What’s New: In brief (August 22, 2006)

Kingsway Financial Services Inc. recently contracted with the ChoicePoint company Insurity in order to deploy a new suite of products and services for insurance processing called Insurance Decisions. This new product will provide rating, quoting, underwriting, issuance, billing, reinsurance, claims administration, management-reporting and bureau-reporting services for Kingsway. In addition, Kingsway says its staff will access the Insurance Decisions platform, hosted at Insurity’s data center, via a secure Web connection. “We wanted to have a single insurance platform supporting our diverse lines of business and distribution channels,” Claude Smith, Kingsway vice president and chief information officer, says. “Insurance Decisions met our objective of delivering all of our processing needs on a single platform. Insurity’s knowledge of commercial lines was also important.” David Pedersen, Insurity senior vice president, says companies that want for operational efficiency as well as reductions in expenses and infrastructure burdens are beginning to outsource. “They need a multidimensional vendor providing insurance expertise, comprehensive processing capabilities and support for multiple business segments a partner that helps the company get new products to market faster without any IT bottlenecks,” Pedersen says,

Hub International Ontario Ltd. has appointed Camille Alexander to the position of claims manager. Alexander offer 20 years of Canadian property and casualty insurance industry experience to her new role in both adjudication and claims management. In addition, she has been active in the insurance industry, serving as chair of the Starlight Starbright Insurance Gala and working as an instructor for the Insurance Institute of Ontario. In her new role, the company says Alexander will work closely with the HUB team across Ontario to recommend solutions in the area of loss prevention as well as helping to facilitate the resolution of complex claims settlements. Hub International recognizes the importance of adding value for our customers and insurance partners.