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DTCC Insurance Customer Survey Shows Meeting Regulatory and Compliance Requirements as the Top 2010 Priority

New York, December 3, 2009 — A recent customer survey conducted by The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) revealed that satisfying more stringent regulatory and compliance requirements in the insurance industry is the top 2010 priority.

While the goal of regulation is to create safer markets by enhancing transparency and efficiency, 44 percent of participants cite that successfully meeting these demands will require greater automation and standardization in their operational practices. While these mandates are high on the agenda, the survey also shows budgetary constraints make this challenging in a tighter fiscal environment.

"DTCC is committed to partnering with the insurance industry to meet the challenges of a more demanding regulatory environment where mitigating risk and increasing transparency is crucial for sustainable growth," said Adam Bryan, DTCC Managing Director, Insurance & Retirement Services. "Bringing greater automation and standardization to the insurance industry is critical to successful adaptation to the ever changing regulatory landscape."

Since 1997, DTCC's Insurance & Retirement Services (I&RS) has worked closely with the insurance community to provide a suite of services that help foster growth, reduce paper flow and lower costs by bringing the scalability and efficiency of automation to the markets.

After regulation, budgetary constraints ranked second with approximately 28 percent of participants listing it as the number one challenge for growth. Conversely, regulation requirements also surfaced as bringing more opportunities for growth, with nearly 32 percent citing that a standardized compliance solution would provide greater transparency, lower costs and forge the industry forward.

"Moving in to the next decade, this survey shows that the insurance industry will be working toward greater adoption of automated services which will impact their ability to meet regulatory demands," Bryan explained further. An example of DTCC's role in introducing more automation is the recent launch of ‘Attachments,' a new electronic solution designed to streamline the processing of required paperwork and signatures for pre-sale and post-issuance transactions in the insurance industry."

Other noteworthy survey findings include:

• Twenty-five percent of participants listed on-line application processing as the most critical component to straight-through-processing (STP).
• 20 percent of participants claim that lower cost, front end transactions would encourage industry growth.
• Global expansion and merger activity were seen by a significant number of participants as having the least impact on influencing industry growth. 33 percent ranked global expansion as the least important factor, while 20 percent cited merger activity as the lowest in importance.
• Roughly 17 percent of participants ranked Centralized Product Profile Management (PPfA) and access to real-time confirmation of Licensing & Appointment status as the most critical component to STP.

"Our in-depth research yields similar and complimentary findings to DTCC's customer survey; straight through processing and integration of books and records are key areas for investment in the broker dealer community," said Doug Dannemiller, Senior Analyst at the Aite Group. "Certain brokerage products, including variable annuities, have historically been more difficult to process efficiently and with these processing inefficiencies also comes regulatory and compliance difficulty."

Survey participants included insurance carriers, broker-dealers, vendors, clearing firms, solution providers and DTCC participants.

About DTCC

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), through its subsidiaries, provides clearance, settlement and information services for equities, corporate and municipal bonds, government and mortgage-backed securities, money market instruments and over-the-counter derivatives. In addition, DTCC is a leading processor of mutual funds and insurance transactions, linking funds and carriers with financial firms and third parties that market these products. DTCC's depository provides custody and asset servicing for more than 3.5 million securities issues from the United States and 117 other countries and territories, valued at $27.6 trillion. Last year, DTCC settled more than $1.88 quadrillion in securities transactions. DTCC has operating facilities and data centers in multiple locations in the United States and overseas.

DTCC Insurance & Retirement Services connects the insurance industry through the world's largest post-trade infrastructure with processing solutions that support money settlement and information exchange between product manufacturers and distributors in the main areas of a product life-cycle including transactions that are pre-issue and post-issue of a contract, monitoring and reporting of contract activity as well as agent support services. DTCC is a partner and leader with the insurance industry in the effort to automate, standardize and centralize transaction and information processing for insurance products. Insurance & Retirement Services are provided by DTCC's National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) subsidiary. For more information, visit www.dtcc.com/products/insurance.