Issue 2004-27: July 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.
Seminar
Brokers and Insurance Companies are increasingly dependant on technology for successfully meeting individual and partnership business strategies. Join your colleagues on August 11 Insurance-Canada's 6th annual Broker Technology seminar, which will showcase how technology implementations are producing business successes. Brokers: Putting Technology to Work
Business of Insurance
RBC Insurance Completes Product Integration for Individual Living Benefits.
RBC Insurance today announced it has completed the integration of its individual living benefits product portfolio. The industry-leading product offering, which became available to distributors on July 5, 2004, combines previously offered RBC Insurance and former UnumProvident Canada products into one comprehensive portfolio.
Conning Research: Property-Casualty Industry Expense Revolution Overdue.
Property-casualty insurers' cost of doing business has stagnated over the past 20 years, contrasting the remarkable efficiency gains achieved by many other industries. Since 1982, for example, the banking industry has reduced its efficiency ratio by 20% while the property-casualty industry has remained fairly flat, according to a study by Conning Research & Consulting, Inc.
Distribution
Celent Communications Illustration Vendor Study Points To Satisfied Novinsoft Clients.
Novinsoft Inc., a leading developer of Illustration Systems, was one of the eight illustration system vendors whose functionality, technology, and services were profiled in detail in the recently released reports by Celent Communications North American Illustration Vendors: 2004 and Insurance Illustrations: A Necessary Evil Becomes A Competitive Differentiator.
RBC Insurance Launches Market Leading Regional Resource Centres.
RBC Insurance today announced the launch of market leading regional resource centres and the appointment of key executives to support its Canadian life and health business. "RBC Insurance is committed to providing distributors with the skill and expertise they need to grow their life, living benefits and group insurance business," said Neil Skelding, president and CEO, RBC Life Insurance Company.
Marketing Insurance and the marketplace
Swiss Re sigma study: millions lack adequate life insurance – significant mortality protection gaps in Australia, Germany, Italy, Taiwan and the US.
Millions of consumers around the world lack adequate life insurance protection, according to a Swiss Re sigma study released today. "Mortality protection: the core of life" identifies significant shortfalls in the amount of mortality cover purchased when compared with consumers' real protection needs. If the protection gap were to be filled, the average amount a family spends on life insurance premiums each year would need to increase by USD 98 to USD 444, depending on the country.
Customer Service and Relationships
DWL Customer™ Benchmarks Released.
DWL, the leader in customer data integration (CDI) solutions, today announced the results of performance testing conducted on the leading enterprise customer hub, DWL Customer™. The results outperform any existing benchmarks of this kind for customer data integration solutions and detailed performance results show that DWL Customer is meeting the most demanding performance requirements of any organization.
eBusiness and Technology
SAS earns high ranking on CBR's "Top 10 Most Influential BI Vendors, 2004".
SAS, the leader in business intelligence, today announced that it ranked highly in a Computer Business Review (CBR) special issue featuring a list of the "Top 10 Most Influential Business Intelligence Vendors, 2004."
Controversial "Offshore Outsourcing" Term a Misnomer for Complex Array of Global Sourcing Strategies: TowerGroup.
Amid continued political and popular resistance against offshore outsourcing, new research from TowerGroup asserts that the term itself is a reductive misnomer for a far more complex array of global sourcing strategies. Beyond fears of the US bleeding jobs overseas is a landscape of diverse insourcing and outsourcing initiatives that net out to benefit the US economy.
Aon (US) and CSC Sign $600 Million IT Outsourcing Agreement.
Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC) announced today that it has signed a seven-year contract worth approximately $600 million to provide Aon Corporation's (NYSE: AOC) U.S. operations with information technology (IT) infrastructure support services.
Claims
RBC Financial Group retains Crawford Adjusters Canada as claims administrator for Processing Disruption.
RBC Financial Group today announced it has established a formal process to review claims for costs or losses incurred as a result of its recent processing disruption. This is in addition to steps RBC is currently taking to minimize the impact for those affected during the processing disruption, including the reversal of bank service charges and interest fees caused by the disruption, and the refunding of certain other charges and fees.
Statistics and Reference
MIB Life Index Shows Stable North American Life Insurance Industry in the First Half of 2004.
North American applications for life insurance were off slightly in June, down -2.1% on a year-over-year basis. However, the six-month trend characterizes a stable North American industry when it comes to individually underwritten life insurance. Year-to-date, application activity for the first half of 2004 was off slightly at -1.2% compared to 2003 levels; Q2 2004 results remained statistically flat at -0.7% versus the same quarter last year.
Insurance and the Community
ING: Top 20 Under 20 - Leading the way!
Over 250 people had a chance to preview tomorrow's future leaders and young leaders of today as the recipients of Youth in Motion's new award and mentoring program - Top 20 Under 20(TM) - were celebrated at the Toronto Eaton Centre Marriott in Toronto, Ontario. Top 20 Under 20(TM), a program of Youth in Motion, sponsored by ING with Global Television and National Post as national media partners, is designed to award young Canadians who have demonstrated a significant level of innovation, achievement and leadership.
The Co-operators Donates to Red Cross Relief Efforts in Edmonton.
Due to the unusual and severe weather to hit the Edmonton area, The Co-operators has directed a $10,000 donation to "Red Cross Disaster Services - Edmonton Flood."
Manulife Financial to donate $10,000 to Canadian Red Cross for Peterborough Flood Relief.
Manulife Financial will donate $10,000 to assist those affected by heavy rains and flooding in the Peterborough area. "Thousands of people in that city have seen their homes devastated by heavy rains and flooding, and they need our whole-hearted support," said Bruce Gordon, Senior Executive Vice President and General Manager of Manulife Financial, Canada.
The Co-operators Donates to Peterborough Disaster Relief Fund.
In response to the devastating flooding in Peterborough, The Co-operators has donated $10,000 to the City of Peterborough Disaster Relief Fund to assist in flood relief efforts.
Consumer Information
No increase for ICBC's basic insurance rates for 2005.
For the second consecutive year, ICBC will not be increasing basic automobile insurance rates, the corporation announced today. ICBC's submission to the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC), which sets basic insurance rates, indicates that there will be no basic rate increase in 2005.
from Doug:
Eldest son is in his final Co-op work term from Engineering at U of Waterloo. Three months into his job, he has become an "expert" on simulation. Yesterday he was sent on his first major business trip, which I am sure is a bit of a thrill - my first trip certainly was. A few stresses too - cross-border, to help in a situation where a competitor is under-performing, without giving away anything proprietary ... oh, for the simpler days.