Needham, Mass. - In 2007 and beyond, the global financial services industry will increasingly grapple with three major strategic shifts: reinventing financial services at its core; repurposing financial services relative to the global diversity of a changing customer base; and helping restore confidence in an uncertain world, according to a series of research reports from Needham, Mass.-based TowerGroup.The reports examine the top business drivers, strategic responses and technology priorities that will fuel core sectors of the global financial service industry in 2007.

El Segundo, Calif., - Insurers feel the need to develop original approaches to attracting and retaining customer in various market segments. During a two-day conference hosted by Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), a few insurers gave examples of these approaches.Panelists at the conference noted that insurance marketing programs must appeal to three distinct generational groups: Generation Y (ages 18-29), Generation X (ages 30-40) and baby boomers (ages 41-59). Each group has distinct demands for service; therefore, insurers must offer different Web-based services that address their consumers' varying levels of comfort with technology.

Blue Bell, Pa. - Almost one in every three of the more than 1,700 senior-level corporate and technology leader respondents in a new international survey do not trust their companies' own abilities to handle private or sensitive information, and that same number are either unsure or don't believe that most of their business partners consider them to be trusted enterprises.These and other findings are part of a broad research project from Blue Bell, Pa.-based Unisys Corp., called the Unisys Trusted Enterprise Index, a survey designed to measure the importance, impact and influence of trust, privacy and security within the corporate world. Conducted in partnership with the Ponemon Institute, an Elk Rapids, Mich.-based privacy research organization, the study also found that despite a growing awareness of risk management and security issues in the corporate world, more than one-third of companies polled do not task senior leaders with protecting the trust that customers, investors and even their own employees have in those companies.

Hartford, Conn. - Aetna Inc. is offering an interactive voice response (IVR) system called Voice2Form to enable members with both Aetna disability and medical insurance to provide consent to participate in the insurer's Integrated Health and Disability (IHD) program. Aetna's integrated informatics studies show that the IHD program may reduce short-term disability durations by as much as 10.7% or 5.6 days per claim.

Orlando - The latest release of ISO HomeValue, a residential replacement cost estimator, now allows personal lines insurers to assess catastrophe risk for individual properties using Boston-based AIR Worldwide Corp.'s (AIR) industry standard catastrophe models. The goal, says the companies, is to provide access to essential catastrophe risk data from a single web-based application, ISO HomeValue enables improved underwriting decisions. "After the large hurricane losses of 2004 and 2005, companies were reminded of the importance of assessing a property's catastrophe risk as part of the underwriting process," says George Davis, vice president at AIR. "However, most personal lines insurers have historically had very limited and inefficient ways to assess the catastrophe risk for individual properties. Now, ISO HomeValue provides residential underwriters with immediate catastrophe risk information at the individual property level in a seamless manner." By accessing AIR's catastrophe models from within ISO HomeValue, underwriters can generate real-time estimates of catastrophe risk, as characterized by the estimated average annual loss. Insurers can use this assessment of the catastrophe risk to automate, for example, simple issue/decline decisions, rating plan selection, and price adjustment under consent-to-rate procedures. ISO HomeValue captures a variety of property characteristics necessary for catastrophe modeling, including location, construction, building type, and year built. Additional property characteristics that may mitigate damage-such as storm shutters for hurricane risk-can also be entered to assess rate credits for such structures. In many cases, basic property data can be automatically pre-filled using the ISO PushPin database. ISO PushPin contains specific and detailed data on key building features for more than 50 million residential properties in the United States. Agents, underwriters, and inspectors can enter additional property information into ISO HomeValue to enhance the completeness of the data. "By employing ISO HomeValue to gather and maintain high quality property data, insurers can obtain more reliable estimates of an individual property's catastrophe loss potential, in addition to its replacement cost," continued Mr. Davis. Source: AIR Worldwide Corp.

Boston - Insurance carriers have invested heavily in project management, but large projects continue to fail. A new approach is required, according to a new report, “The 18 Month Rule: Avoiding the Endless Project.” The Boston-based insurance practice of research firm Celent LLC released the report this week as a guide to address the pitfalls of large IT projects.

New York - More than three-quarters (77%) of life insurance CFOs cite the growing level and complexity of regulations as their biggest concern for the market and economic environment in 2007, according to the latest CFO survey from the New York-based Tillinghast business of Towers Perrin. Interest rates were a close second, with 70% of respondents citing concerns about potential volatility in rates as a key challenge.

Minneapolis - Thanks to the combination of rules-based management and mobile healthcare technologies, patients with long-term health conditions may be on the road to a faster recovery based on receiving early detection, continuous remote care, prediction of care demands, and quality of life improvement.Swedish technology company Kiwok AB is integrating Blaze Advisor business rules management technology from Fair Isaac Corp., a Minneapolis provider of analytics and decision management technologies, to enable intelligent out-of-hospital monitoring of patients via Kiwok's mobile healthcare monitoring network.

Waltham, Mass. - Results of a study analyzing the actual compliance-training records of more than 2.5 million employees (working at approximately 350 companies) who completed online ethics and compliance courses cite financial integrity as the respondents' number-one compliance issue. Insurers represented 10 of 350 companies studied, or roughly 153,000 employees, notes study author Integrity Interactive, a Waltham, Mass., provider of Web-based tools for managing and mitigating corporate ethics and compliance risk. The study reveals the top-12 ethics and compliance training topics addressed by major companies in 2006. Leading corporations have begun to address compliance risks proactively instead of waiting to react after problems arise, say the findings. The Integrity Interactive study quantifies which ethical violations companies fear most, identifies emerging compliance risk-management trends, and provides concrete examples of how top compliance-training topics map to corporate governance scandals dominating business headlines today. Financial integrity is the top compliance-training topic covered by major corporations today. Financial integrity has been among the Top-3 most-popular course topics every year since 2000, and also tops the most-popular list for the present decade, reflecting the persistent determination of many companies to proactively prevent compliance violations such as backdated stock options and inaccurate financial reports. Proper use of computers ranks second on the list of ethics and compliance topics, reflecting the desire of companies to protect their leaders, employees, and themselves from embarrassing, inappropriate, or even illegal uses of computers, the Internet, instant messaging and related information technologies. Four new concerns surfaced in the study: Sarbanes-Oxley & internal controls (ranked #6) and data safeguarding (ranked #8) appear in the top-12 list for the first time. The popularity of these course topics reflects corporate efforts to respond to important legislation adopted in recent years at the national and state levels. Human rights (ranked #10) and privacy (ranked #12): These two also appear on the top-12 list for the first time and constitute powerful evidence of senior management's desire to respond to broader values-based concerns gaining traction in society as a whole. Another aspect of the study revealed that company size influences risk-management priorities. Very large corporations (90,000+ employees) have made financial integrity their leading priority. Large (10,000+ to 90,000 employees) and mid-sized (1,000 to 10,000 employees) companies cite mutual respect as their top priority (closely followed by proper use of computers). And mutual respect appears among the top-3 most-popular training priorities for companies in all size buckets (mid-sized, large and very large). The near-universal applicability of the mutual respect course explains its popularity with companies of different sizes. Antitrust (a risk-area of particular concern to sales and marketing personnel) is another compliance-training topic popular with companies of all sizes. Source: Integrity Interactive Inc.

Springfield, Mass. - Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), Springfield, Mass., is setting a best practice example that may not have a technology angle or result in increased premium revenue, but it has a long-term business benefit just the same. The company is bringing its LifeBridge Free Life Insurance Program to the Tucson, Arizona area. MassMutual's LifeBridge is a national philanthropic program in which the company issues 10-year term life insurance policies to eligible working parents to help pay for the cost of their children's education in the event they die. Through LifeBridge, $50,000 life insurance policies are issued to a trust on the life of qualifying parents or legal guardians to help pay for the education of their eligible children who -- in the event of a parent's death during the policy's term -- may not be able to afford to complete their schooling. All premiums are paid entirely by MassMutual, with no fees for qualified parents or their children. MassMutual has provided more than 5,800 10-year term life insurance policies since launching the now popular LifeBridge program in 2002, representing more than $290 million in free life insurance coverage. Louise Orozco, CLU, of Generational Wealth Strategies, LLC, a MassMutual Agent based in Tucson, teamed up with the Women's Foundation of Southern Arizona to offer the LifeBridge Program to eligible families. "We are extremely excited to bring LifeBridge to the Tucson area," says Louise Orozco. "We want to help ensure that access to educational opportunities exists for children of working families and not just those who are lucky enough to have parents with adequate financial means. There is absolutely no cost to the insured for a policy under the LifeBridge program." To be eligible to apply for a term life insurance policy under the LifeBridge program, applicants must be: * Between the ages of 19-42; * A permanent, legal U.S. resident; * The parent or legal guardian of one or more dependent children under the age of 18; * Currently employed -- either full- or part-time -- and have a family income between $10,000 and $40,000 on their most recent income tax return; * The only family member who has applied for the LifeBridge program; and * In good health, as determined by MassMutual's underwriting guidelines. The money will be paid to a trust administered by The MassMutual Trust Company, FSB on behalf of the children. The trust will pay the educational expenses of the children directly to the educational institution they attend. Various types of schools qualify, including, but not limited to, pre- school, private school, vocational school, community college, universities, art and music schools or graduate schools. Some of the educational expenses covered include books, tuition, and room and board. Source: MassMutual

Hartford, Conn. - In the latest of several insurance-specific vendor mergers and acquisitions, Innovation Group, a U.K. provider of P&C outsourcing and technology, is acquiring Boston-based claims-reporting outsourcer First Notice Systems, Inc. from Concentra Operating Corp., Addison, Texas. Innovation Group counts among its U.S. customers the California State Automobile Association, Nationwide Indemnity and The Auto Club of Southern California. First Notice provides services to Pemco and The Hanover Group, among others. The announcement follows close on the heels of another outsourcing deal, Capgemini's acquisition of India-based Kanbay, a provider of outsourcing services to the financial services sector. Capgemini will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Kanbay for $29 per share in cash. Kanbay claims to have more than 200 customers in the insurance sector, which, say analysts, has the potential to strengthen Capgemini's presence in North America by providing it with an improved banking and financial services focus. The Boards of Directors of Capgemini and Kanbay have already approved the transaction, which is set to increase Capgemini's presence in India (+89% based on Q3 figures). The combined company will have headcount reaching 12,000 employees by the end of 2006 in India, reports the popular press. The Innovation Group, meanwhile, is set to pay (U.S.) $51.55 million in cash, comprising consideration of $50 million and related payments of $1.55 million for First Notice. The acquisition, which is subject, to shareholder approval and certain other customary finance and closing conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006, providing a platform for the company to grow its insurance outsourcing business in the U.S. First Notice's principal focus is on processing-on behalf of its clients-the first notice of loss (FNOL) made by an insurance company customer of a claim or a potential claim. First Notice currently processes approximately two million claims a year and makes 10 million outbound distributions on behalf of its client base, which comprises more than 100 insurance clients, including carriers, third party administrators and self insured businesses. With U.S. headquarters in Hartford, Conn., Innovation Group's deal adds claims to its portfolio software-led business processes for the handling of the breadth of the administrative processes of insurers and risk carriers - including back office functions such as claims management and sales, as well as software technology for both policy and claims administration that can be utilized in connection with its outsourcing operations or implemented on a stand-alone basis. Source: The Innovation Group, The Business Wire

Fed up with the life of an insurance agent, many aging baby boomers are retiring or choosing something spicier for their lives. Some principals are seizing the opportunity to sell their agencies to banks or another entities. While they may make big dollars or find cool waves, sticky problems remain in their wake. Too often, principals are struggling to attract new agents they can groom to take over the helm. At the same time, many of the country's brightest young business minds are looking askance at the prospect of being insurance agents; they've been spooked into thinking such positions will ultimately be filled by non-humans.The outlook seems so bleak that agents might someday vanish, and will it be technology that metes out the coup de grace? Or do most agents actually view technology as their savior?

Insurance has always been about risk, and insurance companies, armed with actuarial tables and reinsurance, have generally handled it well. But there are risks that go beyond the ordinary-storms that wipe out a city's worth of houses and businesses and create enormous correlative exposure; lawsuits that result in liability where none existed before, or threaten to remove exclusions. These sorts of risks can drain capital reserves and put the entire company in jeopardy.To protect themselves, insurance companies increasingly step back and take a holistic, enterprisewide view of risk, and align their reserves to meet not just everyday actuarial and financial risk, but risks that cross organizational silos.

When it employees at Cincinnati-based Great American Insurance Co. got wind late last year that their new CIO would be Piyush Sing, former CIO of the Peoria, Ill., multi-line P&C carrier RLI Systems, they probably took a deep breath-rightly assuming that big changes would be coming in how the company uses technology to conduct its specialty commercial lines business. Sing's reputation for building front-end technology to match his previous company's unique requirements (RLI's motto was to provide "Fundamentally Sound Innovation" to the insurance industry) preceded him.As expected, Sing came to Great American Insurance with a similar plan, and a vision to overhaul the 130-year-old company's front-end applications for insurance processing with a service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web services approach. Especially critical to Sing's vision: the ability to manage the appointments, interactions and state-by-state compliance requirements of a U.S. distribution network comprised of 8,000 active agents.

HARTFORD TEAMS WITH TECH GROUPThe Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Hartford, Conn., is working with the largest technology trade association in Washington State to offer policies designed for the technology industry. The insurer will market the insurance to members of the Seattle-based WSA (formerly the Washington Software Association) through brokers and independent agents. Nationwide, the Hartford insures more than 50,000 technology companies.

WHITEHILL SOFTWARE HELPS CREATE POLICIESWhitehill Technologies, Moncton, New Brunswick, has shipped a new release of the InSystems product line, which helps create insurance policies. IStream Publisher 3.2 simplifies production of insurance documents by managing the process from the first draft of the contract language through the issuing of the policy. The software also supports service-oriented architecture (SOA), which increases IT agility, and includes predefined services for retrieval, assembly, rendering, delivery and storage.

The world record for the largest game of Chinese Whispers, also known as the telephone game or Pass It Down, was set by entertainer Mac King, Jan. 6, 2004, and involved 614 people.While it's safe to say King didn't pass on a message about ways to sell long-term care insurance, carriers and agents may be able to relate to the game of Chinese Whispers. Clear and efficient communication among the two groups can become difficult. And adding communication among agents and consumers can muddy the water even more.

Insurance Networking News asked David Pedersen, senior vice president at Insurity, Hartford, Conn., to explain how a data integration project can evolve from an enterprisewide objective to a successful way of life.INN: Do most insurance companies have a data strategy, and why is it important?

Liability Insurance Administrators (LIA), Santa Barbara, Calif., was drowning in paper and all the costs associated with generating it, filing it and keeping it around. With an average of 15,000 to 20,000 active existing insurance policy underwriting files, the firm, which provides error and omissions policies to real estate appraisers, found itself having to hire new clerical staff to handle processing, as well as finding new space for all the documents."In the beginning, we just had one clerical person who would answer phones, do the filing, issue quotes, and do all other clerical work," says Robert Wiley, LIA assistant vice president. "As the company grew year after year, we had to start divvying up those duties to stand-alone positions, receptionist, clerical staff and filing staff. Eventually we had to keep increasing our filing staff, and we're now at the point where we're an office of about 29 people. And we have four full-time file staff and three part timers."

CAT CLAIMSCustard Insurance Adjusters, a Norcross, Ga., independent loss adjusting company, contracted with Marshall and Swift/Boeckh (MSB), New Berlin, Wis., for MSB's IntegriClaim tool for field estimating and for its IntegriClaim Administrator, which provides a paperless, Web-enabled work environment, for use in Custard's catastrophe and home office claims divisions. The technology package will send claims seamlessly from the carrier to independent adjusters.