Press
Boise, ID—July 12, 2018—Covr Financial Technologies, a digital life insurance platform for financial institutions, today announced the launch of Covr Insights, a complete inforce policy management system to track, analyze and manage life insurance for financial institutions and brokerage agencies. The launch of Covr Insights represents the third digital product Covr has introduced to the marketplace alongside the growing number of financial institutions, financial advisory firms, banks and credit unions adopting the Covr Advisor and Covr Consumer digital sales platforms.
“Policy management and tracking have long been a thorn in the side of our financial institution partners” said Covr CEO Mike Kalen. “Our partners’ ability to manage their books of business from poor performance, expirations, lapses or policy changes has been a challenge. Covr Insights is the first platform that brings these policies into a single, digital portal. Now, they can do more for their customers because they know more – and in today’s market that is a real competitive advantage.”
Through direct data feeds with over 20 life insurance carriers and notifications delivered to a user-friendly digital dashboard, Covr Insights deploys policy monitoring for 13 different policy characteristics to ensure existing coverages are appropriate and managed through the client’s lifetime. Covr Insights is integrated with Covr’s new business platform which provides simple and objective access to carriers for additional sales and coverage options.
“Inforce policy management is the next logical platform for Covr to offer within our broader mission to simplify the business of life insurance for financial institutions” said Kalen. “Life insurance is a valuable asset as part of a financial plan and Covr Insights helps improve the management of these policies throughout the client relationship. We have been helping some of the most respected financial institutions leverage technology to grow their life insurance business – this provides yet another way for them to serve their customers’ needs.”
The Covr Advisor platform connects life insurance products from over 30 major insurers to financial institutions and financial advisors, enabling them to offer insurance protection that is simple, straightforward, cost effective and transparent to their customers. The Covr Consumer platform is a web-based platform which allows customers of banks, credit unions and other financial institutions offer a direct purchase experience to their clients.
ABOUT COVR FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES
Covr is a digital life insurance platform that makes it easy to protect what matters most: you and your family. Covr partners with financial institutions that share the belief that life insurance should be both simple and transparent. Through Covr’s technology, financial advisors and their customers can research and purchase affordable life insurance from well-known insurance companies without the hassles of the traditional process – all within a matter of minutes. Covr’s investors include four leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. Offices: Boise and Hartford.
The Covr Advisory Board includes Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse; Gary W. Parr, senior managing director at Apollo Global Management; Neal Wolin, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury and former executive vice president and general for The Hartford Financial Services Group; Robert Kerzner, President and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global and former executive vice president, life division of Hartford Life, and Matt Muta, vice president, IT Innovation and Commercial Technology, Delta Air Lines, formerly Microsoft’s global managing director for Hospitality and Travel.
Read More...Integration of MoneyGuidePro© with Insurance Purchasing Portal Developed with COVR Enables Seamless Implementation of Insurance Solutions in Financial Planning Process
Los Angeles, CA – Cetera Financial Group® (“Cetera”)*, a leading network of independent firms supporting the delivery of professional financial advice, and Cetera Financial Institutions (CFI) today announced the rollout of enhanced integration features between CFI’s instance of the MoneyGuidePro© financial planning software suite and its web-based insurance purchasing portal. The portal was developed in conjunction with COVR Financial Technologies and launched in mid-2017. The company expects the integration of these technology tools to substantially streamline and simplify the process for advisors to identify and implement insurance solutions for clients that are part of a broader, customized financial plan. Cetera Financial Institutions is the Cetera firm specifically focused on serving the wealth management programs of banks and credit unions across the country.
LeAnn Rummel, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cetera Financial Institutions, said, “Technology-enabled financial planning that seamlessly incorporates insurance solutions represents a unique area for growth among bank and credit-union-based wealth management programs and their financial advisors. Cetera Financial Institutions is excited to lead the way with the delivery of our enhanced insurance purchasing portal, which eliminates the artificial separation of insurance from other financial solutions, and does so in a way that directly supports the ability of advisors to help their clients meet their life goals across the widest range of contingency scenarios. The rollout of this enhanced offering represents another step forward in Cetera’s delivery of our Advice-Centric ExperienceTM model for advisors and their clients, which envisions a profession driven by planning-based solutions and personalized advice.”
Going forward, financial advisors at CFI-affiliated bank and credit union-based wealth management programs will be able to assist clients with insurance needs on a ‘real time’ basis, as part of any discussion with clients about broader financial plans.
Each time financial advisors input client insurance information – such as the amount and type of coverage needed in the Life Insurance Needs Analysis of CFI’s instance of the MoneyGuidePro financial planning platform – they will be immediately taken to the CFI insurance portal, where they can easily find, generate quotes for and purchase appropriate life insurance. Later this year, these capabilities will be extended to long-term care and disability insurance to meet individual client needs identified through the MoneyGuidePro financial planning process.
CFI introduced its insurance portal in 2017 in partnership with COVR Financial Technologies, an innovative technology firm that allows consumers to access, learn about and purchase insurance policies in conjunction with financial advisors. The portal enables advisors to substantially reduce application processing time and provides a simplified, straightforward insurance purchasing experience for both advisors and clients. The CFI-branded portal is integrated within Cetera’s existing SmartWorks® advisor workstation and features custom-built functionality to serve the needs of CFI advisors and clients on a comprehensive basis.
CFI worked closely with both COVR and PIEtech, Inc., the developer of MoneyGuidePro, to design and implement the new features.
About Cetera Financial Institutions
Cetera Financial Institutions is a marketing name of Cetera Investment Services LLC, a self-clearing registered broker-dealer that delivers customized investment and insurance solutions to financial institutions nationwide. Cetera Investment Services helps institutions expand their financial offerings, which allows clients to pursue their financial goals through a holistic approach while delivering sound and strong financial solutions. Advisory services are offered through Cetera Investment Advisers LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser firm, where financial advisors receive a wide array of solutions and back-office support, so that they can focus on their clients.
Cetera Investment Services LLC and Cetera Investment Advisers LLC are members of Cetera Financial Group, which provides leading wealth management and advisory platforms and innovative technology to financial advisors and financial institutions nationwide. Cetera Investment Services is a member of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). For more information, see www.ceterafinancialinstitutions.com.
About Cetera Financial Group®
Cetera Financial Group (“Cetera”) is a leading network of independent firms empowering the delivery of professional financial advice to individuals, families and company retirement plans across the country through trusted financial advisors and financial institutions. Cetera is the second-largest independent financial advisor network in the nation by number of advisors, as well as a leading service provider to the investment programs of banks and credit unions.
Through its multiple distinct firms, Cetera offers independent and institutions-based advisors the benefits of a large, established broker-dealer and registered investment adviser, while serving advisors and institutions in a way that is customized to their needs and aspirations. Advisor support resources offered through Cetera include award-winning wealth management and advisory platforms, comprehensive broker-dealer and registered investment adviser services, practice management support and innovative technology. For more information, visit cetera.com.
*”Cetera Financial Group” refers to the network of independent retail firms encompassing, among others, Cetera Advisors, Cetera Advisor Networks, Cetera Investment Services (marketed as Cetera Financial Institutions), Cetera Financial Specialists, First Allied Securities and Summit Brokerage Services. All firms are members FINRA / SIPC.
About PIEtech
PIEtech, Inc. is singularly focused on helping more Americans control their financial future and security by planning for it. PIEtech® is the creator of MoneyGuidePro®, the industry’s leading financial planning software and myMoneyGuide®, an online guided planning solution that allows clients to create a customized plan. Innovative client engagement tools that were recently released include bliss, the Retirement Compatibility Game for couples, Financial Freedom, an interactive tool that helps clients control or eliminate debt and start saving, and Blocks, brief modular building blocks that address topics such as Social Security and Longevity. For more information on PIEtech’s powerful planning solutions, visit www.moneyguidepro.com.
ABOUT COVR FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES
Covr is a digital life insurance platform that makes it easy to protect what matters most: you and your family. Covr partners with financial institutions that share the belief that life insurance should be both simple and transparent. Through Covr’s technology, financial advisors and their customers can research and purchase affordable life insurance from well-known insurance companies without the hassles of the traditional process – all within a matter of minutes. Covr’s investors include four leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. Offices: Boise and Hartford.
The Covr Advisory Board includes Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse; Gary W. Parr, senior managing director at Apollo Global Management; Neal Wolin, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury and former executive vice president and general for The Hartford Financial Services Group; Robert Kerzner, President and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global and former executive vice president, life division of Hartford Life, and Matt Muta, vice president, IT Innovation and Commercial Technology, Delta Air Lines, formerly Microsoft’s global managing director for Hospitality and Travel.
Read More...Boise, ID—April 26, 2018—Covr Financial Technologies, a digital, multi-carrier life insurance platform for financial institutions, announced that Chris Growney, an advisor with venture capital and advisory firm Nyca Partners has joined Covr’s Board of Directors following Nyca’s role in Covr’s June 2017 fundraising. Growney, a director, advisor and investor in a broad range of start-up and growth companies was most recently the founder of Clearwater Analytics, an investment analytics and accounting software company based in Boise, Idaho.
Growney is a founding board member of the Bank of Manhattan, a CFA charterholder and a graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Brian Finn, chairman of the Covr Financial Technologies Board, said “Chris Growney is an outstanding addition to Covr’s Board of Directors. In addition to his diverse investment and advisory background, Chris has intimate knowledge of Boise’s expanding technology center, having established a successful business there, and will assist Covr in its growth planning as well as help to attract top technology talent.”
In addition, Covr announced that Gregory Fleming, CEO of Rockefeller Capital Management, and Robert Kerzner, President and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global have joined the Covr Advisory Board.
A longtime financial services executive, Fleming was previously president of Morgan Stanley Wealth and Asset Management. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Fleming was president and COO of Merrill Lynch. He served in several executive roles at Merrill for 17 years.
Kerzner leads the world’s largest association of life insurance and financial services companies representing more than 1,200 members across 64 countries, including most of the world’s largest institutions within life insurance and financial services. He was previously executive vice president and head of the individual life division of Hartford Life, Inc.
“We are pleased to welcome both Greg and Bob to the Covr Advisory Board,” said Finn. “We see this as a tremendous opportunity to add an advisor with Greg’s knowledge of the financial institution marketplace along with Bob’s unique industry perspective across both life insurance and financial services. They are both highly regarded in their industries, and we look forward to their unique perspectives as we continue to grow the Covr business.”
The Covr platform connects life insurance products from nearly twenty major insurers to financial institutions and financial advisors, enabling them to offer insurance protection that is simple, straightforward and transparent to their customers.
The Covr Advisory Board includes in addition to Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse; Gary W. Parr, senior managing director at Apollo Global Management; Neal Wolin, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury and former executive vice president and general for The Hartford Financial Services Group; Robert Kerzner, President and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global and former executive vice president, life division of Hartford Life, and Matt Muta, vice president, IT Innovation and Commercial Technology, Delta Air Lines, formerly Microsoft’s global managing director for Hospitality and Travel.
ABOUT COVR FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES
Covr is a digital life insurance platform that makes it easy to protect what matters most: you and your family. Covr partners with financial institutions that share the belief that life insurance should be both simple and transparent. Through Covr’s technology, financial advisors and their customers can research and purchase affordable life insurance from well-known insurance companies without the hassles of the traditional process – all within a matter of minutes. Covr’s investors include four leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. Offices: Boise and Hartford.
The Covr Advisory Board includes Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse; Gary W. Parr, senior managing director at Apollo Global Management; Neal Wolin, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury and former executive vice president and general for The Hartford Financial Services Group; Robert Kerzner, President and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global and former executive vice president, life division of Hartford Life, and Matt Muta, vice president, IT Innovation and Commercial Technology, Delta Air Lines, formerly Microsoft’s global managing director for Hospitality and Travel.
Read More...Kalen brings deep insurance and financial services leadership experience to Covr
Boise, ID—March 20, 2018—Michael Kalen has joined Covr Financial Technologies, a digital, multi-carrier life insurance platform for financial institutions, as its chief executive officer, Covr Board Chairman Brian Finn announced.
In announcing the naming of Kalen as the new CEO, Finn said, “As a veteran insurance executive with a strong track record of building insurance and financial services businesses, Michael is uniquely qualified to lead Covr’s growing management team. Michael understands first-hand the challenges facing carriers, banks and insurance technology businesses and can collaborate with them to find practical solutions that will propel Covr’s growth.”
In announcing the Kalen appointment, Finn noted that Kalen’s in-depth experience in financial technology and sales will make him a meaningful addition to Covr’s executive team. Kalen is an executive advisor with Aquiline Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm investing in businesses across the financial services sector in banking and credit, insurance, investment management and markets, and financial technology and services. Before that, for seven years, he was CEO of insurance marketer Futurity First, transforming it into a market leader in life and annuity distribution. Prior to that, he was president of The Hartford Life’s US Life Insurance business, the Number One seller of life insurance through financial institutions and banks. His experience also includes serving as senior vice president of insurance and estate planning at Prudential Securities and senior roles with Prudential Financial.
“In partnership with insurance carriers,” Kalen said, “Covr has brought simplicity to the insurance purchase process through its unique digital platform for financial institutions, direct to consumer platform and other digital offerings. By simplifying insurance buying, Covr’s technology has greatly enlarged the insurance sales space. I am looking forward to making the Covr platform a leading insurance marketing channel.”
Kalen is a frequent speaker on InsurTech and FinTech innovation and an advisor to several early stage companies as well as sitting on the board of trustees of Life Happens, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Americans take personal financial responsibility through the ownership of life insurance and related products, including disability and long-term care insurance. He has a BA in Management from the University of Delaware and an MBA in Finance from Columbia University.
The Covr platform connects life insurance products from nearly twenty major insurers to financial institutions and financial advisors, enabling them to offer insurance protection that is simple, straightforward and transparent to their customers.
The Covr Advisory Board includes: Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse; Greg Fleming, CEO Rockefeller Capital Management and former president of Morgan Stanley Wealth and Asset Management and COO and president of Merrill Lynch; Gary W. Parr, senior managing director at Apollo Global Management; Neal Wolin, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury and former executive vice president and general for The Hartford Financial Services Group; and Matt Muta, vice president, IT Innovation and Commercial Technology, Delta Air Lines, formerly Microsoft’s global managing director for Hospitality and Travel.
ABOUT COVR FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES
Covr is a digital life insurance platform that makes it easy to protect what matters most: you and your family. Covr partners with financial institutions that share the belief that life insurance should be both simple and transparent. Through Covr’s technology, financial advisors and their customers can research and purchase affordable life insurance from well-known insurance companies without the hassles of the traditional process – all within a matter of minutes. Covr’s investors include four leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. Offices: Boise and Hartford.
The Covr Advisory Board includes Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse; Gary W. Parr, senior managing director at Apollo Global Management; Neal Wolin, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury and former executive vice president and general for The Hartford Financial Services Group; Robert Kerzner, President and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global and former executive vice president, life division of Hartford Life, and Matt Muta, vice president, IT Innovation and Commercial Technology, Delta Air Lines, formerly Microsoft’s global managing director for Hospitality and Travel.
Read More...Boise, ID—June 13, 2017—Covr Financial Technologies, a digital personal insurance platform, closed today on a $5 million fund raising from four leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners.
Covr simplifies the insurance-buying experience for consumers, enabling them to purchase insurance online within minutes. The Covr platform connects personal insurance products from nearly twenty major insurers to financial institutions and financial advisers, enabling them to deliver digitally an integrated line of personal insurance products to their customers. The platform also provides education and training on products, insurance-product marketing and insurance-licensed telephone support.
The company said it has closed on thousands of policies and is growing rapidly.
Covr CEO Bill Benjamin said, “Covr is excited about partnering with these outstanding venture capital firms. Their extensive experience, business expertise and relationships will help propel Covr’s growth. Our expectation is to use these funds to fulfill Covr’s strategic growth initiatives and expand talent.”
Hans Morris, managing partner of Nyca Partners and lead investor, said “Covr is clearly the best platform to speed and simplify the insurance sales process, by tying together consumers, carriers and leading financial institutions. Covr’s management has done a superior job of managing its growth, and these additional funds will enable Covr to further enhance its platform, and meet the demands of several leading financial institutions in our pipeline.”
Covr’s competitive edge is its ability to call upon outstanding executives from the ranks of insurance, technology, marketing and financial industries to serve its clients and grow its business, said Benjamin.
This advantage, Benjamin noted, is exemplified by the Covr Advisory Board: Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse; Gary W. Parr, senior managing director at Apollo Global Management; Neal Wolin, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury and former executive vice president and general for The Hartford Financial Services Group; Matt Muta, vice president, IT Innovation and Commercial Technology, Delta Air Lines, formerly Microsoft’s global managing director for Hospitality and Travel.
About Covr Financial Technologies
As an agent of change in an industry that fails to connect with today’s consumer, Covr is a technology driven alternative that provides a simpler, faster way for people to protect what matters most. Through partnerships with financial institutions and their financial advisors, Covr’s digital platform provides a fast, user-friendly way to research, compare, shop for and buy insurance from nearly twenty top providers, fully online and within minutes. Offices: Boise, New York and Minneapolis. For more information, see https://covrtech.com
Contact:
Richard Stern, Stern & Co.,
Office: 212-888-0044
Cell: 917-208-7010
[email protected]
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ABOUT COVR FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES
Covr is a digital life insurance platform that makes it easy to protect what matters most: you and your family. Covr partners with financial institutions that share the belief that life insurance should be both simple and transparent. Through Covr’s technology, financial advisors and their customers can research and purchase affordable life insurance from well-known insurance companies without the hassles of the traditional process – all within a matter of minutes. Covr’s investors include four leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. Offices: Boise and Hartford.
The Covr Advisory Board includes Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse; Gary W. Parr, senior managing director at Apollo Global Management; Neal Wolin, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury and former executive vice president and general for The Hartford Financial Services Group; Robert Kerzner, President and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global and former executive vice president, life division of Hartford Life, and Matt Muta, vice president, IT Innovation and Commercial Technology, Delta Air Lines, formerly Microsoft’s global managing director for Hospitality and Travel.
Read More...Houston, March 27, 2017 (PRNewswire) – BBVA Compass Insurance Agency, an affiliate of BBVA Compass, has partnered with Boise-based Covr Financial Technologies, a digital personal insurance platform, to offer insurance seekers direct control over the insurance-buying process with turnkey access to quotes and product information from a network of carriers.
As of Mar. 1, clients of BBVA Compass and consumers have one-click access to personal insurance products and resources through BBVA Compass Insurance Agency’s online portal powered by Covr. The do-it-yourself interface serves as a digital solution designed to streamline and brighten the overall experience for purchasing insurance.
BBVA Compass Insurance Agency Managing Director of Insurance Analicia Geisen said that BBVA Compass’ partnership with Covr aligns with the bank’s digital transformation and underscores its effort to collaborate with digital providers to create opportunities for people that give them control over their financial future.
“We’re dedicated to creating opportunities for individuals, and this means putting them at the forefront of protecting the people and things that are most important in their life – without interference,” said Geisen. “We’ve teamed with Covr to provide an anytime, anywhere platform where they can receive on-demand information and make their own insurance decisions with no hassle, no downtime, no pressure and, most importantly, no middleman.”
Covr aims to disrupt the insurance arena, receiving buy-in from more than fifty of the nation’s largest financial institutions, including BBVA Compass. In its third year of simplifying the insurance-buying experience, Covr’s digital platform has positioned itself as a technology-driven alternative for purchasing insurance which answers to the call of clients who demand convenience and “say” over their financial planning and decisions.
“BBVA Compass Insurance Agency’s online portal powered by Covr is a model for how insurance will be sold to everyone from millennials on up, who want the ease and convenience of buying insurance online,” said Covr Founder and Vice Chairman Todd Ruplinger.
With the collaboration between BBVA Compass Insurance Agency and Covr, personal insurance seekers can avoid scouring multiple insurance websites, agencies or third-party entities to compare quotes. BBVA Compass Insurance Agency brings a consolidated insurance-buying experience right to the fingertips of consumers through a desktop and mobile supported interface where they can receive insurance information and quotes in minutes from nearly twenty major insurers for products such as life, disability, home, auto and pet insurance.
The insurance platform is backed by education programs, product training and phone support from licensed Covr financial advisors, enabling consumers to gain knowledge and weigh their options prior to making an insurance purchase.
For more information on the BBVA Compass Insurance Agency, click here.
About BBVA Group
BBVA Compass is a subsidiary of BBVA Compass Bancshares Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of BBVA (NYSE: BBVA) (MAD: BBVA). BBVA is a customer-centric global financial services group founded in 1857. The BBVA Group is the largest financial institution in Spain and Mexico, has leading franchises in South America and the Sunbelt region of the United States and is also the leading shareholder in Garanti, Turkey’s largest bank based on market capitalization. Its diversified business is focused on high-growth markets and it relies on technology as a key sustainable competitive advantage. Corporate responsibility is at the core of its business model. BBVA fosters financial education and inclusion, and supports scientific research and culture. It operates with the highest integrity, a long-term vision and applies best practices. The Group is present in the main sustainability indexes. More information about the BBVA Group can be found at bbva.com.
About BBVA Compass
BBVA Compass is a Sunbelt-based financial institution that operates 674 branches, including 345 in Texas, 89 in Alabama, 75 in Arizona, 62 in California, 45 in Florida, 38 in Colorado and 20 in New Mexico. BBVA Compass ranks among the top 25 largest U.S. commercial banks based on deposit market share and ranks among the largest banks in Alabama (2nd), Texas (4th) and Arizona (4th). BBVA Compass was recently named Best Digital Bank in North America by global finance magazine Euromoney and the best regional bank in the South & West and best mobile app in Money magazine’s 2015-2016 list of the Best Banks in America. To learn more about BBVA Compass, visit www.bbvacompass.com. For more BBVA Compass news, visit newsroom.bbvacompass.com and follow @BBVACompassNews.
ABOUT COVR FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES
Covr is a digital life insurance platform that makes it easy to protect what matters most: you and your family. Covr partners with financial institutions that share the belief that life insurance should be both simple and transparent. Through Covr’s technology, financial advisors and their customers can research and purchase affordable life insurance from well-known insurance companies without the hassles of the traditional process – all within a matter of minutes. Covr’s investors include four leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. Offices: Boise and Hartford.
The Covr Advisory Board includes Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse; Gary W. Parr, senior managing director at Apollo Global Management; Neal Wolin, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury and former executive vice president and general for The Hartford Financial Services Group; Robert Kerzner, President and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global and former executive vice president, life division of Hartford Life, and Matt Muta, vice president, IT Innovation and Commercial Technology, Delta Air Lines, formerly Microsoft’s global managing director for Hospitality and Travel.
Read More...As seen in the Wall Street Journal on January 12, 2017.
By:Leslie Scism
In October, Dan Finkelstein, a 37-year-old father of three, set out to explore buying life insurance. He went online, and to his surprise in about 20 minutes he was the owner of a $750,000 policy.
Just a year ago, Mr. Finkelstein’s purchase would have taken a month and required blood and urine samples and other medical analysis. “I was definitely surprised how easy it was,” says Mr. Finkelstein, a computer-systems architect in Ellicott City, Md.
He obtained his policy through Haven Life, a startup owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. More companies, including Haven Life, are trusting algorithms—using answers provided by applicants and data pulled from prescription-drug databases, motor-vehicle records and other sources—to reveal nearly as much about many people as analysis of blood and urine.
So confident are these companies, they are making some of the industry’s best prices available for the algorithm-driven policies. Mr. Finkelstein is paying $394 a year, one of the lowest rates currently available on a $750,000 policy for a mid-30s male, according to price-comparison websites.
The firms are making a calculated bargain: Obtaining less information than before to get a deal done is better than selling nothing at all.
Sales of individual life-insurance policies have declined more than 40% since the 1980s, according to industry-funded research group Limra, and about 30% of U.S. households have no life insurance at all, up from 19% in the earlier period.
“The industry should be willing to take on this risk in order to drive a better customer experience and reverse the trend of declining life-insurance ownership,” said Mark Sayre, head of Haven Life’s policy design.
The need to go online is a sign of the times. Decades ago, life insurance was a cornerstone of families’ finances, but the proliferation of mutual funds in the 1980s provided savings alternatives. Then sales-practice scandals in the 1990s prompted many insurers to shrink agent fleets.
MetLife Inc. began online sales of policies up to $100,000 in 2011, but suspended the effort, saying improvement is needed. Numerous insurers sell small policies without medical exams, but often charge steep rates.
Mr. Sayre said Haven Life is monitoring “the experience as it emerges” to look for potential changes in evaluating applicants.
Traditionally, insurers have used blood, urine and other medical analysis to find indications of conditions that can lead to early deaths, including problems related to the kidneys, heart and liver, and diabetes.
To manage potential risks of going online, insurers say they have guardrails in place.
For starters, the firms say they can divert an online applicant back to the conventional application process if health issues surface. In addition, the electronic-only systems are mostly limited to people 45 and younger, a subset that has relatively low mortality as cancers and heart diseases typically kill older people. Insurers also typically cap the real-time policies at $1 million to limit their exposure.
Among data being tapped are prescription-drug databases, which provide access to medication histories. Insurers and their reinsurers say they have made strides designing algorithms to reflect that drugs can be prescribed for entirely different health matters. An anti-nausea drug, for instance, works for both chemotherapy patients and pregnant women, reinsurer SCOR says. Its methodology takes into account such things as an applicant’s age, overall drug profile, dosages, prescribing doctor’s specialties and medical information from other sources.
Other resources include “Risk Classifier,” a predictive-modeling tool developed for insurers by RELX Group’s LexisNexis Risk Solutions unit. It taps into motor-vehicle records; bankruptcy, criminal and other court documents; professional licenses; college-attendee records; property deeds and tax filings; liens and evictions and other records.
“Markers of a very stable lifestyle indicate a good risk,” said Elliott Wallace, who helped create the LexisNexis tool. He singled out positive indicators such as years of residence at a single address and regular credit activity.
Algorithmic-based underwriting is subject to the same state and federal oversight as conventional underwriting. Insurers must obtain permission from consumers to obtain personal information, and under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, databases must provide consumers opportunity to correct errors.
For younger people, motor-vehicle records are especially important because traffic fatalities are a larger proportion of overall mortality, Mr. Wallace said. High mortality rates are most strongly correlated to driving while impaired, according to research by reinsurer Hannover Re . License suspensions and revocations, and reckless driving, are next in line.
Digital data sources are far cheaper than conventional medical analysis, which can top $150 per applicant, insurers say.
As insurers migrate online, they are often partnering with web-savvy firms.
In November, Protective Life Corp. began selling term life with fintech lender Social Finance Inc. SoFi considered expanding into various types of insurance before settling on life, because, “quite frankly, the customer buying experience is the most outdated,” said Andrea Blankmeyer, vice president of finance.
Ladder Financial Inc., which is backed by the venture capitalists behind LendingClub Corp., launched real-time term-life sales Jan. 10 with Fidelity Security Life Insurance Co. and Hannover Re. Other insurers are getting in on the action through Covr Financial Technologies, an Idaho firm that provides an online life-insurance sales platform to banks and financial-advisory networks.
Covr’s advisory board includes some prominent financial-services veterans: Brady Dougan, a former chief executive of Credit Suisse Group AG; Sallie Krawcheck, co-founder of digital investment firm Ellevest, and Gary Parr, a senior executive at Apollo Global Management LLC.
Banner Life, a U.S. unit of Legal & General Group PLC, is rolling out its new digital system slowly, with human underwriters reviewing algorithmic decisions before policies are issued. The process takes about a day.
“It’s a delicate transition,” said Troy Thompson, the unit’s chief actuary, who says growing industry use of algorithm-based underwriting “may transform the business.”
Read More...Powhatan, VA – November 03, 2016 – Today, PIEtech℠, Inc, and Covr Financial Technologies, announced a partnership that brings together the power of MoneyGuidePro®, the industry’s leading financial planning software, with Covr’s digital personal insurance platform that provides a simple and fast way to research and buy personal insurance. The combination of these technology tools allows clients’ risks to be addressed through insurance solutions in a quality financial plan.
Addressing the risks that can derail an investor’s plan for retirement is a critical area to success for all investors. “According to research completed with 1,653 advisors, the analysis of risks such as disability risk, longevity risk, life insurance and long-term care needs should be evaluated as part of a quality financial plan. However, our experience shows that only a small percentage of advisors actually include plans to address these risks,” said Kevin Knull, CFP®, President of PIEtech℠. “While these types of insurance products are not subject to the DOL’s Conflict of Interest rules, failure to address such exposures may have a significant impact on how a person or couple should be invested. By identifying the need in a financial plan and then making it easy to implement and underwrite these types of products, we expect that the Covr implementation module will dramatically increase the amount of clients that are able to be helped by advisors.”
Bill Benjamin, CEO of the privately-owned Boise-based Covr said, “By working together with PIEtech℠, I believe that we will completely transform the way advisors and institutions think about insurance, and in the process will help more Americans prepare for the unexpected. I am confident that institutions will look at this as a significant innovation that will streamline the insurance process.”
The integration will take the relevant data from the financial plan in MoneyGuidePro® and will pre-populate Covr’s analysis engine to help identify which type or combination of insurance solutions might be best to solve for the insurance needs. Once the advisor has identified the most appropriate solution(s), he/she can then implement the solutions and, depending on the size of the case, may be able to instantly issue an insurance policy. The system is set up for open architecture, meaning each broker/dealer can select the insurance carriers and types of products that they would like to be reflected in the tool.
The PIEtech℠ and Covr integration, which will be completed in the 4th quarter, will help advisors and their clients:
- Identify and solve for risks that can impact the client’s ability to achieve their goals.
- Increase the client’s awareness of risks and specific actions to address them with tailored solutions that include life, disability and long-term care insurance.
- Provide clients with an easy way to track the progress and status of their insurance.
Covr has already implemented its solution with more than fifty financial institutions where it is focused on making the entire insurance process easier for the institution, advisor and consumer.
About PIEtech℠, Inc.
PIEtech℠, Inc.’s vision is that everyone needs and deserves a quality financial plan. PIEtech℠ is the creator of MoneyGuidePro®, the industry’s leading financial planning software, myMoneyGuide®, an online guided planning solution that allows firms to broadly offer financial planning, and Best Interest Scout℠, a standalone, scalable discovery solution to help firms of all types obtain necessary client information. For more information on PIEtech℠’s powerful financial planning solutions, please visit http://www.moneyguidepro.com.
ABOUT COVR FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES
Covr is a digital life insurance platform that makes it easy to protect what matters most: you and your family. Covr partners with financial institutions that share the belief that life insurance should be both simple and transparent. Through Covr’s technology, financial advisors and their customers can research and purchase affordable life insurance from well-known insurance companies without the hassles of the traditional process – all within a matter of minutes. Covr’s investors include four leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. Offices: Boise and Hartford.
The Covr Advisory Board includes Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse; Gary W. Parr, senior managing director at Apollo Global Management; Neal Wolin, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury and former executive vice president and general for The Hartford Financial Services Group; Robert Kerzner, President and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global and former executive vice president, life division of Hartford Life, and Matt Muta, vice president, IT Innovation and Commercial Technology, Delta Air Lines, formerly Microsoft’s global managing director for Hospitality and Travel.
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