Carrier New Products

ingenie Launches Telematics Offering

December 8, 2011

ingenie is a new online car insurance brand targeting young drivers in the United Kingdom, aged 17 to 25, who have been priced off the road by rocketing car insurance costs. Those costs have seen the 17 to 22 age bracket now paying a typical annual premium of £2,431 ($3,805), up 64 percent when compared to 2010 figures.

ingenie says it uses advanced telematics technology, fitted in the car, to assess individual driving styles, adjusting insurance premiums accordingly. This offers fairer and affordable premiums to young drivers, while encouraging and incentivizing better and safer driving.

Chris McKee is chief underwriter officer of the fledgling company, while ingenie will be led by co-founder and CEO Richard King. McKee is a former board director of Direct Line and has more than 30 years of experience in direct insurance. King has had previous start-up success in the technology/insurance sector as co-founder and executive director of Innovation Group Plc.

In line with its target market, ingenie says it will focus marketing on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media networks. Young drivers who take out insurance with the company are sent updates on their driving style in Twitter-style messages via the ingenie mobile application direct to their phones. The feedback information is then collated every three months and evaluated to amend the original quote.

Aspen U.S. Enters Recreational Marine Market

December 5, 2011

Aspen U.S. Insurance has entered the recreational marine insurance market, with a focus on marinas, yacht clubs, boat dealers, boat manufacturers and boat component manufacturers.

Aspen says it will distribute these products through an exclusive arrangement with Axiom Insurance Management Ltd., a specialty marine MGA and wholesaler located in Atlanta and founded in 1997.

As an established marine specialist, Axiom provides wholesale capabilities to the business model and the market as a whole. Axiom and Aspen's U.S. marine department will work in close partnership to ensure that service, underwriting, claims handling and loss control are all maintained to a high standard.

Aspen will offer property, inland marine, marine general liability, bumbershoot, ancillary hull, and protection and indemnity coverages. The primary emphasis will be on small to medium enterprise businesses throughout the continental United States, the company adds.

The Hartford Aims to Deliver Life Insurance in Five Days

November 9, 2011

The Hartford claims it can deliver permanent life insurance to consumers in under a week, rather than the industry average of 48 days, through its new Issue First process.

According to the carrier, in a pilot run of the product conducted earlier this year, more than 90 percent of people who applied for a Hartford policy using Issue First bought the policy. That compares with 68 percent of consumers who purchased a policy using the traditional selling approach.

Through Issue First, the company issues the policy to consumers before it completes the normal underwriting process, says The Hartford. Issue First reverses the order of the process by asking the consumer eight critical questions up front. If they honestly can affirm all eight questions, they receive coverage on the spot that cannot be revoked because of an unforeseen medical condition. Only then does the full underwriting process begin.

The Hartford says it received a patent this year on the system that manages its LifeAccess Accelerated Benefit Rider, which can be added, for an additional cost, to its policies to provide income to those who become chronically ill. The company says it also has patents pending on Issue First and a dozen other products, including its LongevityAccess Rider—the first rider to provide income to policyholders who live to age 90 and meet the terms of the riders. The company has introduced an electronic, paperless application capability that includes the option of using electronic signatures as well.

Munich Re Develops Accumulation Risk Software

September 14, 2011

Munich Re is refining its risk management practices to better deal with complex accumulation risks as part of its efforts to cover emerging risks.

Speaking at the Rendez-Vous de Septembre in Monte Carlo, Monaco, recently, Rainer Sachs, head of group accumulation and emerging risks, said the German reinsurer has created a software program called the Complex Accumulation Risk Explorer to deal with complex risks and the interactions among them. The program, which is a trial version, is a tool that analyzes accumulation scenarios, such as the consequences of a prolonged period of heat and drought, which could affect such things as energy generation and air pollution.

Emerging risks are a “natural result” of increasing globalization, said Torsten Jeworrek, a member of Munich Re's board, adding that Munich Re holds a “very high ambition” when it comes to making emerging risks insurable. This involves calling on internal and external experts to provide insight on the nature of risks. Some risks, though, such as nuclear or biological terrorism, have to be excluded from coverage, he said.

During a wide-ranging press conference, Jeworrek said prices for catastrophe reinsurance will increase, and the European Union's new Solvency II risk-based regulatory regime for insurers, all the details of which are not yet known, will be good for reinsurers.

The Phoenix Companies Launches Annuity

July 4, 2011

The Phoenix Companies Inc. introduced the Premier LifeStyle Annuity, available exclusively through The AltiSure Group. The product—designed for both retirees and pre-retirees—is a single-premium indexed annuity with four indexed accounts, principal protection from investment loss, and a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit, says The Phoenix Companies.

The annuity was created to offer two unique benefits. The Safety Growth Strategy is an index crediting strategy that allows for greater growth potential than traditional cap crediting strategies; and The Enhanced Guaranteed Income and Family Wealth Transfer Benefit (Enhanced G.I.F.T. Benefit) combines guaranteed lifetime withdrawals with an enhanced death benefit for one charge.

The Enhanced G.I.F.T. Benefit is an optional rider that offers clients guaranteed lifetime withdrawals, even if the annuity’s account value is reduced to zero, says The Phoenix Companies. The guaranteed withdrawal amount is calculated using the income benefit base in combination with an age-based withdrawal rate. The income benefit base is based on a 12%, simple interest roll-up of the income benefit base for the first 14 contract years, and an 11% simple interest roll-up for life thereafter, prior to the start of guaranteed withdrawals.

The Phoenix Companies says the rider also features an enhanced death benefit based on a 6%, compound roll-up of the death benefit base prior to age 70, and a 5% compound roll-up between ages 70 and 85, not to exceed double the premium. The clients can maximize income opportunity by deferring the start of withdrawals under the Enhanced G.I.F.T. Benefit, while remaining protected by the enhanced death benefit until the beginning of the guaranteed withdrawals.

The Enhanced G.I.F.T. Benefit also is the persistency bonus to the benefit base, which serves to increase the income benefit base above and beyond the 12% simple interest roll-up, says The Phoenix Companies. This provides an additional increase for individuals looking to start taking retirement income after specified points in time.

Archive