Issue 2004-16:   April 27, 2004

This newsletter is for members of the Canadian Insurance Industry, and those who serve it. The newsletter is published weekly, and notes information mostly about the use of the Internet and related technologies in the industry. Some is international, where we feel it is relevant to Canada.

Policy Management

Wawanesa Enhances Policy Administration Systems with SunGard's FrontTier Solution.

SunGard Sherwood Systems, an operating unit of SunGard today announced that Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company, one of the largest property and casualty insurers in Canada, has licensed SunGard's FrontTier solution to replace its existing legacy policy, billing, workflow and claims systems.

GeniSystems.ca Services Launches New Brand Strategy.

GeniSystems.ca Services, a market leading business process outsourcing firm specializing in policy administration solutions for the life insurance industry, has announced an international re-branding strategy that more effectively reflects the strategic nature of their services.

Hannover Re signs on with eReinsure.

eReinsure.com, Inc., a provider of e-commerce technology to the insurance and reinsurance industries, today announced that Hannover Rückversicherung AG, one of the world's leading reinsurers, has contracted to use the company's on-line platform for reinsurance negotiation.

Distribution

Safeco and Applied Systems Launch Personal Lines Bridge for New Safeco Now Sales Tool.

Applied Systems, Inc. announced today that Safeco's release of Safeco Now(TM), a point-of-sale technology for independent agents, includes personal lines bridging that is fully supported by IVANS Transformation Station bridge transactions.

TowerGroup Assesses Progress and Pitfalls on Road to Integrated Wealth Management Platform.

At the start of the decade, TowerGroup envisioned a wealth management platform that would make private banking for the affluent more efficient allowing institutions to deliver private banking lite to emerging affluent investors with $250,000 to $1 million to invest.

CSIO Insurance Portal Status Update

Week ending April 23:At the Annual Meeting, Bob Fitzgerald, Chair, indicated that 328 brokers have pre-registered to use the Portal. The three primary stakeholders, Brokers, Companies and Broker Management System Vendors, have increased their levels of commitment as the Portal heads into a critical growth period over the next few months.
User acceptance testing for Peel Mutual's habitational rates has begun.
The alpha/beta test brokers continue with the pilot.

Claims

Water Damage Protocols - An Ounce of Prevention Seminar: First General Services Canada.

As leaders of the property restoration industry, First General Services Canada has developed a 1-hour Ounce of Prevention seminar to educate claims managers and adjusters of the most appropriate water loss protocols. We have provided this seminar to most national carriers and their staff. If you are interested in this free seminar, please contact us.

Marketing and the Market Place

Canadians' interest in investing holds near two-year high: Manulife Investor Sentiment Index.

Canadians' interest in investing remained near a two-year high early in 2004, according to a recent national poll for Manulife Financial, one of Canada's leading insurance and wealth management companies.

Best Enrollment Kits Drive up Savings: Dalbar.

DALBAR's most recent study, Qmax, shows that retirement plan enrollment kits make an enormous difference in employee savings rates. The best kits show a savings rate of 13% compared to an average kit with 10.6%. This difference shows that asset flows can increase 23% by using an effective kit. The study measures the effectiveness of kits in two ways, 1) the percent of employees enrolled and 2) the percent of salary deferred.

Managing Relationships and Customer Service

kasina names Top Defined Contribution Web Sites for Plan Sponsors and Plan Participants.

Defined Contribution Web Site Trends and Best Practices,a new study that identifies the top five plan sponsor and the top five plan participant Web sites, has been released by kasina, a leading strategic consulting firm for the financial services industry.

e-Business and Technology

XML Web Services in the Financial Services Industry: Will we ever cross the firewall? Celent.

Todays CTO has typically twenty to twenty-five application integration protocols to support. However, the cost of supporting these competing protocols now often outweighs the benefits of an integrated environment. EAI expenditures this year and in 2005 are expected to grow over eleven percent in the US financial services industry alone.

Seminar

Sometimes significant funds are spent on an new technologies such as CRM, new policy system, corporate financial system, data warehousing, only to discover that the integration work to fit the new application into an Insurer's existing environment is the largest risk, effort and cost. James Barber, Client Executive for Information Builders Inc. will overview some of the emerging criteria and expectations that insurers are currently using to make integration simple. Real examples with timeframes and ROI will be included at the next Insurance-Canada.ca seminar Policy and Document Management Systems: Developments and Trends - a half-day on Thursday May 20 in Toronto - Register now.

Business of Insurance

Manulife/John Hancock merger receives Canadian regulatory approvals.

Manulife Financial has received approvals from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions and the Minister of Finance to complete its merger with John Hancock Financial Services, Inc. The merger is scheduled to close on April 28, 2004.

Conning Research: Bigger Dollars But Fewer Deals In 2003 M&A.

2003 mergers and acquisitions in the insurance industry reached the highest level since 1998 in dollar terms, even while the total number of transactions continued its long decline since the same year, according to a study by Conning Research & Consulting, Inc.

In the Community

National Volunteer Week - Sun Life Financial names volunteers of the year.

Sun Life Financial is pleased to announce during National Volunteer Week that John Maisey, an advisor with the Moncton Clarica Financial Centre has been named the company's National Volunteer of the Year. In recognition of his volunteerism, Sun Life Financial will donate $10,000 to the Moncton Boys and Girls Club on his behalf.

from Doug:

The morning of our family reunion ten days ago, the sky darkened dramatically and then the lights went out at 9:05 am. Other than the inconvenience of a power outage for several of those who would attend the event at noon, the high winds and heavy rains brought down many trees and hydro poles, some onto buildings. It does make one sit back and appreciate the value of a good insurance program.