Best's Review articles from June 2003

Best's Review archives from June 2003

The business continuity continuum: keeping insurance systems running. (Special Advertising Section).
June 1, 2003... How much does downtime cost? Costs associated with any downtime (both planned and unplanned) can result in the loss of millions of dollars in revenues per day. More importantly, downtime can cause customers to turn to competitors, and with...

'Nothing has impacted this company as much as ImageRight.' (Advertisement).
June 1, 2003... Richard Hobbie, President Harry Yerkes Vice President Water Quality Insurance Syndicate Water Quality Insurance Syndicate is the largest underwriter of pollution liability insurance for marine vessels in the United States. Founded...

Up close and personal. .(Editorial)
June 1, 2003... The big names are everywhere--national television advertisements, stadium sponsorships, billboards and more--but a critical component of the insurance industry has names most of us don't recognize, unless they're in our neighborhood, and then...

In the Spotlight *. (Comment).
June 1, 2003... "In the past, a lot of captives in the British Virgin Islands were small, mainly credit-life operations. But BVI is now moving up and weeding out a lot of the older captives, and every year we've had quite a few that have lapsed.... You're not...

State Compensation Insurance Fund of California. (Briefing: People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... George R. Vignolo Jr. has been promoted to vice president and a member of the executive committee by the State Compensation Insurance Fund of California. Vignolo is a 31-year veteran of State Fund who began his career as a sales...

Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. (Briefing: People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Sunita Bhatia-Holzer has been appointed worldwide human resources manager for the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. Bhatia-Holzer, a senior vice president of Chubb & Son Inc. and a managing director is responsible for leading the...

Penn-America Group Inc. (Briefing: People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Penn-America Group Inc. has named Richard W. Slomiany vice president of claims for the company's insurance subsidiaries. Slomiany was previously assistant vice president of claims with Harleysville Insurance, where he was responsible for the...

Twister damage may surpass $22 billion in insured losses.
June 1, 2003... As at least 18 states recover from more than 400 tornadoes, insurers are facing what could be the largest loss ever from a severe thunderstorm system--with one catastrophe-modeling company estimating the insured loss could exceed $2.2 billion....

Premera Blue Cross. (Briefing: People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Premera Blue Cross said Heyward Donigan has joined the company as executive vice president and chief marketing executive. She will be responsible for the sales, marketing and product-development efforts for Premera companies in Washington,...

Grange Insurance. (Briefing: People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Grange Insurance has named Alan D. Brannan the new president of personallines underwriting, following a nationwide search. Brannan most recently was president and chief operating officer for the Massachusetts personallines division of...

New York Life Insurance Co. (Briefing: People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... New York Life Insurance Co. has elected David A.K. Harland senior vice president. He is responsible for the corporate governance unit and will continue as a deputy general counsel and assistant secretary. Harland joined New York Life in...

Workplace Injuries.
June 1, 2003... According to Liberty Mutual's 2003 Workplace Safety Index, the direct cost of workers' compensation insurance claims from disabling work-related injuries in 2000 grew to $42.5 billion. A small percentage of the workers' camp claims continue to...

Meetings.
June 1, 2003... June 11-13: American Association of Health Plans, Institute and Display Forum, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, D.C. Phone: (202) 778-3269 Web site: www.aahp.org. June 16-18: LIMRA International, 2003 Executive...

Holocaust commission names policyholders. (Briefing).(The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims published its list of policyholders on its Web site at www.icheic.org. )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... After years of legal struggle, the names of nearly 400,000 European life insurance policyholders from the 1930s and 1940s were made available by an international commission seeking to settle unpaid claims of Holocaust victims. The...

Weak dollar adds to European worries. (Briefing).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Currency-exchange rates are joining equity-market slumps and falling interest rates as factors dampening European insurers' profits, as the sluggish U.S. economy contributes to the weakening of the dollar against the euro. One of the...

Consumers, physicians criticize insurers on allergy drug costs. (Briefing).
June 1, 2003... In late 2002, the Food and Drug Administration allowed the allergy drug Claritin to be sold over the counter, requiring allergy sufferers in the United States--as many as 50 million people--to pay out of pocket for the full price of the drug....

Terrorism pool could help with losses. (Briefing).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Workers' compensation writers can't exclude terrorism under the federal backstop program, so they've been trying to organize a pool to pay for future terrorism losses, said the head of the National Association of Independent Insurers. The...

Best's rating changes. (Ratings).
June 1, 2003... This summary of Best's Rating Changes includes U.S.-domiciled life, health-care and property/casually insurers as well as international insurers that had ratings assigned, changed or placed under review since this section last appeared in the...

Little Fish: Buffeted by larger forces but anchored in their markets, small companies hold onto their place in a changing industry. (Market Competition: The Big Picture).
June 1, 2003... They can be nimble, focused, light on bureaucracy and close to their agents and customers. They also can be thinly capitalized, sparsely staffed and too concentrated for comfort in one region or one line of business. Small insurers--regional...

Serving the underserved: Tuscarora-Wayne Mutual Insurance Co.'s small size allows for tighter coordination and a more personal touch. (Market Competition: The Big Picture).
June 1, 2003... While the company might be small in size, Tuscarora-Wayne Mutual Insurance Co. has chosen a big mission--to "serve the underserved." The company, which was conceived in the early 1870s during a thunderstorm, writes what Jay Chadwick,...

Finding value in size: fueled by an underwriting-profit culture and focused on niche markets such as motorcycle coverage, Pacific Specialty Insurance Co. competes with industry leaders. (Market Competition: The Big Picture).
June 1, 2003... Being more nimble is one of several advantages Pacific Specialty Insurance Co. sees in its size. Being a small carrier certainly hasn't stopped the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company from growing its business to a projected $120 million in...

Honor, duty and life insurance: 5 Star Life Insurance Co. grows profitably by sticking to its mission of providing life insurance to the military and by finding niches elsewhere. (Market Competition: The Big Picture).
June 1, 2003... It's only seven years old, but 5 Star Life Insurance Co. is a small company that already has a lot going for it. The Alexandria, Va.-based company has a solid niche market, an enviable location and a supportive parent organization with...

A Clear Vision: USPlate Glass Insurance Co. covers windows for commercial buildings with speedy, personal service--meaning curtains for its mostly uninterested competition. (Market Competition: The Big Picture).
June 1, 2003... USPlate Glass Insurance Co. is in the business of covering windows, but not with shades or curtains. Billing itself as "America's largest monoline glass insurer," USPlate Glass writes insurance to cover the plateglass windows of commercial...

Changing roles. (Distribution: Industry Strategies).
June 1, 2003... Cross-selling agents who parlay property/casualty customers into buyers of life insurance and investment products find they are fortified against lower-cost competitors. Jim Spachman had no interest in becoming a salesman 18 years ago as...

Performance Review: A distribution channel is an asset that may grow in value if its performance is continuously evaluated. (Distribution: Industry Strategies).
June 1, 2003... For many general agents and for captive agency managers, measuring distribution channel performance is sometimes as simple as saying, "This quarter's sales are up; we must be doing a good job." However, current quarter's sales tell only part of...

Your move: Insurers must weigh the potential depth and breadth of coverage before they allocate distribution resources. (Distribution: Industry Strategies).
June 1, 2003... Without doubt, many of the sales managers in your distribution organization are clamoring for additional headcount for next year. And in all likelihood, each would generate incremental new premiums with those resources. However, sales...

The Yearlings: the largest of the Bermuda start-ups formed in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, have already had an impact in the market. (Bermuda Start-Ups: Property/Casualty).
June 1, 2003... The five largest Bermuda startups launched to take advantage of post-Sept. 11, 2001, market conditions have taken off rapidly, and some say have already had a surprising impact in the market. The new players have helped to stabilize the...

Insuring dreams: Mortgage guaranty insurers are successfully navigating a mixed environment of low interest rates, increasing unemployment and increasing property values. (Mortgage Guaranty: Property/Casualty).
June 1, 2003... Despite the current economic downturn, the U.S. housing market remains hot, which is good news for the mortgage guaranty insurance industry. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight estimates that home prices rose 6.89% during...

Shaken and stirred: Energetic and energizing Joe Plumeri has spiked revenue growth and retired debt since being installed as the head of Willis Group Holdings in late 2000. (Company Profile: Property/Casualty).
June 1, 2003... In just a few years, broker Willis Group Holdings has undergone a sea change. With the goal of becoming the world's best pure insurance broker, Willis has begun steering a course that already has seen its revenues grow and its stock price soar....

D&O [directors and officers insurance] recovery linked to realistic rate base: Reeling from the effects of corporate scandals, D&O insurers are tying rates to true risk, while hoping Sarbanes-Oxley will prevent future pitfalls. (RIMS Conference: Property/Casualty).
June 1, 2003... The pain in the directors and officers insurance market is set to continue for some time, as insurers seek to regain control of pricing, coverage and losses in the wake of corporate-governance and accounting scandals that exposed a decade of...

Lloyd's chairman presses for efficiency. (RIMS Conference: Property/Casualty).(Lord Peter Levene of Lloyd's of London speaks at Risk and Insurance Management Society conference)
June 1, 2003... Buoyed by strong results for 2002, Lloyd's Chairman Lord Peter Levene is pushing hard for the market to continue modernizing and cutting costs, and he warned that resisting change would erode the competitive positions of players in the market...

Industry leaders lose sleep over tort reform, terror. (RIMS Conference: Property/Casualty).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Tort reform and terrorism top the list of what keeps property/casualty leaders awake at night, many said at the 41st RIMS Annual Conference and Exhibit in Chicago. "Tort reform has really risen in the last year," said Brian M. O'Hara,...

Corporate changes: the number of mergers increased in the property/casualty industry in 2002, and state involvement continues to grow. (Corporate Changes: Property/Casualty).
June 1, 2003... The number of state actions continued to rise in 2002, to 44 compared with 35 in 2001 and 25 in 2000. This year's corporate changes study, based on filings and AM. Best Co. data, shows 35 new property/casualty insurers entered the market...

Royal & SunAlliance offers specialty food coverage. (Marketplace: Property/Casualty).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The business insurance division of Royal & SunAlliance USA is offering a new program of insurance and services for manufacturers of specialty food products. Specialty food manufacturers focus on narrow product lines aimed at specific niche...

Ace's marketing campaign offers message of protection, security. (Marketplace: Property/Casualty).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Ace Ltd. has launched a marketing campaign with a new message that emphasizes protection and security rather than the classic message of risk. The insurance and reinsurance company said the new commercials focus on the key understanding...

Chubb markets new D&O coverage. (Marketplace: Property/Casualty).(Chubb Group of Insurance Cos.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... A new package of insurance coverages from the Chubb Group of Insurance Cos. offers a single approach to help safeguard corporate directors and senior managers from a variety of exposures. Executive Protection Portfolio, a package of six...

Lifting the litigation: As more companies go bankrupt, reform of the asbestos compensation system is urgently needed. (Litigation Insight: Property/Casualty).
June 1, 2003... As of March 2003, more than 60 companies had been pushed into bankruptcy by hundreds of thousands of asbestos claims, the majority filed on behalf of workers who were exposed to asbestos, but are not sick and may never be. Some 8,400 companies...

Despite economy, spending on loss control increases. (Loss/Risk Management Notes: Property/Casualty).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The hard insurance market and an expanding world of perils prompted risk managers to increase their spending on loss control last year in the face of a slumping economy and tight corporate budgets, according to the results of a survey by Chubb...

Survey: views of risks differ. (Loss/Risk Management Notes: Property/Casualty).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Risk managers and financial executives often have different views on what poses a threat to their companies' future profitability, according to a survey by FM Global, the Financial Executives Research Foundation and the National Association of...

More risk managers are considering captives, especially in liability lines. (Loss/Risk Management Notes: Property/Casualty).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Twice as many risk managers plan to use captives in the next two years, according to a survey by Munich-American RiskPartners. While only 23% of respondents currently use captives, 46% said they anticipate using captives in the next two...

Managing the invisible: we shouldn't let accountants tell us what is valuable and what is not. (Loss/Risk Management Insight: Property/Casualty).
June 1, 2003... In many insurance and reinsurance companies, the single most important component of the firm's value remains unmanaged, principally because it is invisible or only dimly visible to the firm's senior officers. Making this value visible,...

Stickinq to fundamentals: the new terrorism insurance backstop is not a panacea. (Underwriting Insight: Property/Casualty).
June 1, 2003... The federal government's decision last November to backstop insurance industry losses in the event of another catastrophic terrorist act is critical to ensure the viability of an insurance industry still feeling the effects and learning the...

Border crossing: Life insurance companies that have historically sold through banks in their own states look to other states' bankers organizations to help them expand distribution. (Banks in Insurance: Life/Health).
June 1, 2003... Two life insurance companies that spent most of their long histories selling through banks in their home states are now looking further afield by developing partnerships with banking trade organizations in other states. The pacts may...

Annuities can be long-term solution: experts and study show, though currently viewed as a poor investment choice, annuities can protect retirees from the bite of a bear market. (Annuity Conference: Life/Health).
June 1, 2003... Financial advisers and product manufacturers often tout the merits of dollar-cost averaging while accumulating assets. Even in bear markets, investors can take comfort in knowing they are buying shares at low prices that may turn into higher...

Adding value: By offering free enhancements to work-site products, insurers can see sales grow. (Work-Site Marketing: Life/Health).
June 1, 2003... Work-site marketing appears to be finally turning the corner on sales after being around for 30 years. In 2001, work-site sales increased 13% over 2000, and 2000 sales were up 19% over 1999, according to Eastbridge Consulting Group, a marketing...

Corporate changes: the consolidation of the life/health industry continued in 2002. (Corporate Changes: Life/Health).
June 1, 2003... The pace of consolidation slowed down in the life/health industry in 2002, as the number of mergers dropped to 24, compared with 29 in 2001. In 2002, 24 companies changed their names and five companies ceased operation. The number of...

Advantages of partnership: Stop-loss carriers and third-party administrators can add substantial value to employer clients when they work together. (Underwriting Insight: Life/Health).
June 1, 2003... Over the past few years, the ranks of stop-loss carriers and third-party administrators have thinned in the face of a maturing insurance market and consolidation. With fewer, but larger and stronger, health-plan administrators and stop-loss...

Lincoln launches Principal-Protected VA. (New Products and Services).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. is the latest insurer to offer a guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit for a variable annuity, joining a minimum of Hartford Life Insurance Co., American Skandia Life Insurance Co., the Equitable Life...

Phoenix Introduces 30-Year term product. (New Products and Services).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The Phoenix Cos. has introduced its first 30-year term-life insurance product. In keeping with Phoenix' target market, the Protector Term-30 is tailored for the affluent market. Previous level-premium term products cover 10 and 20 years. ...

Hancock expands Universal Life Portfolio. (New Products and Services).(John Hancock Financial Services)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... John Hancock Financial Services' newest life product, Protection UL, allows the owner to guarantee the death benefit for 15 years to a lifetime. The product's flexible design is well-suited for personal or business planning when the primary...

Structured settlements growing as payment choice. (Life/Health).(National Structured Settlements Trade Association)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Life-insurance members of the National Structured Settlements Trade Association wrote more than $6.12 billion of annuities last year as settlement for physical-injury claims, according to the association. The sales total is up from about $4...

Council sees progress in LTC sales. (Life/Health).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Long-term-care insurance is gaining in popularity and becoming a financial-planning tool thanks to more awareness of the costs of long-term care, according to a 64-page report released in late March by the American Council of Life Insurers. ...

Principal sees self-service on the rise. (Life/Health).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Online self-service continues to grow among employer groups with life- and health-insurance plans, according to the Principal Financial Group. As of late March, more than 20,000 employer groups were transacting plan functions online via...

Enemy mine: don't blame regulators; the misuse of sales gimmicks is the life industry's enemy. (Selling Insight: Life/Health).
June 1, 2003... The faces may change over the years, but when life insurance pea pie get together, the buzz is always the same: "Why do the regulators have it in for life insurance?" If not the regulators, substitute "Congress" or "consumer activists,"...

Real-time to the rescue: the evolution of real-time SEMCI is helping to improve agents' work flow. (SEMCI: Technology).(insurance industry interface system)
June 1, 2003... Like most insurance agents, Donna Barr has struggled for years with the difficulty of having to learn how to navigate through multiple carriers' proprietary software systems, remember a dozen or more passwords and user identifications, and...

Revealing circumstances: new claims litigation software lowers total costs by streamlining the process and making it more transparent to insurers and lawyers. (Claims Litigation: Technology).
June 1, 2003... The insurance industry's growing use of outside legal help, coupled with increased costs of lawsuits and sky-high plaintiff awards, has translated into soaring legal and indemnity costs. Insurers spent an estimated $13 billion on legal defense...

Third wave evolving: A new, more responsive way of creating value and achieving growth is emerging within the insurance industry. (Technology).
June 1, 2003... The insurance industry is facing a serious conundrum--the transformation and modernization of key business processes during one of the most significant information technology budget constraints in years. The common practice of purchasing IT...

Report highlights questions for technology vendors. (Technology Notes: Technology).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Because more insurers are now opting to buy, rather than build, technology solutions whenever possible, consulting and research firm Celent Communications has compiled 20 important questions that insurers. should ask when talking to prospective...

Web-based hiring tool earns Limra top honors. (Technology Notes: Technology).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Limra International's CultureFit, a Web-based hiring tool for call centers, was named Product of the Year by Call Center Magazine. The tool, which can help reduce agent turnover 20% or more, enables call centers to improve agent retention...