Issue 2010-28 -- July 13, 2010

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.




Claims

Allegient Systems Selected and Implemented by Southern Pioneer Property & Casualty for Legal Bill Review.
Wilton, CT, July 8, 2010 - Allegient Systems today announced that it has been selected by and is now in production with Southern Pioneer Property & Casualty Insurance Company to provide legal bill review and performance management services. Allegient's technology driven Expense and Reporting Management Suite combined with its legal and insurance claims expertise enables Southern Pioneer to modernize the legal bill review process and reduce claim litigation expenses.

FINEOS Claims rated highly by Celent.
Dublin, Ireland, July 6, 2010 - FINEOS Corporation, a market leading provider of core software solutions for Insurance and Government Social Insurance, today announced that its FINEOS Claims solution has been evaluated by industry analyst, Celent, in the European Claims Vendors in 2010 report (Celent, June 2010).

eBusiness and Technology

Pitney Bowes Business Insight Releases New Version of Spectrum™ Technology Platform.
LANHAM, MD (June 9, 2010) -- Pitney Bowes Business Insight today announced the release of Pitney Bowes Spectrum™ Technology Platform v6.4, the latest version of its multi-domain data management solution. With expanded location data domain knowledge, support for transliteration and 64-bit processing power, the Spectrum Technology Platform helps provide the actionable customer intelligence required for a competitive advantage.

Policy and Product Management

Sapiens' stated focus on the insurance market and recent Harcase acquisition prompt new corporate ID.
Cary, North Carolina, May 20, 2010 - Sapiens International Corporation N.V. (NASDAQ and TASE: SPNS), a global provider of insurance software solutions, today announced its new corporate brand to reflect the company?s evolution and renewed focus on the insurance market. The fresh branding includes a new logo, redesigned website and collateral, and the company?s new tagline Experience Innovation Insurance which emphasizes Sapiens? insurance industry focus.

Business of Insurance

FSCO Statement of Priorities June 2010.
The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) is a regulatory agency established under the Financial Services Commission of Ontario Act, 1997 (FSCO Act). The Statement of Priorities is part of a three-year strategic planning process that allows FSCO to develop appropriate strategies to meet changing economic and marketplace conditions. As an agency of the Ministry of Finance, FSCO?s strategic priorities are developed as part of government-wide planning and reflect broader government priorities.

J.D. Power and Associates Reports: As Discount Brokerage Firms in Canada Attract Younger Investors, Importance of Online Interactions Increases.
TORONTO: 23 June 2010 - Online interactions between investors and their primary discount brokerage firms have increased in both frequency and importance as more Generation X and Y consumers become self-directed investors, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Canadian Discount Brokerage Investor Satisfaction StudySM released today.

Lloyd's: Green energy no longer just nice but necessary.
Tue 08 Jun 2010 - Reliance on fossil fuels is pushing the search for reserves into more difficult and risky territories as declining production from ?easy? oil reserves combines with rising demand from developing economies; an example being the current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. However, this could spur on the transition to more cost-efficient clean and renewable energy systems.

Marketing and the Market Place

Pollara's INSURPOLL 2010 Now Available.
TORONTO - July 8, 2010 - Pollara's INSURPOLL survey of Canada's home and auto insurance consumers is now available to subscribers. Since 1999 INSURPOLL has identified trends in the changing insurance consumer landscape including shopping and switching behaviour, perceptions of distribution channels, customer satisfaction with companies and representatives, branding and advertising and the role of the Internet in sales and service.

CFIB Business Barometer ® National small business confidence drops a touch.
Toronto, July 7, 2010 - Following a modest increase in May, optimism among Canada's small- and medium-sized business owners dipped slightly in June. According to the latest business confidence survey findings from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), the Business Barometer® index finished the month at 66.4, down about a point from May's 67.3 level.

Reference and Statistics

First half of 2010 marked many severe natural catastrophes: Munich Re.
The first half of 2010 was marked by an exceptionally large number of natural catastrophes and the scale of the losses they caused. From January until the end of June, 440 events were registered, the second highest figure for this period since 2000, and overall losses of US$ 70bn were recorded.

Car insurance increased 15.2% in Ontario but declined in Quebec, Alberta: Kanetix.
TORONTO, July 7, 2010 - Today, Kanetix® , Canada's online marketplace for insurance quotes and mortgage rates, released the results of its quarterly review of auto insurance rates in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. The results varied considerably between provinces when comparing year over year quoted rates in the second quarter of 2010; rates increased by 15.2 per cent in Ontario, fell 8.2 per cent in Quebec and dropped slightly in Alberta.

Risk Managers Enjoyed Highly Competitive Market for Insurance in 2009, According to 30th Anniversary Edition of RIMS Benchmark Survey™ Book.
NEW YORK (July 8, 2010) - Marking the 60th anniversary of the Risk and Insurance Management Society, as well as the 30th anniversary of the RIMS Benchmark Survey™, the 2010 RIMS Benchmark Survey™ book is now available. The report shows that the combined impact of lower insurance costs and lower risk management administrative costs led to a 3.1 percent drop in average total cost of risk (TCOR) per $1,000 of revenue in 2009.

MIB Life Index Reports U.S. Life Insurance Activity Declines 3.9% in June.
Braintree, MA. - (July 7, 2010) U.S. application activity for individually underwritten life insurance declined -3.9% in June year-over-year, all ages combined, according to the MIB Life Indexsm. June's decline was the largest year-over-year drop in U.S. application volume since March 2009. Overall, the U.S. Life Index experienced alternating monthly gains and losses over the first two quarters of the year resulting in application activity being off fractionally at June?s close, down -0.2% YTD. June?s activity was off -1.4% from May levels; declines are atypical for this time period.

Insurance in the Community

The Co-operators Supports Research into Homelessness and Mental Illness.
MONTREAL, July 6 2010 - A ground-breaking national research project studying the most effective way to provide housing and services to people living with mental illness and homelessness has expanded to Montreal. The Co-operators is now providing tenant's insurance to participants in the study in Montreal, as it has been doing in Moncton, Vancouver and Winnipeg since the program launched in these cities.

Consumer Information

Top 10 excuses for using a cellphone while driving: ICBC.
It's been five months since B.C. implemented the ban on using a hand-held cellphone while driving and police have issued more than 8,000 tickets. But despite the danger and the fines, people are still choosing to break the law. ICBC asked police across B.C. to share drivers' top excuses for using a hand-held cellphone while driving.

from Doug:

There may be many joys in a new home, but getting there can be a bit of a pain. Our first of two moves of major furniture items is now successfully behind us. Disappointment was avoided when, after an hour of struggling, twisting and turning, a large antique pine corner cupboard, which had come up the elevator without big problems, finally made it through the doorway of our condo – only one large and a few small holes in the hall wall opposite. As we prepare for the next move and continue to take a car-load of boxes each day, we are amazed to find that rooms which we thought were pretty much empty are still yielding anther box or more of items to go – I think they must be propagating overnight!


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