What’s New: In Brief (February 08, 2008)

Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) is launching a pilot project on Feb.9 aimed at keeping young children safe in vehicles.
The Manitoba Child Car Seat Program will allow parents to have improved public education information via new videos, pamphlets and public presentations, MPI reports in a release.
“Eight of 10 car seats in Manitoba are not used properly,” Shauna Neiser of MPI’s Road Safety department, said in the release. “The more opportunities for inspections and information we can get out to parents, the better.”
On Feb. 9, a free, drop-in clinic will be held at MPI’s claim centre at 930 St. Mary’s Rd. (Time: 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.) The key focuses are to check if the child is in an appropriate seat for their weight or height, to check if the child is restrained properly and inspect if the seat is installed correctly.

Benfield has launched a service that provides automated notification of A.M. Best rating changes related to reinsurers.
Through an agreement with A.M. Best, Benfield has been given programming access to A.M. Best Company’s electronic ratings file, enabling Benfield to provide real-time reinsurer A.M. Best rating change notifications to its U.S. clients.
Using direct, live data from A.M. Best, and leveraging the power of its own proprietary Global Reinsurance Distribution System (GRiDS), Benfield will be able to deliver immediate notifications to clients affected by reinsurer rating changes.
The automatic notifications will detail the affected reinsurance contracts that are serviced by Benfield Inc., the company adds in the release.