What’s New: In Brief (July 12, 2006)

Hub International Limited (NYSE:HBG)(TSX:HBG) has acquired the life insurance portfolio of Standard International Underwriters Ltd. (SIU).
Details of the purchase by the Toronto-based Hub Financial Inc. (HUB Financial) were not disclosed.
Both HUB Financial and SIU are managing general agencies operating in all provinces of Canada. HUB Financial will integrate the SIU servicing activities into its existing operations.
“SIU’s servicing activities on behalf of thousands of independent life insurance brokers are similar to some of our own servicing relationships, leading us to anticipate a smooth integration,” HUB Financial Terri DiFlorio said.
Headquartered in Chicago, IL, Hub International Limited is a North American insurance brokerage that provides a broad array of property and casualty, life and health, employee benefits, investment and risk management products and services through offices located in the United States and Canada.

Celent, LLC has recognized Document Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:DOCX), a provider of customer communications management solutions, as a category leader for the third straight year in Celent’s “Insurance Software Deal Trends” report.
The recognition is based on software deals that occurred in 2004 and 2005. Celent’s report is based on a sample of 1,158 software deals in insurance signed by 68 vendors.
Based upon its deal volume, Document Sciences was cited in the life/health edition as the top vendor in the document management category, which includes the production of policies/certificates and correspondence. Document Sciences was also cited as one of the leading vendors in the property/casualty edition.
Document management is currently an important area for technology investments, the Celent report notes. “The insurance industry is generating a lot of activity in the document management arena,” Celent senior analyst Craig Weber, the author of the report, said in a press release. “Carriers of all sizes are actively looking for improved solutions that help them manage their documents better.”