualty insurance and surety bonds that targets underserved markets, has established a strategic information services department to manage and develop RLI's strategic and management information services. The company has also named Iqbal "Q" Shariff to serve as vice president of the new department.

Newark, Calif.--As Florida's annual hurricane deductible law goes into effect on May 1 for the state's residential policyholders, Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the world's leading provider of products and services for the management of catastrophe risk, released the results of an analysis exploring the insurance industry impact of using the new deductible instead of a single event hurricane deductible.

MFXchange US, Inc. (MFX), a Parsippany, N.J.-based provider of technology solutions to the insurance industry, is launching a new business process outsourcing service called ProcessSure. The initial ProcessSure offering includes statistical reporting (bureau reporting and state calls for P&C lines of business, including workers' compensation), rate, rule and form compliance, and runoff company transition planning.

Global 360 (formerly eiStream), a Dallas-based provider of business process management (BPM) and analysis solutions, announced that UICI has chosen to leverage its existing Global 360 Enterprise BPM solution to meet Sarbanes Oxley and HIPAA compliance. UICI-Oklahoma City, a division of MEGA Life & Health Insurance Co., North Richland Hills, Texas, provides health, life and related insurance products targeted at the small business and self-employed markets.

McCamish Systems L.L.C., an Atlanta-based BPO service provider to the life and annuity market, is now offering a broad range of agent management services on a business process outsourcing model (BPO). Previously, the company offered this service only to its life insurance and annuity policy administration clients, but it now offers these same services on a standalone basis.

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Nationwide Insurance and Washington D.C.-based ID Theft Assist are joining forces to offer ground-breaking identity theft protection and recovery service that surpasses IDtheft policies currently on the market.

MISSOULA, Mont.--RemoteScan Corporation, the makers of network connectivity software for document scanners and digital cameras, today announced the release of RemoteScan for Insurance Agents.

PHILADELPHIA--Regardless of whether or not the U.S. Federal Government authorizes an extension to TRIA (Terrorism Risk Insurance Act) beyond the end of this year, terrorism remains a very real threat and should not be ignored.

SIMSBURY, Conn. - The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. and Protective Life Corporation, through wholly owned subsidiaries, have formed Life Alliance, LLC, a new online joint venture to help broker-dealers, banks and other distributors meet their customers' term life insurance needs.

MUMBAI, India - Teradata, a division of NCR Corp., announced today that it is providing data warehousing solutions to Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India. Called the Corporate Active Data Warehouse (CADW), the 60-terabyte solution, implemented in 2004, is the largest data warehouse project of its kind in India. The CADW will cater to business volumes larger than 160 million insurance policies of 130 million policyholders with large volumes of cash transactions per day.With more than 24.5 million policies sold every year, LIC is one of the largest life insurance companies in the world. The Teradata Warehouse will enable LIC to understand various usage profiles of the customers and policies in order to customize offerings and bundles and effectively manage them.

IASA (Insurance Accounting & Systems Association) will offer a CFO and a CIO roundtable at its annual Conference & Business Show that will be held June 5-8 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. These "by invitation only" events are open only to insurance company Chief Financial Officers and Chief Information Officers and will be held June 7 from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

STAMFORD, Conn.--The Tillinghast business of Towers Perrin recently unveiled two new software applications to help insurers prepare for impending capital standards for variable annuity products.

The relationship between regulatory requirements and data standards is the subject of a new report from ACORD, N.Y.-based insurance industry data standards association. "ACORD Strategic Analysis: The Impact of Standards on the U.S. Regulatory Landscape," available through ACORD's Web site, www.acord.org

SIMSBURY, Conn. - The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., for the third consecutive year, is the No. 1 seller of variable life insurance, posting a year-over-year sales increase of more than 28 percent in 2004.

London--New research by independent market analysts Datamonitor, and leading outsourcing advisory firm Everest Group has found that the average deal size in the $600bn global IT and BPO services sector is shrinking. Based on figures from Datamonitor's "IT Services Contracts Tracker," the average size of contracts announced by IT and BPO services vendors in the first quarter of 2005 fell 18% to $68.9m compared to the year ago period. This means that average deal size has now declined for three consecutive quarters.

WINDSOR, Conn.--The head of LIMRA International, a financial services research and consulting association, is urging the life insurance industry to help American households bridge the wide gap between the amount of life insurance they own and the amount they believe they need for adequate family financial protection.

Internet security is a major concern for independent agents, with 80% saying they're most worried about viruses and worms, and 42% saying it's their second-biggest worry. That's according to a new survey released by IVANS Inc., Old Greenwich, Conn.