Scotiabank today announced the launch of a new insurance product offering disability protection to mortgage clients across Canada. The Bank is now the first major Canadian financial institution with mortgage product offerings at three levels of personal protection, including loss of life and health crisis.

Advanced Settlements, Inc., a national leader in the life settlement marketplace, announced the launching of the Life Settlement Policy Evaluator.

Solera National Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Solera National Bancorp, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SLRK), is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with James Muniz, Exclusive Agent for Allstate Insurance Company, whereby Allstate will establish a satellite agency office in each of Solera's existing and future branch locations.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced two new advances in the insurance industry -- a solution for improving operational efficiency and a framework for process acceleration -- that are designed to help insurance providers lower costs and increase customer satisfaction by handling core functions, such as claims and policy processing, more efficiently.

Gary Hirschkron has been appointed President of AXA Partners, the life insurance business unit of AXA Distributors, LLC. based in Farmington, CT. The announcement was made today by Jamie Shepherdson, Executive Vice President of AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company and President of AXA Distributors, LLC., the company's proprietary life insurance and annuity wholesale distribution organization.

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC) now offers a fully integrated, MISMO based, MI Request & Response interface for ordering MGIC mortgage insurance (MI) to mortgage lenders that are using LoanQuest from MortgageFlex Systems, a provider of innovative software solutions for the mortgage industry.

Independent insurance agency Alfred Interwest Insurance has teamed up with Seattle-based PEMCO Insurance, a 59-year-old company known for its top-rated customer service.

Even as the housing slump sees home owners defaulting in record numbers and mortgage lenders writing off billions of dollars of bad loans, others are seeking the silver lining. Home prices are falling, and many consumers are betting that now may be the time to buy. These would-be home owners are finding, however, that buying their dream home might not be as easy as it was before the housing bust.

The economy is getting more complex and the marketplace continues to soften. Creativity and innovation in the insurance industry is now necessary and key to long-term success.

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE: THG) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement through which it will divest its non-insurance, premium finance subsidiary, AMGRO, Inc. and its subsidiaries, to Premium Financing Specialists, Inc. of Kansas City, Missouri.

Today AXA Equitable unveiled its new Athena Survivorship Universal Life(SM) III (Athena SUL III) insurance product, designed to deliver cost-effective death benefit protection to couples and business partners for their estate, business and charitable planning needs. By providing a death benefit upon the death of the surviving insured, Athena SUL III can be used to pay sizeable estate taxes and other expenses.

For the second consecutive year, John Hancock led the industry in total individual life insurance sales in 2007, according to a recent survey of 78 major life insurers by LIMRA International (LIMRA).