Both companies to jointly develop and market insurance applications
Mumbai, May 23, 2005 – i-flex solutions (Reuters: IFLX.BO/IFLX.NS), a leading provider of technology solutions to the global financial services industry has entered into a strategic alliance with Castek Software Inc., a Toronto based provider of insurance systems for the global Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance industry. As part of the alliance, i-flex has established an equity financing arrangement with Castek that allows for i-flex to become the largest shareholder in Castek.
In addition, R Ravisankar, CEO International Operations and Business Development of i-flex solutions has joined Castek�s Board of Directors.
Currently, the Property & Casualty industry is dominated by legacy systems, which inhibit response time in operational priorities such as supporting customer centered business models, flexible product management and deployment, claims processing and in business-support areas of risk and profitability metrics. Making changes to existing applications invariably takes many months and is prohibitively expensive.
Castek�s Insure3 (pronounced “Insure cubed”) suite, which addresses these challenges, is open-standards driven and ensures new product definition, configuration and deployment across multiple states and for multiple lines in a fraction of the time. The solution integrates seamlessly into existing systems of insurance companies and can be adopted in both mature and fast growing markets.
Celent, a Boston based research firm, forecasts that North American insurance carriers will spend more than US$1.4 billion on policy administration systems between 2004 and 2008. Over 50% of this spend is attributed to the Property and Casualty segment.
“Our investment in Castek creates a winning combination of i-flex’s project and quality management skills built over a decade coupled with Castek�s advanced product intellectual property and domain expertise. We are committed to the insurance industry and this initiative is in line with our mission of enabling financial institutions worldwide to excel through the use of technology,” says Ravisankar.
Added Yung Wu, CEO of Castek, “Insurance companies seeking to upgrade their existing systems are concerned about risks associated with execution of such projects and seek partners who can mitigate these risks. i-flex’s investment in Castek creates just such a strong partnership which addresses these issues as well as supports P&C insurers’ need to respond in a timely, flexible and reliable manner to ongoing customer requirements.”
About Castek
Castek Software Inc. (Toronto, ON) specializes in strategic business software for Property and Casualty insurance. Recognized for the advanced architecture and flexibility of its products, Castek provides carriers with a suite of core business processing systems for insurance product and process configuration, policy processing, customer billing and claims management.
For more information, please visit http://www.castek.com.
About i-flex solutions
i-flex® solutions (Reuters: IFLX.BO & IFLX.NS)) is a world leader in providing IT solutions to the financial services industry. i-flex has serviced over 540 customers in more than 110 countries. i-flex�s range of products and customized services enable financial institutions to cut costs, respond rapidly to market needs, enhance customer service levels and mitigate risk.
FLEXCUBE, Reveleus, PrimeSourcing, DayBreak Lending Suite, and other i-flex products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of i-flex solutions limited in India and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.
