Best's Review articles from March 2002

Best's Review archives from March 2002

Survival of the fittest. (Editor's Prologue).(Bermuda's insurance industry)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... A listair McNeish, senior manager, executive search and selection, at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Bermuda, described the state of the relocation business on the island nation as "buoyant?' His firm has done work for Montpelier Reinsurance, one of...

Questionable conclusions. (Comment).(life insurance market findings)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Messrs. Carson and Forster conclude from their research into universal life and whole life that over five- and 10-year periods since issue in 1988, universal life has higher yields than whole life ("Anticipating the Benefits," January 2002). If...

Correction.(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2002... Former pro basketball player George "The Iceman" Gervin's name was incorrect in a photo caption in the February edition.

Taking a bite out of profits: Dentists are no longer offering insurers deep discounts in exchange for patients, so carriers must devise new ways to compete for employers' business. (Briefing).
March 1, 2002... Negotiating discounts with dentists used to be the way dental insurers could provide value to clients, but that's not the case anymore. Instead, successful carriers have to address some new realities in the dental marketplace that stem...

By the numbers: World insurance growth. (Briefing).(life insurance sales)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Buoyed by strong private pension markets in the United States and Western Europe, life insurance companies saw a global increase in sales of 9.1% in 2000. Nonlife companies, on average, reported higher growth rates than a decade ago. But the...

Airline captive may be formed in second quarter. (Briefing).(.S. airlines are aiming to form a risk-retention group to provide war-risk liability coverage)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... U.S. airlines are aiming to form a risk-retention group in the second quarter that would provide war-risk liability coverage to fill a market gap created by the Sept. 11 catastrophe. The Air Transport Association, a Washington, D.C.-based...

Federal prosecutors close case against Quackenbush. (Briefing).(ex-California Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Federal prosecutors have said they don't intend to file any more criminal charges related to the California Department of Insurance's actions under the leadership of former Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush. But Quackenbush, who...

Texas Governor scrutinizes top homeowners insurers. (Briefing).(Rick Perry wants an investigation of State Farm, Farmers Group, and Allstate)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he is asking the state's attorney general to investigate how the state's three largest homeowners insurance companies--State Farm, Farmers Group and Allstate--are marketing their policies. Perry is concerned that...

Ice storms strike New York, Midwest. (Briefing).(increase in insurance claims)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Ice and wind storms that swept through the Midwest and on to the East Coast left a large number of insurance claims in their wake. Beginning Jan. 30, a wave of winter storms battered homes and businesses throughout the Midwest, knocking out...

Best's Rating Changes. (Ratings).(U.S. health, life, and property insurance)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... This summary of Best's Rating Changes includes U.S.-domiciled life, health-care and property/casualty insurers as well as international insurers that had ratings assigned, changed or placed under review since this section last appeared in the...

Bermuda bound: Bermuda is quickly becoming crowded with new insurers, which will need strong management, good underwriting and a little luck to reap long-term success. (Cover Story).
March 1, 2002... Not since 1992--when Hurricane Andrew battered Florida--have so many insurers and reinsurers flocked to the island nation of Bermuda. Then, as now, the new insurers and their financial backers looked at a bad situation for the industry--record...

A No-Name market?: Lloyd's faces a struggle in breaking its three-century embrace with private capital. (Industry Strategies).(Lloyd's of London)
March 1, 2002... In the spring of 1998, Ron Sandier, then the chief executive of Lloyd's, sent shudders through the dwindling ranks of individual investors who once bankrolled the entire market, coming very close to calling for the elimination of "Names" from...

Now showing: Hollywood's portrayal of insurance receives mixed reviews. (Industry Strategies).
March 1, 2002... In a darkened theater, the audience watches a distraught father hold an emergency room hostage in a desperate attempt to force the staff to give his son a heart transplant that his health insurance has refused to cover. In another theater,...

Moving on: Several former insurance commissioners have parlayed their experience into new opportunities. (Industry Strategies).
March 1, 2002... A former Maine insurance superintendent, Brian Atchinson, likes to recall the conversation at a dinner he shared with seven other insurance commissioners in an Atlanta restaurant in December 1992. The group was discussing how each had been...

Get with the program: Insurers and managing general agents in program business have one eye trained on underwriting results and the other on the hard-hit reinsurance market. (Property/Casualty).
March 1, 2002... Like their counterparts in the traditional world of property/casualty insurance, the managing general agencies, brokerages and carriers that deal in the specialized realm of program business are operating in a hard market. After coming through...

Identity indemnity: Insurers are launching coverage for one of the fastest-growing white-collar crimes--theft of personal information and the use of it to make fraudulent purchases. (Property/Casualty).
March 1, 2002... Mary Ann Avnet remembers waiting in line at a department store to pay for some Christmas presents when the cashier told a customer she could earn a discount by updating her store credit card. When the cashier said she could update the card on...

Insurers go for gold--and green--with ad spots during Olympics. (Property/Casualty).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The 2002 Olympic Winter Games scored higher in the race for insurers' advertising dollars this year than Super Bowl XXXVI. In an informal poll of 13 of the largest U.S. insurers, five said they advertised or sponsored the Olympics, while...

Customers--the greatest asset: Building a strong customer base takes more than a sales mentality; it requires an operational approach. (Property/Casualty).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Major customers can be seen as a series of processes. The steps of this series may blend into each other, but generally they start with prospecting and move on to selling and underwriting. After an agreement with the customer is reached, the...

Unfolding the layers: Terror expenses may follow the Y2K path, with most insureds likely to accept terror prevention as a cost of doing business. (Property/Casualty).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... In the movie "Shrek," the ogre explains the complications of his circumstances by saying that "ogres have layers." I've started to apply the ogre's philosophy to the insurance issues arising from terrorism. Although all terrorism layers...

Crash tests show improved sport-utility vehicle designs. (Property/Casualty).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Among 11 midsize sport-utility vehicles with new or modified designs tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in 2001, five were rated "good" and two received the organization's "best pick" designation. The vehicles were tested...

Mold seminar: Insurers must respond to risks. (Property/Casualty).(Guy Carpenter & Co. report on costs of toxic mold to insurance companies)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... As toxic mold claims continue to drive up costs for insurers, Guy Carpenter & Co. has released a report stating, among other things, that losses from toxic mold could be passed by primary companies to reinsurers, especially in pro rata...

Zurich's CD products identify threats. (Property/Casualty).(Zurich North America Financial Enterprises's offers info on business theft)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Addressing two big risks in the property/casualty industry--employee theft and directors and officers exposure--Zurich North America Financial Enterprises is offering CD-ROM kits that help clients protect themselves from these potential threats...

Changing with the times: Insurers, now aware of their vulnerability when insuring high-profile institutions, are forced to be more selective in the risks they accept. (Property/Casualty).(insurance industry in wake of Sept. 11)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Publishers may be burning the midnight oil to issue new textbooks with revised chapters on underwriting commercial risks now that the destruction of the World Trade Center has set traditional underwriting on its tail. Six months ago, any...

Step right up: In the competition among health plans for popularity and enrollment growth, PPOs are attracting bigger crowds. (Life/Health).(the rising popularity of preferred provider health plans)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield knows how to pick a winner. The company, which serves customers in Maryland, Delaware, northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., was the first carrier in its region to offer a preferred-provider organization Since...

Blues review: Blue Cross & Blue Shield plans find conversion to for-profit status fraught with red tape. (Life/Health).(health insurance companies)
March 1, 2002... Traditionally, health plans have been structured as not-for-profit entities. Today, however, health plans take on a variety of corporate structures, including publicly traded companies. The movement away from not-for-profit status is a...

Facing the future: Cost controls, customer service, niche marketing and integrated financial services head the list of strategic concerns for life insurers. (Life/Health).
March 1, 2002... The outlook for the life insurance industry over the next several years is like a swan swimming across a lake: The overall, broad picture is smooth and hardly changing, but beneath the surface, change is happening like crazy. These are the...

A remedy for rising drug costs: Health insurers can mitigate the ever-increasing cost of prescription drugs with careful attention to business. (Life/Health).(Prescription drug spending increases due to higher use and higher average cost per prescription)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Prescription drug spending continues to grow at a faster pace than any other component of health care in the United States, and it is expected to continue for at least the next several years. While health insurance companies have always...

L.A. residents paid the most for new life policies in 2000. (Life/Health).(Los Angeles has $569.6 mn in new premium sales for 2000)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... For the first time since Limra International started estimating sales, Los Angeles outpaced NewYork and Chicago in estimated new life premiums. In a recent survey by Windsor, Conn.-based Limra, Los Angeles was estimated to have $569.6...

Immediate variable annuity sales take off. (Life/Health).(15 companies sell immediate variable annuities)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Sales of immediate variable annuities rose sharply in 2000, but the industry is still modest in comparison with the $138 billion in traditional variable annuity sales reported by the Variable Annuity Research and Data Service. As of...

Berkshire Life Offers Disability Product for Home Businesses. (New Products and Services).(New disability income coverage for home-based professionals)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2002... Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America, Pittsfield, Mass., is offering own-occupation disability income coverage for home-based professionals. Using the Provider Plus policy, Berkshire takes a total-disability approach that liberates...

Hancock Introduces Plan for Small-Business Owners. (New Products and Services).(John Hancock Financial Service Inc. full-service defined-benefit plan)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... John Hancock Financial Services Inc., Boston, has launched a full-service defined-benefit plan for older small-business owners who haven't planned for their own retirements or their employees'. The program, authorized under Section 412(i)...

Lincoln Financial Launches Suite of Variable Annuities. (New Products and Services).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Lincoln Financial's annuity operation in Fort Wayne, Ind., has launched a second-generation product suite for distribution through its wholesaling arm. ChoicePlus II products offer several death-benefit options and Income4Life Solution, a...

Phoenix's First-to-Die Product Can Insure Up to Five. (New Products and Services).(Joint Edge first-to-die variable universal life insurance product)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Phoenix Cos., Hartford, Conn., has upgraded its Joint Edge first-to-die variable universal life product so it can be used to insure from two to five people to meet the needs of families or businesses. The flexible design can be considerably...

Principal Addition to Aid Employee Retention. (New Products and Services).(Principal Variable Universal Life Accumulator)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Principal Financial Group, Des Moines, Iowa, now offers the Principal Variable Universal Life Accumulator, a product designed to help employers retain key employees. The product offers 17 money managers and 39 investment options to help...

TIAA-CREF Enters Another Term Market. (New Products and Services).(TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Co. introduces 20-year level-premium term life insurance product)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Co. has launched its first 20-year level-premium term life insurance product to the general public. Last year, the company introduced annual renewable term and universal life products for the public. The minimum face...

Equity-indexed annuity sales unfazed by market volatility. (Life/Health).(annuity sales for 3rd-quarter 2001)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Equity-indexed annuity manufacturers enjoyed sales of $1.59 billion in the third quarter 2001, up 31% from the same time in 2000, according to The Advantage Group, St. Louis, which tracks the industry Sales were $4.45 billion through the...

Consumers are driving change: the economic climate is right for defined-contribution health plans, a change that will create new strategic issues for insurers and providers. (Life/Health).(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act )(Government Activity)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Early in 2001, the stage was set for another desultory turn in a continuing cycle of incremental tinkering in the health-care and insurance industries. The new administration had a modest health-care agenda-tweaking Medicare and doing its best...

Banding together: Regional insurers are forming alliances to upgrade technology and grow their businesses. (Technology).(Country Insurance & Financial Services forms alliances to compete against bigger rivals)
March 1, 2002... Sitting in the shadow of State Farm in Bloomington, Ill., Country Insurance & Financial Services knows that to compete against the nation's largest insurers it has to beef up its technology and market share. So, following a business plan that's...

At your service: With new technology costing millions of dollars, insurers are turning to application service providers. (Technology).(Application service providers expected to become $25 bn market by 2004)
March 1, 2002... With technology investment costing insurers 4% to 8% of their annual budgets, application service providers can be a cost-effective alternative to expensive technology systems. Application service providers are third-party vendors that provide...

Replacing humans with machines: the insurance industry has begun to leverage artificial intelligence to cut costs and improve efficiency. But technology will never completely supplant human reasoning. (Technology).(artificial intelligence, property and casualty industry)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The recent motion picture "A.I." seems to have revived the term "artificial intelligence" in popular culture. The robots of "A.I." explore moviegoers' fascination with the possibility of a future world in which highly intelligent machines serve...

Insurance regulators unveil consumer complaint Web site. (Technology).(National Association of Insurance Commissioners )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... A Web site where consumers can file and research complaints against insurers was unveiled by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners during its Winter National Meeting in Chicago, and while insurers approved of the concept, they...

Quotesmith.com acquires Insure.com. (Technology).(Acquires Insurance News Network TIC)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Insurance aggregator and broker Quotesmith.com said it has acquired selected assets of Insurance News Network TIC, a West Hartford, Conn.-based provider of consumer insurance news and information. The acquisition includes Insurance News...

Acordia Inc. (Web News You Can Use).(Coverage-Connect Web-based insurance diagnostic)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... * Acordia Inc., a Wells Fargo company based in Chicago, has begun the installation of Coverage-Connect Web-based insurance diagnostic, quoting and binding application software, which will be rolled out to all 176 Acordia offices. Online...

AMS Services Inc., a provider of insurance software and services based in Windsor, Conn. (Web News You Can Use).(ChannelPoint sells its Internet application software business)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... * AMS Services Inc., a provider of insurance software and services based in Windsor, Conn., recently announced the acquisition of The Solution, the Internet application software business of InsurQuote, from ChannelPoint. The acquisition...

Hartford, Conn.-based Travelers is implementing an electronic bill presentment and payment option. (Web News You Can Use).(Targets direct-billed business insurance customers)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... * Hartford, Conn.-based Travelers is implementing an electronic bill presentment and payment option, for direct-billed business insurance customers. The major components of Travelers e-Pay for business insurance are notification of an invoice...

MetLife, AT&T skirmish over ads. (Companies).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Just before the Super Bowl, which was to feature new advertising by AT&T Wireless Services Inc., MetLife Inc. requested a temporary restraining order to prevent use of the ads. Papers filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District...

Lloyd's calls for $795 million. (Companies).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Lloyd's said its syndicates have issued cash calls totaling $795 million, adding to the pain of a $1.1 billion cash call made in September after the terrorist attacks on the United States. The market noted that $395 million of the latest...

Phico is placed in liquidation. (Companies).(Phico Insurance Co.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The second-largest medical-malpractice insurer in Pennsylvania, Phico Insurance Co., has been placed in liquidation, Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner M. Diane Koken said. The Commonwealth Court granted Koken's petition to liquidate the...

UnumProvident ordered to pay $7.6 million in disability lawsuit. (Companies).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... A jury in San Francisco has awarded a California chiropractor more than $7.6 million in benefits and damages in a disability insurance case. UnumProvident Corp., the largest U.S. writer of disability insurance, is appealing the decision....

Regulator rebuffs anthem in takeover of Kansas Blues. (Companies).(Kathleen Sebelius blocks Anthem Inc.'s takeover of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Kansas Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Sebelius denied Anthem Inc.'s proposed acquisition of nonprofit Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas, saying the purchase would translate into much higher insurance premiums for businesses and individuals in...

Executives.(insurance industry)
March 1, 2002... Regence Group Names VP Regence Group, an affiliate of Blue Gross and/or Blue Shield companies in four states, has promoted Susan A. Hansen to vice president of membership and claims-systems consolidation. Hansen has been with the...

Meetings.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... March National Risk Retention Association, Annual Conference, Westin La Paloma, Tucson, Ariz. Phone: (952) 928-4656, Fax: (952) 9291318, E-mail: dbarnes@harrington.company.com, Web site: www.usanrra.org. March 3-5. Federation of...

Books. (Resources).(insurance industry books)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Day Trade Online Author: Christopher A. Farrell Synopsis: This straightforward guide provides the head start and heads up necessary to thrive as an Internet day trader. Publisher: Wiley Contact: (800) 225-5945 Price:...

Educational courses. (Resources).(LOMA's Annuity Administration Course)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... LOMA's Annuity Administration Course Synopsis: Activities and issues involved in the administration of annuities, such as new business procedures, customer-contact centers, payout administration and technology issues, are explained in AAPA...