One way to practically screen for potentially significant threats is to evaluate prospective ones against an insurer's exposure concentrations.

In July, severe drought and heat waves effected great swaths of the United States, causing billions in insurance losses, according to Aon Benefield’s “July 2012 Global Catastrophe Recap.” Up to 64 percent of the continental United States is experiencing at least moderate drought, according to the National Climatic Data Center, and half of all U.S. counties have been declared disaster areas.

The Innovation Group plc released a new version of Insurer Analytics, which includes new functionality for policy analysis, insurance analytics, usability and extract/transform/load (ETL) process. The new version is designed to enable users to measure, monitor and manage and uncover insights and opportunities.

Spreadsheet Workbench purchased by insurer in an effort to meet Solvency II requirements.

The number of insurers looking to increase staff is now at the highest level since July 2009, according to “The Mid-Year Insurance Labor Market Study,” produced by Jacobson Group, an insurance staffing company, and Ward Group, an insurance consultancy. The majority of insurers, 54.5 percent, intend to increase staff this year, compared to 51 percent in January; and the number expecting to increase revenue is 78.4 percent, up from 69 percent for the same period.

Insurance is among the industries found to have significant scanning requirements due to a continued reliance on paper, according to a recent survey.

Announcement of another state review comes days before NAIC's hearing on force-placed insurance slated for Thursday.

Many insurers currently don’t offer self-service Websites to support customers, but that will change by the end of 2013, according to the phase 1 results of iPipline’s “Surveying Customer Servicing in Life Insurance: Insights into carriers’ operational tasks, priorities and technologies.”

Nina, the new customer service virtual assistant from Nuance, is designed to understand what is said and who is saying it.

This month’s MarketScout report cites a stable personal lines market with a composite rate growth of 2 percent for August, while composite commercial P&C rates were also noted as steady at four percent.

Upgrading claims systems is a high priority, ranking among the top three projects for 41 percent of large property/casualty carriers and 23 percent of midsize carriers, according to “Novarica Market Navigator: US Property/Casualty Claims Solutions 2012.” This year, insurers will select between 65 and 75 new systems, compared with 50 to 60 claims systems last year.

Insurers’ recent SEC filings indicate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is continuing its investigation into whether mortgage insurers are complying with federal real-estate law.

A new survey from CompTIA finds more than three out of five companies are adding new types of skillsets to their IT departments to keep up with growing cloud requirements.

The technology challenges business models by potentially eroding premiums and profits, but also offers an opportunity for differentiation in a market historically driven by price.

Job numbers in all IT sectors grow as CIOs look to turn temporary positions into openings for full-time IT professionals.

Net income at Allianz rises 23 percent in the second quarter.

At an upcoming FACI meeting, international regulatory rules, including ComFrame, are expected to be the main topic of discussion.

American Safety, CNA, Hartford, MetLife, Prudential and Willis announce second-quarter results.

Underwriting service to link predictive analytics engine to the carrier's day-to-day decision-makers' workflow.

The property/casualty industry is facing a number of potentially transformational forces, including increasing competition, consumerization, the number of communications options for both agents and customers, social networking, and an evolving regulatory environment, according to Gartner’s “Hype Cycle for P&C Insurance, 2012.”