Wawanesa Insurance Selects Guidewire ClaimCenter
Sat ,31/10/2009Business Wire, Sept 15, 2009
Guidewires claims management system to provide leading Canadian
insurer with modern claims handling platform for all its personal and
commercial lines of business
WINNIPEG, Manitoba & SAN MATEO, Calif. — The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company (Wawanesa), which provides
coverage to 1.8 million policy holders in Canada and the United States,
and Guidewire Software, a leading provider of flexible core
systems to property/casualty (general) insurers, today announced that
Wawanesa has selected Guidewire ClaimCenter as its new
platform to manage claims for all lines of business: Home, Auto, Farm,
and Commercial.
Wawanesa sought a new core claims processing and management solution to
provide the company with a foundation on which to modernize its claim
handling processes in order to enhance its customer service offerings
and more efficiently operate its claims business. The solution needed to
be easy to use, scalable and flexible enough to grow and evolve with
Wawanesas changing business needs. After a thorough search and review,
Wawanesa selected Guidewire ClaimCenter.
Guidewires customer focus, strong industry rating and consistent
implementation track record, in both Canada and the United States,
really appealed to us, said Ken McCrea, President and Chief Executive
Officer, Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company. We are looking forward to
the service and operational improvements ClaimCenter will help us
realize.
Guidewire ClaimCenter will help Wawanesa:
- Enhance its maryland auto insurance quotes customer service capabilities;
-
Automate processes for operational efficiency and reduced expense
costs; and - Provide its staff with a modern, easy to use system.
Guidewire is particularly proud to welcome Wawanesa Mutual Insurance,
our sixth Canadian insurer, to our customer family, said John Raguin,
Chief Executive Officer, Guidewire Software. Wawanesa has a long
history of serving customers across Canada and in the United States.
ClaimCenter is an excellent foundation to help them take their service
capabilities to new levels.
Guidewire ClaimCenter is a leading end-to-end claims management system,
built from the ground up to meet the specific needs of todays
property/casualty (general) insurers. ClaimCenters flexible business
rules enable claims organizations to define, enforce, and continually
refine their preferred claim handling practices in order to optimize and
monitor claim processes. ClaimCenter is in use by insurers of all sizes
across all product lines to improve speed and accuracy, reduce loss
adjustment expense, and enable proactive management of claims.
About The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company
Wawanesa is a Canadian mutual company owned by its policyholders. It is
one of the largest property and casualty insurers in Canada. Wawanesa
has a rich history dating back to 1896, when it was founded in the
Village of Wawanesa, Manitoba
Crash claims life of Round Lake teen.(News)
Sat ,31/10/20090 Comments | Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), October, 2009
Byline: Lee Filas lfilas@dailyherald.com
A Round Lake teen was killed and six others were injured during an early Sunday morning accident in Lakemoor.
Leonardo Elias, 18, was pronounced dead at the scene in the 500 block of West Route 120, McHenry County coronerAEs officials said.
Elias was seated in the rear of the minivan heading west on Tia Juana Drive at a high rate of speed at 2:55 a.m., Lakemoor Police Chief Glenn Leonard said Monday. The van drove off whiplash compensation claim the road and hit a tree just off Route 120, near Lakeview Drive.
The crash impact was at the area of the minivan where Elias was seated, Leonard said
Young, healthy could shoulder costs of federal health care reform
Sat ,31/10/2009Colorado Springs Business Journal, Oct 30, 2009 by Amy Gillentine
Premiums for healthy, young adults could rise as much as 140 percent if health care reform legislation is approved by Congress.
A study by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, which was released last week, considers the following three scenarios: a young healthy 25- year-old man with individual insurance, an unhealthy, 60-year old couple, and a family with two children and a small company that employs eight people.
Who will pay the most after reform? The 25-year old man, whose premiums will increase from $90 a month to $216.
Families and small businesses would see increases ranging from 9 percent to 52 percent. Only unhealthy, older people would see a rate decrease, but still see monthly premiums of $1,200.
“The report clearly shows that premiums would go up, rather than down,” said John Martie, president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield. “Some of the reform bills have flaws that ignore important things like access and costs. These numbers are not cherry-picked. The results show that these bills will affect people.”
The study used data from current insurance policies. The reason for the high increases, Martie said, is that the proposed reforms eliminate or constrain rating factors used by insurance companies that reward younger people with discounts.
“And cheap life insurance they require that we insure everyone, but they don’t have high enough penalties for not having insurance,” said Rebecca Weiss, director of government relations for BCBS. “The fines right now start at zero for the first year and go up to $750 in 10 years. That doesn’t cover the costs of insuring anyone.”
The study is based on several assumptions, said Dr. Steve Berkshire, professor of health care administration at Central Michigan University. And because Anthem doesn’t explain how it reached its numbers, it could have “cherry picked” the cheapest policies in order to have a wide variance of premium increases.
“They make a lot of assumptions in order to put forth a perspective that’s ‘proof’” the proposals in Congress are a bad idea,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean those assumptions are incorrect — but some of them, we just can’t know yet.”
The assumption for rising premiums for the very young and healthy is based on the fact insurance companies will be required to insure everyone — regardless of health
Fitch Affirms KeyCorp Student Loan Trust 1999-A and 1999-B; Assigns Stable Outlooks
Sat ,31/10/2009Business Wire, Oct 30, 2009
NEW YORK — Fitch Ratings has affirmed and assigned Stable Outlooks to the ratings
of KeyCorp Student Loan Trust 1999-A and 1999-B. Additionally, Fitch has
removed the 1999-B class M notes from Rating Watch Negative. The
affirmations reflect the sufficient level of enhancement in each trust
to protect investors from incremental losses on the private student
collateral and basis risk. Despite Fitch’s negative view easy student loans on the private
student loan sector in general, Stable Outlooks are assigned because the
loss multiples well in excess of the level commensurate with the
respective rating are expected to provide rating stability for the next
two years. The actions are based upon Fitch’s Global Structured Finance
Criteria and U.S. Private Student Loan ABS Criteria.
For the portion of each trust that is backed by private student loans,
Fitch conducted a review of the collateral performance that involved the
calculation of loss coverage multiples based on the most recent
variables. A projected net loss amount was compared to available credit
enhancement to determine the loss multiples. Fitch used historical
vintage loss data provided by the issuer to form a loss timing curve
representative of each of the 1999-A and 1999-B private student loan
collateral pools. After giving credit for seasoning of loans in
repayment, Fitch applied the current cumulative gross loss level to this
loss timing curve to derive the expected gross losses over the remaining
life for each trust
Coloradoans on the Move: October 30, 2009
Sat ,31/10/2009Colorado Springs Business Journal, Oct 30, 2009
Sandra Christiantelli has joined the Reeves Real Estate LLC offices photography art of Metro Brokers Inc. She previously was an associate broker for Re/Max and has more than four years of experience.
Barbara Low has joined Weichert, Realtors. Prior to becoming a real estate agent, she worked in the insurance industry and as a marketing manager at Anheuser Busch.
Kathryn “Katie” Navin has been named executive director of the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education. She previously was the organization’s program coordinator, and has served as an environmental educator and developed curriculum in seven states for a broad range of organizations, including museums and residential outdoor facilities.
Charles Bogues has joined Bank of Colorado as a mortgage loan consultant
Commercial property market in recovery
Sat ,31/10/2009Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), Oct 29, 2009
CONFIDENCE in sales and lettings of office space is increasing in Yorkshire and Humberside.
A third of the region’s surveyors (33%) reported a rise in activity, compared with -6% back in July, says the latest commercial property survey published on October 22.
The retail property market in the region also appears to be showing steady signs of recovery, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) with 10 % of surveyors reporting an increase in lettings compared with -6 % in July.
Furthermore, 22% of surveyors have also seen an increase in enquiries for retail space this quarter; once again up from -6 % in the last quarter.
Despite these improvements, rental expectations have yet to turn positive, although the latest survey points to a deceleration in the likely pace of rental declines across all three sectors (retail, office and industrial) in the run up to Christmas.
surveyors surrey Furthermore, the survey revealed that chartered surveyors in Yorkshire and Humberside are confident that sales and lettings of office space will increase in the next quarter but that current occupier demand is not demonstrating the same confidence as the retail property market, although enquiries are still consistent.
The survey also revealed that even though demand for industrial property in the region has slowed down, 44 percent of chartered surveyors said they were confident that sales and lettings of space would increase in the next quarter, with 72 percent reporting more available floor space and a steady number of enquiries.
The commercial property picture in Yorkshire and Humberside mirrors the general trend with a majority of surveyors in the UK reporting rising enquiries and lettings activity for the first time in over two years.
The London commercial property market is leading the turnaround with retail and office demand moving into expansionary territory at a faster pace than elsewhere. Central and Greater London office markets saw tenant demand rise for the second consecutive quarter and at more than double the pace of the previous survey period.
Additionally, 42% more chartered surveyors reported a rise than a fall in lettings activity in Central London compared to 18% in the previous quarter, the highest figure since the first quarter of 2007.
Across the UK as a whole, the net balance for tenant demand has risen to 8% from -11% in the previous quarter.
Jeff Pearey, RICS Yorkshire and Humberside spokesperson and head of the Jones Lang LaSalle Leeds office, said: “The latest research certainly reinforces the general improvement in underlying business confidence that we are starting to see.
“Over the summer months we received a notable increase in enquiry levels from occupiers, most notably in the office sector. Whilst these have yet to translate into transactions, I think it is indicative of a small but perceptible improvement in market sentiment.”
He added: The fact that Yorkshire and Humberside currently boasts a healthy supply of commercial property means that occupiers now have a window of opportunity to choose from a wide range of potential buildings and units.
“However, we are advising occupier clients not to leave their decision making too late as the supply could soon dwindle given the lack of new product coming to the market and this could result in a supply shortage in certain locations.
CAPTION(S):
sIMPROVEMENT: Jeff Pearey, RICS Yorkshire and Humberside spokesperson
Property consultant strengthens team for future
Sat ,31/10/20090 Comments | Birmingham Post (England), The, Oct 29, 2009
Property consultant Harris Lamb’s Birmingham and Worcester offices have added to their teams as the number of financial institutions willing to provide funding for commercial property deals rises.
Property professional Jacqui Bayliss has joined the Harris Lamb team in Worcester while the Birmingham office building surveying team has been boosted by the arrival of PaulWells.
“The move to increase our skills base is not for today but for tomorrow,” said Harris Lamb founder director Neil Harris.
“Harris Lamb was founded in the depths of the early 90s recession and experience gained then and more recently inthe distressed state of the current market we acknowledge that the factors thatdrivetheprofessional advice we dispense today in many instances willnot be valid tomorrow.
“The property industry has been turned homebuyers report upside down and inside out in the past year andwillnot return to normality for some time.Our strategy is to sharewithourclients thebenefitsofour collective skills and experience gained over the good and thenot so good times of the property cycle. The appointment ofJacquiandPaulwill sharpentheedge of our talent base.”
Jacqui Bayliss joins from property developer Gladman. PaulWells was formerlywithKing Sturge.
CAPTION(S):
New faces at property consultant Harris Lamb, Jacqui Bayliss and PaulWells.
None at work ; A series of high profile labour strikes is tarnishing Tamil Nadu’s well cultivated investor-friendly image.
Sat ,31/10/2009Business Today, November, 2009 by Nitya Varadarajan
Over the last two years, potests had become a routine phenomenon
at Pricol, the Coimbatore-based auto components manufacturer. Ever
since a section of the employees who came under the All India
Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU)-Tamil Nadu questioned the
wage agreement (in 2007) that was in force, the relationship between
the union and the management had turned frosty. But still, few would
have predicted what happened on September 21 this year. A section of
disgruntled workers employed at the company’s Kuniamuthur unit, who
were dismissed earlier herpes dating in the day on account of “misdemeanor , went
to Pricol’s main factory at Perianaickenpalayam with iron welding
rods and brutally assaulted to death the company’s Vice President
(HR) Roy J. George
Child sex abuse victims probe; CLAIMS PAEDOPHILE HAS NAMED YOUNGSTERS
Fri ,30/10/2009Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Oct 29, 2009
DETECTIVES are in talks with lawyers of a nursery worker who abused young children amid claims that she has named some of her victims.
Vanessa George, 39, who worked at Little Ted’s Nursery in Plymouth, Devon, is said to have identified up to 10 of the youngsters she abused.
It is believed the confession was made in custody and that senior detectives are now examining the claims.
Devon and Cornwall Police said officers are investigating whether any of George’s victims could be positively identified.
A spokeswoman for the force said: “As part of ongoing inquiries, detectives from Devon and Cornwall Constabulary are involved in a dialogue with George’s defence counsel, and the question of victim identification is part of that.
“It would be inappropriate to go into this further until sentencing is complete.
“We continue to update retractable badge holder parents regularly regarding the investigation.
“Currently, no individual children have been identified and this information confirmed, but we continue to investigate this.”
George, from Plymouth, will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court next month after pleading guilty to charges of indecent assault, taking indecent photos and distributing photos of children.
Co-defendants Colin Blanchard, 39, from Rochdale, and Angela Allen, also 39, from Nottingham, have also admitted several sex offences.
The trio are said to have met on Facebook, but police still do not know how they found each other. Transcripts of George’s police interviews released by the Crown Prosecution Service showed her admitting that her crimes were “vile” and “disgusting”.
But despite that realisation, she refused to name any of the children.
Her apparent change of heart has come just two weeks before her sentencing date.
After her guilty plea earlier this month, Mr Justice Royce urged her to give up the identities.
George took more than 100 images of children being molested, and referred to the mobile she used as her “fun phone”.
Around 30 parents of children who attended Little Ted’’s sobbed in the public gallery of Bristol Crown Court as the admissions of guilt were made.
CAPTION(S):
VILE ACTS: Vanessa George MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE: Peter Chapman is accused of killing 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall
Nunn too early
Fri ,30/10/2009Flex, Dec, 2009 by Dave Lee
Like most first-year pros, Ed Nunn dreamed of standing on the Olympia stage in his rookie year. Heading into this year’s Europa Super Show on August 14-15, the 2008 Nationals super-heavyweight and overall sacramento homes winner had every reason to believe that he would make it. “I was bigger and very dry,” Nunn said the day after placing seventh and missing out on an Olympia qualification. “I’m disappointed, but I guess it means that I have to keep my head up and work harder