SOX News

KFC's Electronic "Just in Time" Appointment Processing Saves Securities Firms Unnecessary Appointment Processing Fees

(March 11, 2008)-- Kaplan Financial Compliance, a provider of services and technology solutions for the insurance and securities industries to help manage the producer/representative on-boarding process and career cycle, has introduced an innovative "Just in Time" appointment processing capability in its CMS G2 compliance solution. The new automated feature is designed to cut down on unnecessary state appointment processing fees paid by carriers.

The CMS G2 "Just in Time" appointment process allows insurance companies to complete and hold producer appointment requests electronically. Using intelligent workflow processes, "Just in Time" enables users to hold transaction requests for specific states and distribution groups, monitor the aging of the transactions and release the request for state approval when a sale is made. This process is fully automated, and based on business rules built into the system.

"The costs of appointments have long been a challenge in the carrier community, as appointment processing fees can reach up to $60 per state for every producer. Since carriers report that 80 percent or more of producers for whom appointments are requested fail to make a sale, carriers are saddled with high appointment costs but with no new business to offset these costs," said Zach McCoy, vice president, Compliance Services at Kaplan Financial Compliance. "Carriers are looking for ways to 'park' appointment requests until a sale is made; however, manual processes are cumbersome, error prone, and lack the ability to actively monitor the process of releasing the request when a sale is made. Kaplan Financial Compliance has solved this problem with 'Just in Time.'"

In addition to cost savings, other benefits of CMS G2 "Just in Time" include:

-- Increased efficiencies gained through process automation, which reduces staff time spent on manual data gathering, filing, tracking and processing.
-- Rules-based compliance validations, which significantly reduces compliance risk by utilizing an integrated rules engine that ensures accurate and timely data.
-- Role-based security with all processes and roles built into the system, ensuring secure transactions and communications.

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