Issue 2004-19:   May 18, 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.

CSIO Insurance Portal Status Update

Week ending May 14: Brokers are now being added to the portal.
Habitational rates for North Waterloo Mutual have been loaded; systems testing to follow. The pilot continues and is going well, but is being managed carefully.

Marketing and the Market Place

Canada Still Holds Second Place in Connectedness Index -- But Slipping: Conference Board of Canada.

For the fourth consecutive year, Canada ranks second behind the United States in the Conference Board's annual Connectedness Index. But Canada's traditional advantages in information and communication technologies (ICTs) are shrinking. Canada now shares second place with Sweden and other countries such as Finland, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany are also closing the gap.

Governments Must Find New Ways to Encourage Citizen Take-Up of eGovernment, Accenture Study Finds.

A majority of regular Internet users visit government Web sites only to gather information on topics of interest such as tourism or health, rather than to conduct online transactions such as filing taxes and applying for passports, according to a new research study released today by Accenture.

Canadians search for ways to pay down their mortgage: Manulife Bank.

More than four out of five Canadians feel it is important that their mortgage gives them the opportunity to pay down their debt faster, but only about one-third of mortgage holders actually took advantage of that option in 2003, according to a survey conducted for Manulife Bank of Canada.

Statistics and Reference

North American Life Insurance Activity in April Matches Prior Year Levels: MIB.

Applications for life insurance in North America were absolutely flat (0%) in April with 2004 volumes mirroring that of April 2003. This is the second consecutive month of statistically flat activity when compared to the prior year's Index values. Year-to-date, overall U.S. activity is off -1.5%, with Canadian activity down slightly at -0.3% compared to the same period last year. April over March 2004 results show declining U.S. activity, -5.5%, characteristic for this time period, and a Canadian decline of -1.0%.

The 2004 Annual Statistical Issue, now on sale! - Stone & Cox Ltd.

The industry's most comprehensive annual statistical issue, is now on sale! Keep it on your desk as your insurance company reference -- check out the market leaders -- learn who writes what. The annual Statistical issue is the industry's most read source for statistical information about Canadian life/health and property/casualty insurers and reinsurers.

Catastrophe Bond Market Growth Up 42 Percent in 2003, Guy Carpenter & MMC Securities.

The catastrophe bond market experienced substantial growth as catastrophe bonds remained an important complement to the reinsurance market in 2003, according to findings from a new joint study by Guy Carpenter & Company, Inc. and MMC Securities Corp. announced today. In 2003, total bond issuance reached $1.73 billion, representing a 42 percent year on year increase from the 2002 total of $1.22 billion.

Seminar

Going paperless has been a vision of insurers for over 30 years. There have been some notable successes, but many more frustrating, expensive failures. However, there is increasing promise with emerging digital imaging and electronic records management, and XML Standards for a wide variety of previously non-standard forms. Kris Betkowski, lead developer for Frank Cowan Company Ltd., will describe how this large MGA is selecting and implementing technology to reduce paper, and provide more information to underwriters and other users at ….

Todd Argall MBA, Vice President of Rural Mutual will share his experience in migrating insurance media from traditional delivery of paper based reports and documents, and how this enabled Rural to improve workflow and business processes. Todd will discuss his company's experience and the vision now being implemented to provide the right information to the proper recipients. Rural Mutual is using application technology from Tritech Financial Systems, and President Robert Symons will assist in the presentation, at ...

.....the next Insurance-Canada.ca seminar Policy and Document Management Systems: Developments and Trends - a half-day this Thursday May 20 in downtown Toronto - Register now.

Distribution

Global IQX Inc. Named as One of 25 Top IT Up & Comers.

Global IQX Inc. is a leading provider of integrated web-based sales and service automation solutions for the group life and health insurance industry was selected by Branham Group Inc. as one of the Top 25 Canadian up and Comers within the IT industry for 2004.

IVANS Announces New Features to Real-Time Services Available Through Transformation Station".

IVANS, Inc. announced today the general availability of new features to Transformation Station which make it easier for carriers and agents to communicate in real-time. The features include the ability to send and receive attachments, receive alerts regarding activities such as claim actions or cancellations, streamline endorsement processing and conduct Web site navigation and sign-on. Transformation Station is the leading Internet managed data exchange using Web services and ACORD XML to enable real-time transactions between insurance carriers and independent agents and brokers.

Hartford Insurance Can Accept First Notice of Loss and Attachments for Commercial Auto/Property Claims.

Rapidly submitting a timely First Notice of Loss (FNOL) report for a commercial auto or property insurance claim leads to faster settlements and satisfied claimants. The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE: HIG) now enables its independent insurance agents to electronically initiate the claim process for their clients.

e-Business and Technology

IBM Centre for Advanced Studies to Publish CASCON 2003 Workshop Proceedings: Generation5.

Generation5 announced today that the IBM CAS intends to publish the workshop proceedings of its CASCON 2003 (Centre for Advanced Studies Conference) workshops. The workshop, entitled "Categorical Data Analysis with Applications to Data Mining and Bioinformatics" was co-chaired by Generation5's Wenxue Huang, the Chief Scientist at Generation5's laboratory in Toronto, and York University professors Steven Wang and Jianhong Wu.

IBM Helps Eliminate Virus and Spam Headaches for Small and Medium Sized Businesses.

IBM announced new services designed to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) manage the growing complexity of maintaining their employees' personal technology devices.

Product Management

Swiss Re investigates the opportunities and risks of nanotechnology from an insurance perspective.

The use of nanotechnology in industrial and commercial production, although still in its infancy, is growing rapidly. Swiss Re addressed the opportunities and risks of nanotechnology at a media conference in London as part of its contribution to open risk dialogue. The publication "Nanotechnology: Small matter, many unknowns" is now available.

Consumer Information

Allstate spreads message against drunk driving at critical, high-risk time of year.

Allstate Canada is helping stop impaired driving and save lives before the upcoming Victoria Day long weekend and in advance of high school graduation celebrations across the country.

BC drivers challenged to reduce crashes in May: ICBC.

The provincial government, ICBC, and Autoplan brokers are challenging British Columbians to reduce the number of crashes in their communities.

Drinking? Driving? RoadWatch will be there: Manitoba.

Manitobans encouraged to make "safe" plans to get home. Every year in Manitoba about 140 people are killed in traffic crashes. Alcohol is involved in about one-third of these crashes.

from Doug:

In the spring when people seem to start driving more, it is good to see so many initiatives from the industry and related parties which reinforce responsible driving and safety. Although road deaths have dropped so dramatically over the years in spite of increasing volumes of cars and distances driven, each additional death and severe injury is a tragedy to family and friends. While visiting Regina recently, an elderly friend shared family photos while we together mourned the passing of his wife last fall. There in the photos was a daughter - killed when 16 in a traffic accident. What could have been?