The 9 biggest announcements from life and health insurers this week

Insurance agents and financial advisors now have all the benefits of a full-service marketing team at their fingertips. The nonprofit organization Life Happens announced the launch of Life Happens Pro^SM, an online solution that offers insurance agents and financial advisors a simple and cost-effective way to access, embed and distribute insurance marketing resources to empower their business. For the first time, agents and advisors have the ability to use Life Happens’ full suite of educational insurance content, along with some brand-new features. They can now personalize digital flyers and brochures with their own contact information and company branding, as well as download, email, share and embed digital content such as videos, social-media assets, online calculators and others tools to support their own marketing and client outreach efforts, directly from a secure website.

Life Happens Pro is currently available for a 30-day free trial period at www.LifeHappensPro.org. Advisors wanting full access to the site have the option to subscribe by credit card for $39 per month or $399 per year. Insurance professionals affiliated with Life Happens member associations, such as NAIFA, MDRT, NAILBA, AALU, GAMA and others, can qualify for substantial discounts.

Life Happens also launched a highly-customized version of Life Happens Pro for its member companies called Life Happens Pro Home Office^SM. The new online platform is built on the same technology as Life Happens Pro to simplify and streamline home office employees’ ability to customize Life Happens marketing materials and resources for their sales teams that fit their company’s branding and compliance requirements. Companies interested in learning more should email [email protected] for details.

ACI Specialty Benefits announced the launch of MacroLife, a gamified engagement platform that integrates employee benefits, corporate initiatives and rewards to drive benefits utilization. MacroLife serves as a single point of access for all company perks and initiatives, offering an incentivized, seamless benefits experience where employees earn real-time rewards for every benefit interaction. MacroLife was designed for companies seeking to positively impact retention, recruitment, benefits administration, employee absenteeism, productivity, and job satisfaction. Benefits advisors, HR managers and brokers can learn more at www.gameofbenefits.com.

The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization funded by the insurance industry, has expanded its operations to the United Kingdom with the launch of its first international division. IICF’s newly-formed London Division will join the collective strengths of the insurance industry to provide grants, volunteer services, and leadership initiatives to the local community across the UK. It is the first overseas expansion for IICF, which operates four regional divisions across the United States and has contributed $23.5 million in grants and nearly 200,000 volunteer hours to local American communities since its inception in 1994.Founding board membership includes the following executives and companies:

• AFL Insurance Brokers: Alec Finch, Chairman
• Aon: Terry Masters, Chief Executive Officer, Aon Re Solutions
• Chubb: Gary Petrosino, Executive Vice President (and Chairman of IICF’s Board of Governors)
• CNA: Dave Brosnan, Chief Executive Officer, CNA Europe
• Generali: Steven Spano, U.K. Chief Financial Officer
• IICF: Bill Ross, Chief Executive Officer
• KPMG: Gary Reader, Partner, Global Insurance Sector
• Mayer Brown: Colin Scagell, Partner
• Prosek Partners: Andrew Waterworth, Managing Director
• Swiss Re: Sally-Anne Etienne, Market Head Life & Health U.K. and Ireland
• World Broker Network: Bruce Basso, Chief Executive Officer (and IICF Founder)
• XL Catlin: John Carroll, Group Sustainability Director
• Zurich: Pam Webb, Head of the Zurich Community Trust

Nationwide^® enhanced its New Heights^® fixed indexed annuities (FIA) with the J.P. Morgan MOZAIC^SM Index (USD), a dynamic, multi-asset index from the award-winning index design team at J.P. Morgan. The Index is one of three index allocation strategies available on the expanded New Heights lineup of four products. J.P. Morgan MOZAIC is a multi-asset index designed to create consistent returns based on a combination of broad diversification, positive momentum and volatility smoothing. The Index rebalances a diverse range of asset classes and geographic regions each month to create positive returns with low volatility. Since it launched in April 2009, the index has generated an average annualized return of 4.9 percent.

Nationwide worked with Annexus, a fixed indexed annuity product designer, on the New Heights lineup enhancement. Annexus also distributes the products through independent marketing organizations. New Heights is available to Nationwide’s affiliated agency force, independent distributors and bank and wirehouse channels.

With recent research showing that approximately 20 to 30 percent of insurers are replacing claims systems, research and advisory firm Novarica has published new and expanded Novarica Market Navigator reports profiling 33 property/casualty and 5 life/health/annuity claims systems. As the “moment of truth” for insurance customer experience and major driver of profitability, insurers can no longer afford to be constrained by poor technology in claims. P/C insurers are setting customer expectations with a variety of capabilities such as real-time processing and mobile integration, and although life and benefits insurers have historically been insulated from these demands, these pressures are being felt in products that have frequent touch points like disability insurance.For more information about P/C claims, download our recent webcast here and to learn more about life, health, and annuity claims, register for our upcoming webinar here.