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INSURANCE

Pittsburgh-based National Union Fire Insurance Co., has unveiled its Hedge Fund Protector, a new insurance policy tailored to protect hedge fund managers, directors and officers against liability exposures and potential litigation, the firm has announced. Hedge Fund Protector covers D&O, partnership liability, managing member liability and professional liability insurance specifically for hedge funds.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has unveiled its Private Choice Encore! Plus, a new suite of endorsements that builds on its Private Choice Encore! management liability package policy, the company has announced. The new suite improves coverage of application severability, entity defense-only sublimit for antitrust claims, and definitions of claims, including civil, criminal, regulatory and arbitration proceedings.

The AI Risk division of Risk Specialists Companies Inc., is offering Architects & Engineers Professional Liability Insurance on an admitted basis. Brokers and agents can obtain the coverage for small and midsize architecture and engineering clients to cover them from claims arising from allegations of errors, omissions or wrongful acts related to services they provide or services others render for which they are legally liable.

Property/Casualty

The Chubb Group of Ins. Cos. has selected Risk Control Strategies to support its new Signature Suite offering of luxury personal risk management services, Chubb has announced. Risk Control Strategies will provide Chubb's high-net-worth and family office customers with a complimentary personal risk assessment, including a vulnerability assessment and lifestyle threat analysis.

Program underwriter Lighthouse Underwriters has added a business-owners policy to its Take1 entertainment insurance program, the underwriter has announced. Take1 is available to audio/visual rental dealers, equipment dealers and multimedia production companies. The new policy features actual-loss-sustained business income and extra-expense coverage; automatic coverage for accounts receivable, valuable paper and crime coverage, per-location aggregate coverage, and blanket coverage for additional insureds.

Excess Casualty

AIG Excess Casualty has launched xsInResponse for risks previously covered by an insurance carrier that is now insolvent, the excess and surplus insurance carrier has announced. The product is available as an endorsement to its Umbrella Prime liability policy, and allows policyholders to reduce insolvency-related vulnerabilities in excess liability insurance programs dating back 15 years.

Environmental

ACE has launched ACE Environmental Risk to help European organizations better manage their environmental liabilities and risks in light of increasing European Union regulation, ACE has announced. ACE Environmental Risk is modeled on the firm's expertise gained working in the United States. The new venture is headed by Karl Russek, who was senior vice president of Environmental Risk in the United States. He will take on a similar role in Europe, operating from ACE European Group's office in London.

Health Care

UnitedHealthcare is expanding opportunities for small businesses to offer health benefits to their employees through a new consumer-driven health product, the insurer has announced. The new product features a Health Reimbursement Account for employers with two to 149 employees. The so-called Definity HRA plan is designed to help small businesses access affordable health care through the focus on consumer engagement.

Reference

Broker Willis Group has unveiled a new publication, "The Willis Worldwide Directory of Directors' and Officers' Liability," the firm has announced. The guide details the potential personal liabilities of directors in 51 countries in Africa, Latin America, North America, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East. The reference guide is targeted at senior level executives, corporate counsels, company secretaries and risk managers.

ECRI, an independent, nonprofit health services research agency that helps hospitals protect patients and staff from the dangers of magnetic resonance scanners, has published new safety tips, ECRI has announced.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has released a new guidebook called "How to Align Security with Your Strategic Business Objectives," that explains how companies can think about their security strategies based on five steps: assess, analyze, strategize, align and communicate. The guide uses the firm's SecurityATLAS framework, which helps companies develop, deliver, communicate and maintain an enterprise-wide information security strategy.

SOFTWARE

Policy Administration

Fiserv Insurance Solutions has launched version 1.10 of its Policy STAR system for policy administration, the firm has announced. The addition includes support for boiler/machinery, commercial output and dwelling fire lines of business--bringing the total to 14 for the lines of business that the policy system can support. Version 1.10 features forms that are easier to maintain and more accurate audits of personal and commercial lines of business.

CareVu Corp. has launched CareVu Complete, a product that provides multiple routing capabilities for preferred provider organizations, the firm has announced. CareVu Complete brings together CareVu's health-care electronic data interchange services, such as HIPAA-compliant national EDI clearinghouse with Web-based accessibility for both senders and receivers.

NuQuest/Bridge Pointe, a provider of Medicare Set-Aside allocation services, will offer start-to-finish services for Medicare secondary payer compliance, the firm has announced. NuQuest/Bridge Pointe provides one source servicing solutions through one referral, available over the phone, fax, e-mail and online.

Process Management

FileNet Corp., a provider of enterprise content and business process management software, has released its new FileNet Business Activity Monitoring solution, the firm has announced. The technology provides insurance companies with real-time event management and business performance data to improve decision-making. BAM is based on FileNet's P8 enterprise platform and runs with FileNet's business process management capabilities.

Insurity, a ChoicePoint company, has launched its Insurance Decisions suite of business process-improvement products and services for property/casualty insurance, the firm has announced. Insurance Decisions incorporates all of Insurity's processing applications onto one services platform, providing support to all parties--from risk selection to loss mitigation. The suite integrates three components, policy decisions, claims decisions and reporting decisions, onto one platform.

The Main Street America Group, a property/casualty insurer in 16 states, has implemented Verian Technologies' ProcureIT solution, the firm has announced. ProcureIT is a Web-based product that provides organizations with the ability to capture and manage spending associated with purchase orders, expense reimbursements and fixed assets.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has introduced a new Web home page for its agency portal, the insurer has announced. The Hartford's Electronic Business Center home page was designed to be cleaner and more user-friendly while supporting the workflow of its agents. Based on feedback, the enhancements give agency staff the support they need to quickly find the information 24 hours a day.

Sircon Corp., which develops software for carriers, agencies and state regulators, has announced the release of its Compliance Express 7.0 software suite, the company has announced. Compliance Express is an electronic licensing and appointment service that allows insurers to perform online transactions and query state insurance regulatory agencies, eliminating the paper-based method of interacting with state regulators.

Fraud Prevention

White-Collar Crime 101 LLC, developers of the employee fraud awareness training course called FraudAware, has announced the release of the course's latest version, FraudAware/Insurance CS, the company has announced. The program provides information on policyholder and insider fraud schemes to help insurance company customer service representatives detect and prevent fraud, such as social engineering scams, forgery and the theft of property and identity.

Experian is launching a new fraud detection and prevention platform, the data vendor has announced. The product combines a range of fraud-fighting and identity-authentication tools that provide financial institutions with fraud scores which they can then use to asses the level of fraud risk in a transaction.

A2iA, a developer of advanced handwriting and print recognition software, has released version 3.5 of its A2iA CheckReader. The technology already is at the core of many image-based point-of-presentment check processing systems in the United States. The new version makes it possible for developers to integrate CheckReader into check-processing applications that run on the Linux operating system, and allows more options in developing backup and disaster recovery systems.

Fair Isaac Corporation, a provider of analytics and decision technology, has announced that the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries has licensed VeriComp Fraud Manager to enhance its workers' compensation fraud and abuse detection capabilities. VeriComp Fraud Manager enables users to score claims on the likelihood of fraud and abuse. The software also helps organizations fast-track normal claims while notifying adjusters of suspicious claims.

Property Valuation

The American Association of Insurance Services, which develops policy forms and rating information, has announced that insurers using its Farmowners or Farm Properties programs will have access to a Web-based farm property valuation service. The service, the Farm and Ranch Estimator developed by e2Value Inc., can be used for valuing farm dwellings and outbuildings. Access to the Farm and Ranch Estimator will be provided through AAISdirect, an Internet-based service for providing desktop access to forms, manuals and bulletins.

Workers' Compensation

Nebraska regulators have approved the use of Workers' Compensation Information Services software for electronic proof-of-coverage filings, the Insurance Services Office has announced. The approval means that ISO's workers' compensation customers will be able to use a single data feed from their policy and claims source systems to meet reporting requirements in Nebraska. WCIS already uses the data feed to provide statistical reporting, aggregate financial submissions, injury reporting and specialized claim reporting.

Catastrophe

EQECAT Inc., a risk modeling firm based in Oakland, Calif., has announced that Benfield Inc. has signed a licensing agreement to use its U.S. wildfire model. The model is part of EQECAT's WORLDCAT catastrophe management software suite. Benfield Inc. is the U.S. division of Benfield Group Ltd., an independent reinsurance and risk intermediary.

Broker Management

Zywave Inc., a provider of technology products and services for insurance brokers, has released BrokerageBuilder 3.0, the latest version of its agency management application, the vendor has announced. New enhancements include HIPAA security functionality, encrypted e-mail capabilities, a standard reports section, a customizable workflow section, and proposal and attachment upgrades. Version 3.0 also integrates Microsoft Outlook, avoiding data transfer and time-loss concerns.

Financial Reporting

Eagle Technology Management, a provider of advanced annual and quarterly statement systems for the insurance industry, has released version 3.0 of its WINGS Financial Reporting System, featuring the new EO2 (Excel/Outlook2) interface. The EO2 interface is available to all existing WINGS clients at no extra cost. The EO2 interface option offers users the familiarity of Outlook and Excel, allowing users to access and work with financial reporting data, statement pages and schedules.

Document Management

InSystems, specialists in complex document and compliance automation for insurance and financial services organizations, has introduced its InSystems Tracker 6.3, the firm has announced. The software boosts speed-to-market of new insurance products by streamlining their creation and helping secure faster approvals from regulators. Tracker 6.3 features direct integration with rate and form filings required by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, slashing the time it takes for multistate filings by 60 percent to 70 percent.

Regulation

Pegasystems Inc., a provider of business process management software, has released its new Control and Compliance Solutions framework, the firm has announced. The product is designed to help companies meet the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other regulations. Built on business-process management technology, the software helps companies automate creating, managing, testing and auditing business controls.

Subrogation

Intermountain Health Care has licensed MY SOCRATES software for their in-house subrogation platform, the vendor Socrates Inc. has announced. Intermountain is a Utah-based nonprofit health-care system that includes hospitals, clinics, health insurance plans, a physician group and affiliated physicians. Socrates has also signed an agreement with John Deere Health to provide subrogation services to John Deere Health Plan Inc. in order to manage the costs paid by John Deere Health's members.

ALLIANCES

Property/Casualty

Clients of McNeil & Co.'s Ambulance Services Insurance Program who use DriveCam are eligible for a discount of up to 5 percent per DriveCam-equipped vehicle, DriveCam Inc. has announced. In addition, DriveCam will offer a 5 percent volume discount toward the cost of each DriveCam system. The system identifies unsafe driving behavior by recording video and audio of risky driving. The data can then be used as feedback to drivers. McNeil & Co. provides insurance programs and risk management services.

--Compiled by staff from company and news releases.

February 1, 2006

Copyright 2006© LRP Publications