JERSEY CITY, N.J., Feb. 17, 2004 — Insurance Services Office, Inc.'s (ISO) A-PLUSTM unit has unveiled a new service insurers can use to cross-check policyholders against a U.S. Department of the Treasury master watch list to ensure that customers are not conducting business with persons and entities proscribed by the government.
The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) maintains a master list of individuals and organizations with ties to terrorism, international narcotics trafficking and activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Insurers are legally required to screen their customers against the OFAC list and notify the Treasury Department of any matches. Failure to do so can result in corporate or personal fines and jail time.
The new A-PLUS solution automatically checks each insured's name against the OFAC list whenever an A-PLUS auto or property loss-history report is ordered. The insurer is automatically notified of a potential match. This optional service is currently available only to A-PLUS subscribing insurers.
The A-PLUS service is fast and fully automated. Insurers do not have to make special submissions or reconfigure their systems to benefit from this new capability.
"Our new OFAC Service grew from increasing customer requests for help in complying with the government's legal requirement to identify organizations or individuals that may be on the master list," said Steven Craig, A-PLUS general manager. For more information on the A-PLUS OFAC Service, contact Steven Craig at (201) 469-3174 or by e-mail at scraig@iso.com.
About ISO
ISO is a leading source of information, products and services related to property and liability risk. For a broad spectrum of commercial and personal lines of insurance, ISO provides data, analytical and decision-support products; consulting; data processing; and technical, statistical and actuarial services. ISO field services include on-site rating and underwriting services and the evaluation of community loss-mitigation efforts. ISO's products help customers with sales and prospecting, underwriting, rating and quoting, customer management, policy administration, product development, claims administration and fraud detection. ISO's AIR Worldwide subsidiary provides technologies to assess and manage natural and man-made extreme-event risk. Through its ISO Claims Services, Inc. (iiX unit) and Intellicorp subsidiaries, ISO provides motor vehicle reports and criminal-records information and through its AscendantOne unit delivers rating, quoting and policy-administration solutions. Solutions from ISO's Quality Planning Corporation (QPC) subsidiary enable insurers to identify auto premium leakage and recover lost premium. In the United States and around the world, ISO serves insurers, reinsurers, 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