NEW YORK, June 5, 2000 — Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO) has acquired IMR Corporation, a leading provider of marketing information, consulting and strategic analyses to insurers, risk managers, brokers and large insurance agents.
IMR provides customers with an array of products and services — as complete packages or as discrete components — to better analyze risks in potential new markets or new lines of business. The products may also be used to evaluate or benchmark insurers' current books of business.
"IMR's products complement ISO's market and risk-analysis products and will provide our customers with complete business solutions," said Frank J. Coyne, ISO's president." IMR's extensive experience in strategic insurance analysis and its customer roster significantly boost ISO's capability to deliver market-research services to property/casualty insurers," Coyne added.
IMR's extensive information database on 11 lines of insurance in finer geographical detail with predictive modeling will be added to ISO's existing menu of market-research information products, including ISO ScoreboardTM and ISO PinpointTM. ISO Scoreboard is a market-segment analysis tool that allows insurers to compare the economic, demographic, and insurance experience of a variety of business segments and is based on past loss experience. ISO Pinpoint provides listings of commercial accounts within specific business and geographical areas with specific business-insurance information.
IMR's core products include the Market Profiler and Premium Prospects (premium enhanced sales leads). Market Profiler provides historical and projected premium and loss statistics across 11 lines of insurance, market-sensitive information from government and private industry sources, and proprietary models for estimating the performance of more than 900 industries by geography and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. ISO's actuarial expertise and database of detailed premium and loss information will be used to enhance these models.
Premium Prospects provides detailed sales leads for business entities within specific SIC codes and locations, including premium estimates for a given industry and size of business.
IMR's Market Profiler interactive software uses a proprietary scoring and ranking methodology that helps customers identify and assess new business opportunities by matching their marketing and underwriting preferences with what is available in the market. Market Profiler also enables customers to rank industries and territories according to their own pre-selected criteria for marketing decision making.
"ISO's reputation as a leader in insurance information, consulting and technical services to the property/casualty industry played a key role in our decision," said Irv Kelson, owner of IMR.
Kelson stressed the new business combination would be a seamless transfer of IMR's ownership with no disruption in products and services to existing customers." IMR's customers will continue to receive from ISO the same — or even better — quality products, services and technical support as before. I am pleased that key IMR employees will be involved to assure continuation of the great services our clients have grown to expect," he added.
ISO is a leading source of information about property and liability risk. ISO provides statistical, actuarial, underwriting and claims information and analyses; consulting and technical services; policy language; and information about specific locations for a broad spectrum of commercial and personal lines of insurance. In the United States and around the world, ISO serves more than 2,900 insurers and reinsurers as well as agents, brokers, self-insureds, risk managers, insurance regulators and other government agencies.
Release: Immediate
Contacts:
Giuseppe Barone / Erica Helton
MWW Group (for ISO)
201-507-9500
gbarone@mww.com / ehelton@mww.com