The Arizona Insurance Information Association changed its name to the Arizona Insurance Council to reflect the group's new direction. AIC's expanded scope includes education outreach and partnership building initiatives with safety and loss mitigation organizations in Arizona. The group also is launching an improved web site, www.azinsurance.org, for consumers. The site covers topics related to auto and homeowner's insurance, including tips on saving money, checklists for homeowners, access to home inventory software, auto safety statistics and industry trends. There is link to information on the new Arizona Teen Driver Safety Law going into effect July 1.

West Bend Mutual Insurance Modernizes Enterprise Communications Technology with Thunderhead NOW

West Bend Mutual Insurance Company in West Bend, WI, a property and casualty company offering homeowners, auto and business insurance, has selected Thunderhead NOW, Thunderhead's enterprise communications platform, in its quest to upgrade, yet easily integrate, the company's existing technology with a single document-generation solution.

Serving approximately 175,000 policyholders in Central US, West Bend's deployment of Thunderhead NOW will automate document generation for the company, ensuring maximum efficiency and time-savings, while reducing cost. Thunderhead's easy integration with workflow and business process management (BPM) and enterprise content management (ECM) software, made it the product of choice to support West Bend's output of more than one million pages annually.

Thunderhead's one-platform-for-all communications approach enables business users to manage personalized customer communications, improving time-to-value and customer retention.

Florida House panel criticizes 2007 homeowner insurance law

In a rare political mea culpa, state legislators said Monday there are deep flaws in the sweeping property insurance law they passed almost unanimously last year to help lower homeowner insurance rates.

The House Insurance Committee held a hearing Monday aimed at building support to reverse last year's legislation.

Among other changes, the 2007 legislation expanded the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund by $12 billion to offer insurers cheaper reinsurance, or backup coverage, and rescinded rate hikes of 21 percent and 56 percent for Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the public property insurer that has become the state's largest.

The legislative package helped lower homeowner rates by a statewide average of about 15 percent. But House insurance committee members say in hindsight, the savings won't be worth the financial risk if a major hurricane strikes, wipes out state funds and leaves almost all Florida homeowners to foot the bill.