After helping lay the foundation for mainstreaming life insurance processing, the group that made it possible will get a new look in 2006. The Life Advisory Group, which comprised representatives from insurance carriers and broker/dealers, will be folded into a new structure that combines life and annuity expertise within a single consolidated advisory group.

Reflecting the change, 14 members from the Life Advisory Group will join the existing IPS Advisory Group, which has traditionally focused its efforts on supporting annuities within Insurance Services’ solution suite. In addition to the new life members, nine seats on the existing IPS Advisory Group were up for election. Each elected participant serves a two-year term. Voting for the positions took place in January.

Formed in November 2004, the Life Advisory Group has spent the past year looking at ways to enhance several Insurance Services’ solutions — Positions & Valuations, Commissions, and Financial Activity Reporting — to better support life insurance products. The combination of the Life and IPS Advisory Groups will not change that focus, as the newly constituted group will continue to work to identify services for future development that benefit the life insurance marketplace.

A Model of Success

“Our goal in forming the Life Advisory Group was to bring the same benefits of better efficiency, standardization, and speed to the life insurance market that has been accomplished for annuities processing,” said Carmel Cunningham, assistant vice president, Merrill Lynch Life Insurance Group. “Looking back on the past year, it’s clear the group has played a vital role as an industry forum for discussing and collaborating on our concerns, challenges, and opportunities and taking concrete steps to move us forward to our goal.”

Among the actions taken by the group was compiling a list of recommendations for adding codes and fields to Insurance Services’ layouts and documenting usage guidelines for standardized processing between insurance carriers and distributors. Initial service enhancements were included in Insurance Services’ 2005 year-end release, and additional enhancements will be implemented in the spring release, due to roll out in March. Readers can access details on the year-end and spring releases at http://insurance.dtcc.com.

“While the Life Advisory Group was looking to leverage the success achieved by Insurance Services and the industry for annuities processing, market participants realized there were certain nuances and levels of detail specific to life insurance,” said Cory Stark, senior product manager, Insurance Services. “To a certain extent, we were able to take advantage of what was already in place, so we didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. However, processing life insurance is very different from processing annuities, and these differences were accounted for in the enhancements requested by the group.”

Of the 18-member IPS Advisory Group, 9 seats representing annuities were up for election — 4 from carriers and 5 from distributors. Newly elected or reelected to the group are:

Carriers
Beth Sordillo-Murphy John Hancock*
Gary Carmichael Nationwide *
Melissa Egnor Lincoln National*
Sandy Stokley ING

*Incumbent

Distributors
Julia Harris Wachovia
Tim Combs AG Edwards
Carmel Cunningham Merrill Lynch*
Michelle Flowers Edward Jones*
Joe Wengler Morgan Stanley*

In addition to the open annuity seats, 14 positions — 8 from carriers and 6 from distributors — representing life insurance were added to the group. New members are:

Carriers
Diane Drahota Allstate
Rosie Jasinek Hartford Life
Vesna Samardzic John Hancock
Clarice Mah John Hancock
Judy Warren Lincoln National
Danny Smith Pacific Life
Lisa Ferguson Phoenix Life
Paul Kearns Sun Life

Distributors
Michelle Flowers Edward Jones
Jim Hilliker M Financial
Susie Pontefract M Financial
Carmel Cunningham Merrill Lynch
Lorrie Miller Merrill Lynch
Debra Wortman Wells Fargo

Member whose seats were not up for election are:

Carriers
Chris Trainer Aegon
Carol Albright Allstate
Steve Kilbon Hartford Life
Frank Norton Pacific Life
Joe Procacini Sun Life

Distributors
David Koch Chase Investment Services
Michael Gonce Legg Mason
Stephen Terry Raymond James/PCA
Alec O'Conner Wells Fargo