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.




Product Announcements

L.J. Gosselin & Associates announces a Tuition Reimbursement Program from Echelon General Insurance Company.
The Tuition Reimbursement Program product provides a partial reimbursement to the parents or guardians of the student of the non recoverable tuition fees in the event their child is not able to finish the school year.

Distribution

Custom Software Solutions Products Now Integrated With Aviva's Gateway Broker Portal.
May 1, 2007 - Custom Software Solutions Inc. (CSSI) is pleased to announce that Aviva Insurance brokers will soon have the ability to instantly transfer data from CSSI's The Brokers Workstation rating tool Intelliquote to Aviva's broker portal Gateway.

Policy and Product Management

Liberty Life Completes Phase I of Single Platform Project with SunGard's iWORKS.
Miami, FL – May 1, 2007 – SunGard today announced that Liberty Life, a South African financial services group, has completed Phase I of its single platform project with SunGard's iWORKS COMPASS, a group and individual insurance, pension and investment product administration system.

IBM and Camilion Team Up to Deliver Product Lifecycle Management Solutions to Insurers.
TORONTO, May 1, 2007 - IBM Global Business Services and Camilion Solutions, the leading provider of Product Development Solutions and Policy Administration Systems to the insurance industry, today announced an agreement whereby IBM is now a reseller for Camilion's flagship software solution, ProductAuthority(TM). IBM, which is the largest provider of IT solutions to the global insurance industry, supporting more than a billion transactions a day, will also resell Camilion services and training.

Raising the Bar: Tools and Tactics to Drive Life New Business Efficiency: Report Published by Celent.
Boston, MA, USA - May 1, 2007 - The struggle to reduce costs and to improve new business efficiency continues to vex carriers. One reason is the industry's continued reliance on paper applications.

Insurance in the Community

Habitat for Humanity Canada Has a New Partner in First Canadian Title.
Oakville Company Committed to Donate Over $80,000 in 2007
April 23, 2007 - Oakville, ON – Habitat for Humanity Canada announced today that they are excited to enter a new corporate partnership with First Canadian Title, who held a launch event this morning at their Home Office in Oakville.

20 Years, Five Playgrounds, One Day - Aon celebrates 20th anniversary by serving communities across Canada.
TORONTO, April 24 2007 - On April 24th, 2007 Aon Corporation will celebrate 20 years on the New York Stock Exchange. To commemorate this important milestone, more than 43,000 Aon colleagues have joined together to support local communities as part of a global "People Helping People" initiative. From Australia to Vietnam, from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe and in Canada from Victoria to Halifax, Aon held hundreds of special events and community outreach programs, celebrating this milestone.

Consumer Information

Compucage International Inc. to attend RIMS Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc..
Compucage International Inc is pleased to announce it will be attending the April 29th to May 3rd 2007 RIMS Annual Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans. We are attending the RIMS show to broaden business partnerships by showcasing our award winning line of theft prevention devices to the Insurance Sector.

IBC Progress Report on Commercial Insurance in Atlantic Canada - Education and Communication Among Accomplishments - More Work Remains.
HALIFAX, April 30 2007 - The Atlantic Task Force on Insurance Availability and Affordability released its Progress Report today, highlighting progress made by insurers, government and commercial insurance buyers towards implementing recommendations to improve the commercial insurance marketplace long-term.

ICBC rear-crash protection ratings of 2007 model passenger cars.
VANCOUVER, April 30 - The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) recently released rear-crash protection ratings of 2007 model passenger cars. Only 40 per cent of current car models provide adequate protection from neck injury or whiplash.

Marketing and the Market Place

Retirement Planning Is Everyone's Job, LIMRA and Other Organizations Say.
ATLANTA, April 18, 2007 — While broad economic shifts are forcing most people to become more self-reliant for their financial needs in retirement, it will take more than consumers' bootstraps to ensure financial security for millions of aging Americans. A new report from LIMRA International, Matthew Greenwald & Associates, and the Society of Actuaries outlines actions that not only consumers but employers, financial professionals, the financial services industry and government should consider to improve the state of retirement planning.

Marsh Flips View of Risk ''Upside'' Down with Bold New Branding Campaign.
NEW YORK, April 30, 2007 - Marsh Inc., the world's leading risk and insurance services firm, today announced the launch of the most ambitious branding campaign in the firm's 136-year history by encouraging businesses to focus on another side of risk - the "upside." The campaign, created by the New York office of Ogilvy, seeks to disrupt the traditional view of risk as a liability to be avoided by asking the reader to also consider finding opportunities in risk.

Broadband Internet Access Peaking - Wireless Connectivity To Drive Next Phase Of Global Internet Usage: Ipsos Survey.
April 18, 2007 New York, NY- While dial-up access to the Internet continues its slow death globally, the number of Internet adults utilizing 'wired' broadband connections may also be peaking, according to results released from Ipsos Insight's annual The Face of the Web study. At the end of 2006, it is estimated that over three-quarters (77%) of the global online population was utilizing a broadband connection to access the Internet.

Reference and Statistics

MIB Life Index Reports North American Life Insurance Activity Down 3.5% in March.
(Westwood, Mass. – April 24, 2007) North American application activity for individually underwritten life insurance was off -3.5% in March year-over-year, according to the MIB Life Indexsm. March's decline moderated from January's published -7.4% decline and February's -6.5% decline year-over-year.

New 2006 RIMS Benchmark Survey™ Book Records Total Cost of Risk Down Again.
New Orleans, April 30, 2007 - According to the newly-published 2006 Annual Benchmark Survey™ book from the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS), the commercial insurance industry continued to experience an overall decline in total cost of risk in 2006. The 2006 RIMS Benchmark Survey™ book provides risk managers with objective and actionable insurance market information based on the insurance programs of more than 1,200 participants from the U.S. and Canada.

eBusiness and Technology

eMarketer: Business Crawls onto Web 2.0.
MAY 1, 2007 - The buzz around collaborative Web 2.0 technologies keeps going, and it is easy to think that every firm now has a blog, a wiki and an RSS feed. In fact, a global survey of internal and corporate communications professionals found that more than half use blogs, online video and RSS, or plan to do so in the next 12 months.

from Doug:

I consider myself fortunate to have both parents reasonably well. They have lots of stories - both were teenagers in the latter half of the depression, Dad flew anti-sub patrol on the west coast during World War II and they married mid-war. Maybe partly as a result, they have lived life well. I visited them last Thursday to celebrate Dad's birthday and I have a Mother's Day card to deliver this Thursday. Hope you too will have occasion to celebrate Mother's Day on Sunday.


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