Branded Marketing LLC is trying to combat churn by offering free insurance policies to users of its prepaid cards.
The move furthers a trend: other prepaid card marketers have introduced add-on services such as direct deposit and online bill payment to extend the shelf life of a product that many people use a few times and then toss out.
Branded Marketing, of Haskell, N.J., announced Tuesday that all users of its MasterCard Inc.-branded prepaid card, which is targeted to Hispanics, will automatically receive accidental death and accident hospital insurance.
“Down the road we would like to add more and more features,” said Anthony Uva, Branded Marketing’s chief marketing officer. Full Article…
As insurance companies look to push the use of analytics across the enterprise, Germany’s SAP AG is paying $5.8 billion to acquire Dublin, Calif.-based Sybase, Inc., a maker of business analytics, database and mobile software popular among insurers.
Signaling the ascendancy of mobile business applications, the companies say the deal is intended to enable insurers and other customers to become “unwired” enterprises. The companies contend the confluence of their technologies will pave the way for ‘real’ real-time analytics.
The deal comes as SAP’s primary rival, Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle Corp. continues t
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This Alaskan couple found the benefit of an established business model to help them catapult into the entrepreneurial world.
Anchorage, AK (1888PressRelease) May 13, 2010 – Northern Inventory joins the Hartman Inventory Group to provide personal property inventory services to the State of Alaska. Owners James and Erin McKay bring many years of corporate experience to their new business, enabling them to transfer customer service and management skills that will serve these entrepreneurs well. Erin has over 25 years of regulatory compliance experience, primarily in the oil and gas industry. Full Article…
A survey conducted by Munich Re America that targeted insurance executives to determine their most pressing concerns revealed what most in the industry know: the economy still presents a challenge, but less so than last year.
Results of the 2010 survey of 30 respondents were discussed by a number of insurers last week at Munich Re’s 16th annual CIO Roundtable in New Jersey.
Before presenting the survey results, Anthony Kuczinski, president and CEO of Munich Reinsurance America Inc., acknowledged the difficult circumstances under which the industry operated in 2009, including the bottoming-out of the economic market in the 1st Quarter 2009, which served as a backdrop to last year’s event.
Kuczinski framed the survey results with a note that “what if?” scenarios lead to one of the most important lessons learned from the economic crisis – the importance of pricing and underwriting discipline through the underwriting cycle leading to consistent and profitable returns in the long term.
Therefore, despite the financial difficulties, the industry rebounded quickly to post positive results in 2009, Kuczinski noted.
The survey asked respondents to identify issues that they believe are those most critical facing the entire industry. Of the
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To alleviate apparent confusion over storm surge and flooding predictions that were in conflict with the reality of events when a hurricane made landfall, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale was updated by the National Weather Services’ National Hurricane Center, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The revised scale will continue to classify and/or identify hurricanes by maximum sustained wind speeds. a storm with winds reaching 74 mph is considered Category 1. Category 3 and higher is considered a “major hurricane,” and a Category 4 storm is capable of damaging well-built homes. Th Full Article…
National Australia Bank, which has seen its $13 billion takeover bid for AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd blocked by the competition regulator, is preparing to sell some assets to appease the government watchdog, two sources said.
NAB, staring at an end of May deadline for its agreement with AXA Asia and its parent AXA SA, is expected to submit a plan in the next 10 days that will outline measures aimed at overcoming the regulatory hurdles.
NAB could still wait for regulatory guidance on the blocked transaction, but Australia’s top lender is in the process of drawing up a divestiture plan to address the competition issues raised by the watchdog.
An NAB spokesman said the company was considering all options.
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In an effort to develop its wealth management arm, Sun Life Financial Inc., a Toronto-based insurance giant, announced Thursday it is established a proprietary mutual fund company in Canada.
The fund family, which will include a proprietary family of Canadian funds, is an effort to bring the investment capabilities of MFS Investment Management, Sun Life’s Boston-based asset management arm, to Canadian retail investors. MFS had over $195 billion of assets under management as of March 31.
“We are expanding our wealth business in Canada by bringing more choices and innovative products to retail investors,” said Kevin Dougherty, president of Sun Life Financial Canada and president of Sun Life Global Investments. “
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A coalition of industry associations is working to scuttle an amendment to financial reform legislation that would strip health insurers of anti-trust protections currently enjoyed under the auspices of the McCarran-Ferguson Act.
In a letter to legislators, the group warned that the amendment authored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) would set a bad precedent and pave the way for all insurers losing their exemptions.
“While the amendment targets health insurers, its flawed language and lack of definitions are a bad precedent for repealing the anti-trust exemption for any line of insurance whether it is health, life or property/casualty,” the letter states. “Th
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