Related Items
  FREE Insurancenetworking.com Site Registration!
Sign up today and access the leading source of Insurance I.T. information on the Web.

Your FREE site registration entitles you to

FREE Insurance Networking eNewsletters

Search more than 7 years worth of archived data

White Papers and Industry Research that provide valuable insights on a variety of technologies and implementation issues

Access our Web Seminar series

   

Vendor Developments

Kaplan Compliance Solutions and SILA Agree to Separate Operations

July 10, 2008

Indianapolis — The Securities & Insurance Licensing Association (SILA), initially sponsored by Kaplan Compliance Solutions, recently formed a legal entity (Securities & Insurance Licensing Association Inc.) and will operate as an independent association for the industry. A predecessor of Kaplan Compliance Solutions created Indianapolis-based SILA in 1990 (under the name of the Society of Insurance Licensing Administrators) to represent licensing and education experts, including representatives of regulatory agencies. Kaplan Compliance Solutions will continue to be an active member, but SILA will no longer be operated under the auspices of the company.

This action was taken in response to emerging concerns expressed by some of the state regulators and SILA advisory board members regarding the potential for conflict of interest between Kaplan and SILA. Their concern grew out of the fact that Kaplan, through its educational division, offers materials that are subject to approval and oversight by state regulators. The agreement dissolves the corporate sponsorship relationship of SILA by Kaplan Compliance Solutions, and allows a new legal entity to operate as a totally independent organization.

Diana Capes will continue as SILA's executive director, but no longer serves as a Kaplan Compliance Solutions employee.

Source: Kaplan Compliance Solutions

Smart Business Expands Life Actuarial Practice

July 10, 2008

Devon, Pa. — SMART Business Advisory and Consulting LLC, an independent global provider of financial advisory and business consulting services, has assumed the clients and personnel of Aon’s Insurance Consulting Services (ICS). 

In February 2008, SMART announced the expansion of its life actuarial services practice, led by Ed Robbins in the firm’s Chicago office, with the addition of three wellknown life actuaries: Christian DesRochers, FSA, Michael LeBoeuf, FSA and Brian King, FSA, formerly with ICS. This transaction rejoins these former members of ICS with their staff colleagues. SMART also is assuming the former offices of ICS in Avon, Conn., establishing a permanent office location for SMART in the Hartford marketplace.

“The addition of this group of very talented life actuaries to our existing actuarial practice significantly expands the breath and depth of our actuarial service offerings, and provides SMART with the resources to assist our clients in dealing with a myriad of financial reporting and product development challenges facing them today”, says J. Howard Stecker, SMART SVP. 

“Our existing broad insurance industry team, coupled with the expansion of our life actuarial capabilities, gives us the ability to provide a wide variety of consulting and compliance service offerings to the insurance industry,” says Joseph Lanzisera, SMART SVP. “One of our strengths as a company is to provide industry-focused, seamless delivery capability across multiple service lines to meet the changing needs of our clients.”

Jim Smart, CEO of SMART, states “The assumption of the ICS practice is just another example of our commitment to deliver high-caliber, accounting-focused consulting services to the insurance and financial services industries. SMART took on private equity funding in May 2007 when Boston-based Great Hill Partners invested in the company, in large part, to provide capital to help us expand. We are poised to continue growing our company though strategic hires as well as acquisitions of talent. The ICS transaction is a great example of this strategy in action.” 

Source: SMART Business Advisory and Consulting LLC 

ISO VP Receives IASA President’s Award

June 16, 2008

Jersey City, N.J. — Arthur Cadorine, VP of ISO’s information acquisition, development and service departments, has received the Insurance Accounting and Systems Association (IASA) President’s Award. IASA President John Bauer of Prudential Financial presented the award to Cadorine at the recent IASA 2008 Annual Educational Conference in Seattle.
 
Cadorine received the honor for his outstanding contributions to the growth of IASA, his significant volunteer services to the organization, and his numerous contributions to the financial services industry. 
 
For the past six years, Cadorine has served on IASA’s board of directors, where he has helped determine the strategic direction of IASA and establish corporate policies. For the three years prior, Cadorine led IASA’s Technology Program committee, where he guided the planning and arrangement of the systems technical sessions at its annual conference. 
 
IASA is a non-profit, education association that strives to enhance the knowledge of insurance professionals and participants from similar organizations closely allied with the insurance industry by facilitating the exchange of ideas and information.  
 
"It’s an honor to have your peers recognize that what you’re doing is meaningful," said Cadorine. "My involvement with IASA over the past 25 years has been a two-way street, and I continue to learn from the organization and its members."
 
Source: ISO

Connecture Wins Award

April 7, 2008

Atlanta — Connecture Inc., an Atlanta-based provider of Web-based sales, service and process automation solutions to the health insurance industry, has been given the Small Business Times' Innovation Quotient Award. The newspaper, along with the Wisconsin Technology Council, selected Connecture for its innovative product, InsureConnect EZ, a turnkey packaged solution that automates everything in a health plan's sales process—from quoting to renewal—for small group and individual and family plans.

InsureConnect EZ is a packaged version of Connecture's premiere product, InsureConnect, and uses common configurations and standard integration points. The solution also includes straightforward ratings, plan configurations and proposal generation. InsureConnect EZ is a hosted solution designed to offer a standardized approach to complement the more highly configurable InsureConnect. 

The IQ award is given annually to southeastern Wisconsin companies that are creating innovative products, services or processes in business. Winners are acknowledged for their cutting-edge accomplishments in their industries.

"Our InsureConnect EZ product solution is an exciting advancement in our industry," says Dan Maynard, president and CEO of Connecture. "We are proud to be recognized as a leader in innovation among southeastern Wisconsin companies, and we are committed to continue providing inventive sales automation solutions for health plans of all sizes."

Source: Connecture Inc.

Norkom Receives Regulatory Compliance Award

March 24, 2008

Boston, Mass. — Norkom Technologies Ltd. was named “Vendor of the Year” in the sixth annual Achievement in Regulatory Compliance Awards given by Compliance Reporter, a publication of Institutional Investor News.

Norkom, an Ireland-based provider of financial crime and compliance software for the global financial services industry, received strong support from both its clients and the readers of Compliance Reporter in this year's balloting. The Norkom approaches to dealing with money laundering, fraud and risk management were all factors in the decision. Compliance Reporter cited Depository Trust and Clearing Corp.'s choice of Norkom for an effective way to track and analyze suspicious transactions, and it also noted AXA Financial's selection of Norkom's enterprisewide system of risk management.

"We're very pleased and honored that our clients and the staff and readers of Compliance Reporter have seen fit to place Norkom at the head of the 2008 field of compliance vendors," says Joe Friscia, VP and GM for Norkom in North America.

"Intelligent automation of the entire process is key to remaining in compliance and to saving money through fraud prevention," Friscia says. "You've got to sift, analyze and uncover connections between and among vast numbers of data points and bits of information, and that's what our solutions do exceptionally well. The banks and companies that are most effective at this have evolved beyond mere alerts and detection to the rapid investigation and strong case management that our solutions provide."

Source: Norkom Technologies Ltd.

Archive

Vendor Spotlights