Best's Review articles from March 2003

Best's Review archives from March 2003

Tapping into the source. (Editor's Prologue).
March 1, 2003... Influence is like love--it often happens when and where you least expect it. In the case of U.S. Senate bills, it often happens during the committee "markup" process, when senators and their staffers discuss a bill's contents and proposals to...

Comment.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2003... Fair payments, not overpayments In your January 2003 edition, there is an article about the retirement of our former chairman, Dean R. O'Hare. I want to clarify a statement attributed to Mr. O'Hare in that article which suggests that...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2003... HIH Insurance Ltd., Australia's largest general insurer, became insolvent in 2001. The date was incorrect in the February issue of Best's Review

Zurich Life. (People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Zurich Life has promoted Ken Olson to president of its life brokerage division. He has also been named a member of the company's senior management team. Olson joined Zurich Life in 2000 and most recently was senior vice president and...

Minnesota Life Insurance Co. (People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Minnesota Life Insurance Co. has named Edward B. Eller national sales manager for its universal life group increasing sales of the for insurance products. He will be universal life and variable group universal life insurance products...

Mt. Washington Assurance Corp. (People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Mt. Washington Assurance Corp., a member of the Plymouth Rock Cos., has named Eric W. Neely president. Neely joined Plymouth Rock as a vice president in 2001, managing the company's expansion into Connecticut and revamping Mt. Washington's...

Arch Insurance Group. (People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Arch Insurance Group, a division of Arch Capital Group Ltd., has named Susan M. Doyle vice president of energy, effective Feb. 3. Doyle will be based in the Houston office.

Annuity writers downplay fears over Bush proposals. (Briefing).
March 1, 2003... President Bush's proposals for new tax-free savings accounts might look like more bad news for the variable-annuity industry, but industry consultants, players and observers said that's not necessarily the case. Writers' profits--based...

Savings proposals seen as opportunity for insurers. (Briefing).
March 1, 2003... Annuities would be allowed in any one of the three savings plans President Bush has proposed, which represents an opportunity for sellers of this retirement product, according to the National Association for Variable Annuities. Annuities...

The Regence Group. (People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Regence Group, a four-state affiliation of Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies, has promoted John A. Riherd to senior vice president and chief legal officer. Riherd was vice president and general counsel for Regence BlueCross...

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has named Carol A. Harnett as the national practice leader for group disability and life insurance for Hartford's group benefits division. She joined Hartford in 1996 and was most recently director of...

HCC Insurance Holdings Inc. (People in Insurance).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... HCC Insurance Holdings Inc. has appointed two senior executives at corporate headquarters in Houston. Tony Feasey has been appointed chief executive officer of HCC Risk Management Risk Corp. He is currently senior vice president with a...

By the numbers. (Briefing).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... World Insurance Growth Global growth in premium income dropped to 1% in 2001,from 6.8% in 2000, according to Swiss Re's Sigma "World Insurance in 2001" report. This was the lowest growth rate since 1980, due in part to the downturn in the...

Meetings.(Calendar)
March 1, 2003... March 8-11 National Association of Insurance Commiissioners, Spring National Meeting, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Atlanta. Phone: (816) 783-8101. Web site: www.naic.org. March 9-11 Intermediaries & Reinsurance Underwriters...

Health insurers face the heat. (Briefing).(affordable health insurance an object of union activity)
March 1, 2003... With some workers manning picket lines to protest higher health-care costs, and big companies preparing for negotiations with workers this year, observers say the insurance industry will be pressured to come up with innovative ways to keep...

Best's rating changes. (Ratings).(Illustration)
March 1, 2003... 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...

Quiet clout: much of the power in regulating and governing the insurance industry belongs to those who've never won an election or a cabinet-level appointment. (Regulation: The Big Picture).
March 1, 2003... The insurance business is not fully understood by many of those who are supposed to regulate it or make laws governing the industry. The nature of insurers' products, their accounting practices and their business processes make them an enigma...

Singular expertise: Robert Gordon is a rare breed--an insurance expert on Capitol Hill. (Regulation: The Big Picture).
March 1, 2003... For many years you could count on one hand, and still have fingers left over, the number of people on Capitol Hill who truly understood insurance, said Brian Atchinson, executive director of the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association. ...

Emergency repairs: A deputy California insurance commissioner counts success in companies rescued--and plays a national role in improving insurance accounting standards. (Regulation: The Big Picture).
March 1, 2003... Thirty years ago, while Norris Clark pulled bullets out of radios that had been damaged during the Vietnam War, he probably never thought he'd wind up with a distinguished career repairing damaged insurance companies. In 1973, Clark, then...

Staying power: life insurers value fairness and institutional memory in government, traits that Susan Nash provides. (Regulation: The Big Picture).
March 1, 2003... When the life insurance industry goes to the Securities and Exchange Commission with a new or revised variable product, Susan Nash plays an important role in regulating how those products are sold, and the industry appears to greatly value her...

A light touch: when insurance issues land on the Treasury Department's doorstep, Wayne Abernathy is there to pick them up. (Regulation: The Big Picture).(Interview)
March 1, 2003... The U.S. Treasury Department's influence over the business of insurance has grown since Sept. 11, 2001, but Wayne Abernathy, assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial institutions, will tell you he is not regulating the industry. ...

The regulatory web. (Regulation: The Big Picture).(Directory)
March 1, 2003... Regulation of insurance has evolved over decades, divided among the states, an array of federal agencies and a handful of quasi-governmental bodies. Here's how the moving parts fit together. Federal Congress creates laws and funding to...

Letting go: insurers increasingly are turning away from direct ownership of real estate. (Industry Strategies: Asset Management).
March 1, 2003... In November 2002, John Hancock Financial Services Inc. announced that it was selling three key home-office complexes in Boston, but expected to lease back the office space it was using from the new owners. By making this move, Hancock said it...

Hired help: insurers are expected to embrace third-party asset management more fully. (Industry Strategies: Asset Management).
March 1, 2003... The current investment environment, arguably the most perilous in recent memory, poses serious challenges to insurers and their asset managers. High quality fixed-income investments such as U.S. Treasury securities pay modest yields. The...

Getting the price right: savvy personal lines writers are slicing the market into segments to price risk more accurately. (Property/Casualty: Pricing).
March 1, 2003... Property/casualty insurers that excel at turning underwriting profits have one thing in common: they accurately price risk. Claims management also is key, but it can only do so much to reverse underpriced business. Companies use different...

Terror on the seas: although terrorism is growing as a risk for marine insurers, they are still focusing on the same underwriting factors--geography, type of cargo and packaging. (Property/Casualty: War Risk).
March 1, 2003... As tension in the world swells and shifts, ocean marine insurers are faced with underwriting risks never imagined. Ships and their cargo can be used as weapons, for example, and terrorists may set their sights on cruise ships. "Regrettably,...

Taking the time: although insurers say they haven't changed their underwriting standards, they are investing more time and money to add staff, improve technology and extend research. (Property/Casualty: Underwriting).
March 1, 2003... Faced with corporate scandals, the looming threat of mold litigation, the sluggish economy and the hardening insurance market, insurers have reacted by instituting more stringent underwriting requirements, with demands for higher deductibles,...

True value: few insurers meet the challenge of making a profit through underwriting prowess and investment returns--but the ones who do, share interesting characteristics. (Property/Casualty: Profitability).
March 1, 2003... Creating value for the owners of insurance companies--whether shareholders or policyholders--should be the key objective for insurance executives. Achieving and sustaining this value aspiration, however, has proven to be an elusive goal. Over...

Chubb's cybersecurity targets financial institutions. (Property/Casualty: Marketplace).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... A new insurance policy from the Chubb Group of Insurance Cos. can help protect financial institutions from exposure to e-commerce liabilities, such as trademark infringement, defamation and security breaches. CyberSecurity by Chubb...

Insurers sit on sidelines during Super Bowl ad blitz. (Property/Casualty: Marketplace).(due to high costs, marketing effectiveness)
March 1, 2003... The Super Bowl is an advertising hit--but not with insurance companies. ABC sold 30-second commercial spots at $2.1 million per spot, according to several recent published reports. The price is near the all-time record for the game, always...

The hartford offers claims help. (Property/Casualty: Marketplace).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. now offers Complex Claim Advice, a solution for employers who self-insure their short-term disability plans and face a growing number of challenges related to the cost and administration of the plans....

The captive solution: there are real advantages for both lenders and mortgage insurers that choose to be involved in captives. (Property/Casualty: Loss/Risk Management Insight).
March 1, 2003... In the December issue of Best's Review, I discussed the growth of captive reinsurance and how a broad range of industries has embraced the strategic advantages offered by these structures. As companies in many industries strive to increase...

Study: scientists re-evaluate New Madrid earthquake risk. (Property/Casualty: Loss/Risk Management Notes).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The repeat of an earthquake as severe as the 7.5 to 8 magnitude quakes that struck the New Madrid seismic zone in 1811-1812 is more likely than previously thought, according to scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Center for...

Professional associations look to hire management companies, avoid claims. (Property/Casualty: Loss/Risk Management Notes).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... As employment liability claims continue to increase, more professional associations are hiring independent management companies to run their day-to-clay operations, according to a Washington, D.C. law firm that specializes in trade association...

Expert: D&O market to stay turbulent in 2003. (Property/Casualty: Loss/Risk Management Notes).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The number of directors and officers liability claims will continue to increase in 2003, as insurers struggle with the failures of companies such as Enron Corp. and Worldcom Inc., said an attorney who specializes in D&O coverage. Matthew...

RMS beefs up international, U.S. temperature data. (Property/Casualty: Loss/Risk Management Notes).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Risk Management Solutions said it has expanded the weather databases in its Climetrix weather derivatives trading and risk management system to include new temperature data for France, Sweden, Norway, in addition to adding more information to...

The knowledge gap: many companies face an education gap in managing workers' compensation cases. (Property/Casualty: Loss/Risk Management Notes).
March 1, 2003... Risk management today increasingly requires a sophisticated financial background that enables managers to see the totality of risk and its implications for the entire organization. As companies reach into the financial world for people to fill...

Taking a punch: insurers never anticipated a bear market so long and deep that it would ravage their variable-products businesses--and cause them to rethink how they conduct them. (Life/Health: Annuities).
March 1, 2003... When economic times are bad and investment portfolios get hammered, most insurers can at least charge more for their products. That option isn't available to writers of variable annuities, which generate revenues based on assets under...

Managed choice: health insurers are responding to consumer demand for more options with tiered pricing for doctors and hospitals patterned after pharmaceutical pricing plans. (Life/Health: Managed Care).
March 1, 2003... Managed care companies, finding themselves trapped between consumers demanding freedom to choose their providers and the ever-escalating cost of providing health care, are adopting programs that allow consumers to decide which hospitals or...

Mining a rich vein: low market penetration offers insurers with conservative products and strict underwriting a chance for profit in individual disability-income insurance. (Life/Health: Disability).
March 1, 2003... Only a few years ago, the potential profitability of individual disability insurance was anything but golden. In fact, the state of the business during the 1990s was like a movie about the Gold Rush played in reverse, as more than half of the...

Doing the splits: health insurers can improve profitability by dividing marketing, sales and service dollars among the most productive relationships. (Life/Health: Profitability).
March 1, 2003... Achieving and maintaining profitability in the health insurance industry is more complex than ever before. Medical inflation has not disappeared, with higher drug costs, skyrocketing provider-contract rates and growing utilization rates all...

A new generation of care: The growth of consumer-directed health plans may be the answer to picking up managed care's unfinished agenda. (Life/Health: Selling Insight).
March 1, 2003... Consumer-directed health plans have come onto the national scene against the backdrop of managed care's mixed results. While managed care has had limited success containing costs, consumers disliked its intrusiveness and limited choice....

Mony Life Insurance Company of America. (New Products and Services).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... MONY Life Insurance Company of America introduced two VA products. Its C Variable Annuity is sold with no front-end load, no surrender charges and a minimum initial investment of $20,000. The L Variable Annuity has a four-year surrender charge...

SBLI USA Mutual Life Insurance Co. (New Products and Services).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... New York-based SBLI USA Mutual Life Insurance Co. introduced Cash Deluxe, a single-premium annuity with a choice of one- or five-year interest rate guarantees plus a bonus of 1% of premium. Minimum premium is $5,000. It is sold through a...

Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. (New Products and Services).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co., Horsham, Pa., launched Penn Fixed Advantage, a flexible-premium fixed annuity that pays an enhanced rate on all first-year premiums. The rate is guaranteed not to fall below 3%. The initial investment minimum is...

Poll: most American workers favor private social security accounts. (Life/Health: Marketplace).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Some seven in 10 American workers want to invest at least a portion of their Social Security withholdings into an optional or mandatory personal retirement account, according to a survey conducted by Prudential Financial Inc. Those surveyed...

Managed-account industry counts more than 330,000 new investors. (Life/Health: Marketplace).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... More than 330,000 investors signed on for separately managed accounts during the first nine months of last year, according to a study for the Money Management Institute, the trade association for the managed-account industry based in...

Interest builds for immediate variable annuities. (Life/Health: Marketplace).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Two years of volatile markets have apparently taught consumers the value of an income stream, according to a report by the Wayne, Pa.-based Diversified Services Group Inc. The group's third annual report on immediate variable annuities,...

Getting to horizontal: The 20th-century life underwriter often slowed down the process of an application or stopped it altogether. The new underwriter will become more of a team player. (Life/Health: Underwriting Insight).
March 1, 2003... A critical step forward in life and health underwriting comes down to the posture of the underwriter, as perceived by superiors and producers. A shift will facilitate a faster, far less costly and more-accurate risk-selection model. It...

Open road: technology engineers are pursuing newer and better ways to implement straight-through processing on the web. Standards make it possible. (Technology: Standards).(includes related article)(Industry Overview)
March 1, 2003... Insurers are working toward a new era in information technology in which instant sharing of information by the industry's many stakeholders will be the norm. How soon the era arrives will depend on the industry's embrace of standards and how it...

E-sign here: many insurers have adopted a wait-and-see stance toward e-signatures because of uncertainty about compliance and lack of case law. (Technology: E-Signatures).(includes related article)
March 1, 2003... Grabbing a pen to sign your name may soon be an antiquated task. E-signature technology is taking personal identification to new heights, but the electronic approach that is being touted as a way of saving insurers time and money has not yet...

Creative solutions: alternative resources can help companies deal with obsolete technology manage costs and achieve growth. (Technology: Technology Insight).(new tools are becoming available to help insurers free up information technology budgets to reinvest in other areas)
March 1, 2003... Today's competitive environment is haunting carriers saddled with outdated core transaction processing systems. Creative new tools, however, are coming to the rescue by allowing insurers to free up information technology budgets to reinvest in...

Allstate Financial launches network for producers. (Technology: Technology Notes).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Allstate Financial, a business unit of the Allstate Corp., recently developed a network technology program for Allstate's national network of 350,000-plus independent producers. Allstate, which wanted to extend its five existing policy...

Humana first to accept HIPAA standard claims transactions. (Technology: Technology Notes).(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Vitria, which provides business process integration solutions, recently announced that Humana Inc. has gone live with its Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 compliance architecture and is processing 837 professional...

The Bank Insurance and Securities Association. (Web News You Can Use).(launches online learning center)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Bank Insurance and Securities Association launched the BISA Learning eStore, a new online learning center for members of the association for financial professionals. Members have access to a variety of Internet-based courses, programs and...

Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. (Web News You Can Use).(iCustomer Series initiative introduced)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. announced the national rollout of its iCustomer Series initiative to the hotel, restaurant, real estate, retail, wholesale and manufacturing segments. The interactive portal is designed to help middle-market...

Sapiens International Corp. (Web News You Can Use).(IBM WebSphere Portable optional for its Insight insurance solutions)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Sapiens International Corp. announced the availability of IBM WebSphere Portal as an optional front end to its Insight family of insurance solutions. Insight, a policy administration solution for the property/casualty insurance sector, enables...

AgentSecure. (Web News You Can Use).(endorsed by Insurance Brokers and Agents of the West Service Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... AgentSecure, a division of InsureZone that provides agents with online access to property/casualty and life products through a single-entry, multiple-carrier interface, has been exclusively endorsed by IBA West Service Corp., a wholly owned...

Penn Treaty to resume selling LTC policies in Illinois. (Companies).(long-term care)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Penn Treaty American Corp. said it will begin selling long-term-care policies in Illinois again, historically one of the top five producing states for the company. Penn Treaty said it will sell the policies through its subsidiary...

Canadian insurer buys Mid-State Surety Corp. (Companies).(Guarantee Company of North America)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Guarantee Company of North America, a Canadian issuer of surety and fidelity bonds, said it has closed its purchase of Mid-State Surety Corp. in Michigan for undisclosed terms. The transaction helps the company expand its surety business in...

Allianz writes private coverage for Indian film industry. (Companies).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Germany's Allianz AG Holding said its affiliate Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Go. Ltd. in India would provide insurance coverage for the making of a "Bollywood" film by Vishesh Production--the first time a private insurer has done business...

CD-Rom. (Resources).('Power Position Your Agency (A Guide to Insurance Agency Success)')(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Power Position Your Agency (A Guide to Insurance Agency Success) Author: Troy Korsgaden Synopsis: The latest release of the 9-step program to promote the success and growth of insurance agencies. Publisher: Anderson Publishing Co....

Training course. (Resources).('Mastering the Annuity Sale')(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Mastering the Annuity Sale Author: Wilma G. Anderson Synopsis: Video that helps financial professionals boost their annuity sales. Price: $99 Publisher: Stimson Communications Contact: (508) 647-0705;...

Legacy: The History of Separately Managed Accounts. (Books).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Author: Sydney LeBlanc Synopsis: A behind-the-scenes look at the birth and growth of a revolutionary business that changed the face of the investment industry. Publisher: The Money Management Institute Contact: (202) 347-3858;...

International Insurance Regulation: Current and Proposed Regulation Explained. (Books).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... International Insurance Regulation: Current and Proposed Regulation Explained Synopsis: Explains current and proposed regulation, emerging trends and the response of regulators to an increasingly global financial services industry. ...

The news you need when you want it: The insurance industry's most comprehensive source for news-real-time, daily, weekly and monthly--just got better. (Reader Services).(NewsRoom)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The NewsRoom brings all of A.M. Best's original industry news reports published in BestWeek, BestWire and Best's Review together in one convenient Web site. All visitors can view the latest headlines throughout the business day....