New Product Announcements (Jan. 10, 2012)

Technology

JEVCO Insurance Company, a Canadian specialty insurer, and Guidewire Software, a provider of core system software to property/casualty (general) insurers, announced that JEVCO is in production with Guidewire ClaimCenter. JEVCO selected a claims system that would provide a strong technology foundation to help it enhance its quality of service for brokers and customers. The company is deploying ClaimCenter for all its lines of business across Canada and is now in production in three provinces: Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

Related Coverage Target Markets Survey Shines Light on Programs Coverage (11/02/11) Lighter Headwinds Buffet Brokers in Third Quarter (11/03/11) Honoring Worker Safety and Injury Prevention (11/01/11) 12 Executives to Watch in 2012 (12/01/11) Consumed With Risk (12/01/11) Broadspire has successfully completed its launch of the RiskTech claims-management system, converting more than 10 million claims and retiring legacy systems. Broadspire's legacy system was converted in 2009 and Crawford's legacy systems, ARMS and SISDAT, have been retired. Broadspire clients can now fully benefit from RiskTech.

Resources

Willis Group Holdings announced the global launch of its insurance placement system, WillPLACE, an online tool that helps Willis to match its clients? insurance needs with the most appropriate insurers.

With WillPLACE, Willis placement professionals are able to gather data about insurers? risk appetites around the world, which is then imported into the WillPLACE Market Match tool. Using a proprietary matching algorithm, this information is then correlated online with the WillPLACE database that records the specific risks clients have, and matches these with appropriate insurers.

Experian, announced the launch of its Financial Stability Risk ScoreSM, a new tool that allows credit and lending professionals to identify accounts at the highest risk of business failure. Use of the new scoring model brings improved financial results by enabling users to segment businesses into risk categories, identify the accounts that are most likely to fail and set policies to limit risk exposure.

Coverages

Torus, the global specialty insurer, announced its entrance into the U.S. surety market with the launch of Torus Surety. To augment the development of this new platform, Torus has entered into an agreement to acquire First Sealord Surety, Inc.

Torus Surety will focus on providing contract surety in the U.S. to small and mid-size construction contractors. In time the operation will also offer commercial surety products. Torus will also seek to develop contract surety business in key emerging markets throughout Latin America. This will be done through Torus? admitted reinsurer in Brazil and the company?s other licenses in the region.

Ryan Specialty Group announced today that Concord Specialty Risk has entered into new trading relationships with Arch Specialty Insurance Company, Freedom Specialty Insurance Company, and a U.S. subsidiary of Zurich Insurance Company Ltd. Under the new facility, Concord will underwrite various transactional liability insurance products with a combined capacity of $55 million and the ability to access at least $20 million additional capacity for larger risks. The facility will be administered by Concord in a seamless process from underwriting to binding to claims management and resolution. Concord will act as the single point of contact between the facility markets and the Insured.

January 10, 2012

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New Product Announcements: Jan. 17, 2012

Technology

New York Life Retirement Plan Services announced it has made significant enhancements to its plan sponsor and advisor web sites, providing clients a full overview of their plans' health at a glance.

Related Coverage Target Markets Survey Shines Light on Programs Coverage (11/02/11) Lighter Headwinds Buffet Brokers in Third Quarter (11/03/11) Honoring Worker Safety and Injury Prevention (11/01/11) 12 Executives to Watch in 2012 (12/01/11) Consumed With Risk (12/01/11) The enhancements take an "interactive dashboard" approach, showing all the most important information about a retirement plan such as total plan assets updated monthly, average and historical plan participation rate, average account balance, and investment allocation. Sponsors and advisors can also view this data for specific age ranges of participants, allowing them to gauge the behavior of different participant groups and the effectiveness of plan design features.

The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies has developed an online system to help agents and brokers obtain professional and management liability insurance for private companies and not-for-profit organizations. Chubb DecisionPoint automates the submission process for agents and brokers with small to mid-sized private company clients seeking crime, employment practices liability, fiduciary liability and miscellaneous professional liability insurance. Agents and brokers with small to mid-sized not-for-profit clients can access these coverages as well as directors and officers liability insurance through DecisionPoint. Directors and officers liability coverage will be added to the private company options in 2012. The online system also enables agents and brokers to refer more complex small and mid-sized accounts to a Chubb underwriter for further review.

Resources

The 2011 Lloyd?s Risk Index finds that despite record unemployment levels across much of the U.S., American business leaders say one of the biggest risks they now face is a talent and skills shortage. The study was carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which polled 500 C-Suite and board level executives in North America, Europe, Asia and elsewhere to assess corporate risk priorities and attitudes around the world.

In response to state legislative requirements, Broadspire has launched its Workers Compensation Health Care Network in Texas. The Broadspire Workers Compensation HCN is a certified network that is part of Broadspire's state-stratified, multi-tiered BOLD Network. Broadspire has customized its network to each jurisdiction, rather than casting a wide net, producing superior penetration rates and savings.

Solutions

Moody?s Analytics, a leader in risk measurement and management, announced the launch of RiskAuthority, its next generation regulatory capital management solution. A comprehensive Basel I, II, and III compliance solution, RiskAuthority enables risk professionals to calculate, consolidate and report their organization?s credit, market, operational, concentration and liquidity risk.

myMatrixx announced today the release of myRisk Predictor, a risk-assessment tool designed to identify injured workers who are at high risk for potential abuse and misuse of prescription medications. myRisk Predictor combines predictive modeling with historical data and unique algorithms developed by the myMatrixx clinical team to develop a customized risk score for injured workers. This real-time tool alerts insurance carriers, third party administrators and self-insured entities when claimants within their populations may be in need of intervention.

January 17, 2012

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