Issue 2006-43: October 24, 2006
Business of Insurance
NewLink Launches Two New Benchmark Studies for the Life Insurance Industry.
October 2006 -- Continuing our strong foundation of research-based consulting, NewLink is pleased to announce two new annual studies designed to help life insurance companies to improve their service to producers and distributors.
Claims
Technology-Enabled Claims Performance Improvement: Report Published by Celent.
San Francisco, CA, USA - September 6, 2006 - In a new report, Technology-Enabled Claims Performance Improvement, Celent describes how six property/casualty insurers have used new claims systems to enable changes in three key areas of claims performance: process and information, organization, and analytics. The report also provides a graphic framework, the claims performance cube, for distinguishing among eight types of performance improvement.
New "Forum on Driving and Function" section added to TIRF website.
September 1, 2006 - TIRF has created a new section on its website to host material associated with the Forum on Driving and Function that was held June 15 and 16, 2006 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Consumer Information
One person, one seatbelt: Ontario Government tightens seatbelt laws.
The Ontario Government has introduced legislation that would require one seatbelt for every passenger in a vehicle.
Deer season creates hazardous driving conditions:
Tips to avoid deer-related collisions.
During deer season, which generally runs from October through December, there is a dramatic increase in the movement of the deer population. As a result, more deer- vehicle collisions occur in this period than at any other time of year, so drivers need to be especially cautious, warns the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.).There are steps you can take to decrease the likelihood of being involved in a deer- vehicle collision.
Practical Cargo Securement Handbook Unveiled by Canadian Trucking Alliance.
(OTTAWA - October 12, 2006) - An authoritative handbook about the new Cargo Securement rules in place in Canada and the U.S. has been unveiled by the Canadian Trucking Alliance. It is now available through the provincial trucking associations. The book is written in an easy-to-understand format and provides invaluable information for drivers, shippers and carriers.
CFIB: Business confidence takes upward jump in 3rd quarter, 2006.
Toronto - September 27, 2006 - Results of the latest quarterly survey of small- and medium-sized enterprises, by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) show that business confidence took a sizeable jump. The CFIB Quarterly Business Barometer Index stands at 108.6 (1988=100), almost a point and a half above where it stood in June.
Distribution
Improvements herald continued growth, Applied Systems CEO tells user group.
Dallas, Texas (September 27, 2006)- Applied Systems, Inc., is poised for continued growth based in part on improved processes, renewed emphasis on quality products, and a commitment to relationship-based sales consulting, according to a message delivered here today by the insurance technology company's chairman and CEO.
First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association Goes Live with SunGard's iWORKS for Sales Illustrations.
MIAMI, FL - SunGard today announced that First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association has
implemented SunGard's iWORKS NAVIGATOR, SunGard's life insurance and annuity illustration system. First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association partnered with SunGard throughout 2006 to develop NAVIGATOR as its new life insurance and annuity illustrations platform.
Standard Life helps advisors gear up to meet retirees' financial needs.
MONTREAL, Oct. 17, 2006 - "Practical" is the theme running throughout Standard Life's upcoming series of three-hour seminars to help advisors understand and meet baby boomers' financial needs. Titled "Building The Process into Your Practice," the road show kicks off on October 23 with a presentation in Vancouver, and ends on November 3, with a presentation in Halifax.
Western Financial Group Announces New Acquisitions.
High River, Alberta - October 13, 2006 -- Western Financial Group ("the Company") announced today that it has recently completed two additional acquisitions of insurance brokerages in Southern Alberta.
Conning Research : Life Insurers Still Search for Middle Market Success.
Hartford, CONN., Sept. 12, 2006 - America's middle market has generated much attention in the life insurance industry and among consumer advocates for being underserved. Despite some middle-market-targeted successes in individual companies, the problem still persists, according to a new study by Conning Research and Consulting, Inc.
Latest Eastbridge Report Examines the Voluntary Term Life Market.
AVON, CONNECTICUT, USA (October 17, 2006)-Life plans are a mainstay in virtually every carrier's voluntary product portfolio, and life insurance is the most frequently sold voluntary product. Term life sales alone accounted for almost 15 percent of all voluntary sales in 2005, out selling UL/WL by a margin of almost two to one, according to Eastbridge's U.S. Worksite Sales Study.
Marketing and the Market Place
Zero is the Only Acceptable Number of Workplace Injuries and Fatalities: WSIB of Ontario.
TORONTO, October 3 - The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board's (WSIB) boldest social marketing campaign ever will launch today. The campaign theme - There Really are No Accidents - drives home the message that workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities are unacceptable, intolerable and 100% preventable.
Commercial Market Softens, Insurer Appetite Increases In Third Quarter, CIAB Survey Shows.
WASHINGTON - The commercial property/casualty market continued to soften during the third quarter, with indications that some insurers are finding an appetite for business in which they previously were not interested, according to the latest commercial market index survey by The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers.
Managing Relationships and Customer Service
Desjardins Online: Ten Years, Two billion Transactions.
Lévis (Québec), October 5, 2006 - Ten years ago saw the launch of the Desjardins Group Web site, www.desjardins.com, followed a few months later by the AccèsD transactional service offered online and by telephone. Right from the start, the success of this service exceeded all expectations; from around 8 million per year in the beginning, transactions eventually surged to more than a half-billion in 2005, for the first time outnumbering the total number of ATM transactions made the same year.
from Doug:
We are back now from a two-week tour called "North of France", with an art-historian as a tour guide. With our own interest in history, art, royalty etc., the area we travelled from Reims to Arras to Rouen and Mont-Saint-Michel, covered all the bases from Roman times to the Renaisance, from the French Revolution to the first World War Vimy Memorial and second World War Juno Beach centre. We had good guides and the group was most congenial. The four star restaurant we enjoyed the first five days gave a new appreciation to the French enjoyment of long dinners. The weather was wonderful - much better than that in Southern Ontario as I understand it. Only two blemishes: internet access was too easy (our weekly newsletter didn't miss a beat), and we were burdened with colds which cut short a planned extension in Paris. Oh well; good to be home.