Issue 2008-28 -- July 15, 2008
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.
Managing Relationships and Customer Service
Canadian plan sponsors ask for a better member statement, Sun Life Financial delivers.
TORONTO, July 7 2008 - Canadian plan sponsors are asking for improvements in the member statements delivered by group retirement and savings plan providers. Today, Sun Life Financial unveils my statement, a bold new plan member statement developed with input from plan sponsors, plan
members, and advisors.
Dalbar: Mutual Fund Statements Improving.
Thursday, 26 June 2008 - In the latest analysis of mutual fund statements across the industry, DALBAR noted an overall improvement from previous studies in both the quality and content available on this important communication piece.
Claims
The PMA Insurance Group Selects Guidewire.
SAN MATEO, California, July 9, 2008 - Guidewire Software®, a leading global provider of technology solutions to property and casualty insurers, today announced that The PMA Insurance Group has selected Guidewire ClaimCenter® as the technology platform for its end-to-end claims handling needs. PMA will deploy ClaimCenter for all its lines of business (workers' compensation, commercial automobile, commercial multi-peril, general liability, and umbrella insurance), resulting in the ultimate retirement of its current system.
Business of Insurance
The struggle with the financial crisis and recession is not even over, and a new enemy is materializing: inflation! Forecasts by Desjardins Group economists.
Lévis (Québec), June 26, 2008 - Canada could go into a recession and Ontario is already there, but Québec should be able to avoid slipping into one.
After four straight months of pullbacks, the Canadian economy is at risk, vulnerable to an official recession.
Conning Research: USA Property-Casualty Industry Loss Reserves Position Deteriorated in 2007.
(Hartford, CT) July 1, 2008 - While the property-casualty industry still appears to have strong reserves, overall its position began to deteriorate in 2007, according to a new study by Conning Research and Consulting, Inc.
Ernst & Young supports Insurance Commissioners' Solvency Modernization Work Plan.
New York, 20 June 2008 - With the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' (NAIC) latest move to assess international solvency regulations and make adaptations to the US regulatory structure, Ernst & Young sees increased momentum for global alignment with solvency rules and endorses the Solvency Modernization Work Plan, which NAIC adopted this month.
Policy and Product Management
Celent looks at how a business rules management solution has enabled Travelers to increase the flow of new business by over 50%.
San Francisco, CA, USA June 25, 2008 - A new Celent report, Business Rules and Underwriting Automation at Travelers, presents a case study of how an insurance company achieved significant success in automating underwriting and pricing of several lines sold to its small business customers. The company is Travelers; the business unit is Select Accounts; the products are sold in its TravelersExpressSM program; and the key technologies supporting this initiative are a business rules management system (BRMS), predictive analytics, and service-oriented architecture (SOA).
Consumer Information
ICBC announces 3% average reduction in optional insurance rates.
VANCOUVER, July 7 - ICBC's personal optional insurance customers will see their rates for optional coverage go down by an average of three per cent effective July 1, 2008. Almost 71 per cent of customers who purchase both their basic and optional insurance for their private passenger vehicles fromICBC will see their combined rates decrease or stay roughly the same.
Wait time priority procedures continue to increase: CIHI.
OTTAWA, June 25 2008 - Over a two-year period, Canadian patients outside Quebec underwent almost 60,000 additional surgical procedures in priority areas targeted for wait time reductions, according to a new study by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). Between 2004-2005 and 2006-2007, surgical rates in these priority areas increased by 8% overall, after population growth and aging were accounted for.
Marketing and the Market Place
Business Barometer: High energy costs and economic uncertainty fuels decline in business optimism - CFIB.
June 25, 2008 - Toronto – Expectations among Canada's small- and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) took a sharp tumble in June, according to the latest survey of business optimism by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Latest expectations push the Business Barometer index down for the third consecutive quarter, to its lowest level since third quarter 2001.
Our People
Towers Perrin Survey Shows Companies Now Leveraging HR Technology Systems to Further People Agenda.
STAMFORD, CT, JUNE 30, 2008 -- For the first time, a Towers Perrin annual survey of human resource service delivery trends among global organizations found that talent management and workforce issues trump technology systems enhancements or upgrades as the top priority of human resource executives.
Product Announcements
AonSmartDrive Measured Safety Program Reduces Auto Related Liability Costs by 50%.
CHICAGO, June 23 2008 -- Aon Corporation, the leading global risk and insurance firm, and SmartDrive, a global leader in driver safety and risk management solutions, have teamed up to provide a joint service called AonSmartDrive.
eBusiness and Technology
Guy Carpenter's i-aXs® Platform Wins TDWI Best Practices Award.
New York, July 2, 2008 - Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, the leading global risk and reinsurance specialist, today Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, the leading global risk and reinsurance specialist, today announced that its i-aXs® online risk management platform has received the 2008 TDWI Best Practices Award in the Radical Business Intelligence category, for its outstanding use of business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing (DW) technology.
Gartner Says Cloud Computing Will Be As Influential As E-business.
STAMFORD, Conn., June 26, 2008 - Cloud computing heralds an evolution of business that is no less influential than e-business, according to Gartner Inc. Gartner maintains that the very confusion and contradiction that surrounds the term "cloud computing" signifies its potential to change the status quo in the IT market.
Application Performance Issues Cause Organizations to Lose Millions, According to New Aberdeen Group Study: Gomez Inc. News.
Lexington, Massachusetts, July 8, 2008 - Application performance issues are impacting overall corporate revenues by up to 9 percent, according to a new benchmark report by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks company (NYSE:HHS,) sponsored in part by Gomez, Inc., a leading provider of web application experience management services.
from Doug:
Three beautiful days so far (at time of writing on Saturday) in New Brunswick enjoying the heritage conference, the friendship of many we have come to know well over the years, the local sites and people. A few vacation days follow.