Fiserv Acquires Underwriting Software Provider VerticalPoint
Fiserv Acquires Underwriting Software Provider VerticalPoint
August 31, 2005
Fiserv Acquires Underwriting Software Provider VerticalPointBROOKFIELD, Wis.--Aug. 31, 2005--Fiserv Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) announced today that it has acquired VerticalPoint, Inc., a provider of underwriting software to the life and health insurance market. The acquisition will allow Fiserv's Insurance Solutions Group to offer a Web-based, new-business workflow portal solution to life insurance carriers. Details of the VerticalPoint purchase, which closed August 31, were not disclosed.
VerticalPoint, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., provides new business and underwriting software and consulting services to a diverse insurance industry clientele across both the United States and Canada. VerticalPoint's LifeSuite, the company's automated underwriting system, is marketed both as a traditional licensed product, and as an ASP offering. VerticalPoint president and CEO Joseph Breakey and his staff will become Fiserv employees.
Acquiring LifeSuite, along with VerticalPoint's other products, will allow Fiserv to offer greater flexibility to its insurance industry clients, according to Leslie M. Muma, Fiserv's president and chief executive officer.
"Fiserv's presence in the insurance industry is growing, and our goal is to provide clients with as much functionality and flexibility as possible in serving their customers," said Muma. "The acquisition of VerticalPoint allows us to expand those services even further."
LifeSuite is a web-based productivity application that streamlines workflow, automates underwriting and manages the entire new business process for carriers and their distribution channels. Its application will give Fiserv Insurance Solutions a complete portal solution that provides a comprehensive platform for managing existing policy life cycles, according to Terry Wade, president of Fiserv's Insurance Group.
"Acquiring VerticalPoint fills a solutions gap we currently have in the market's front-end delivery space," said Wade. "The combination of the VerticalPoint product set with our existing Life Portraits sales illustration products, along with the back-end administrative capabilities from our ID3 administration system, is unmatched in the marketplace."
LifeSuite helps health and annuity insurance companies streamline and automate new business and underwriting functions, manage multiple partners and systems and consolidate a company's entire new-business function into one common system. Fiserv will integrate LifeSuite within its life-based insurance systems to offer one of the most comprehensive solutions for true straight-through processing and end-to-end management for clients.
The new relationship with Fiserv also will help VerticalPoint enhance its client service, according to Breakey.
"Fiserv's scale, marketing expertise and reputation for quality products, reliability and enterprise-level support are exactly what we've been seeking to take VerticalPoint to the next level," said Breakey, "Our combined teams will be a powerful force for innovation around cutting-edge platforms for delivering content and applications to facilitate straight-through processing and business process management for the financial services industry."
Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) provides information management systems and services to the financial and health benefits industries, including transaction processing, business process outsourcing and software and systems solutions. The company serves more than 16,000 clients worldwide, including banks, credit unions, financial planners and investment advisers, insurance companies and agents, self-funded employers, lenders and savings institutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., Fiserv reported $3.4 billion in processing and services revenues for 2004. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the U.S. financial services industry in the 2004 FinTech 100 survey by the American Banker newspaper and the Financial Insights research firm. Fiserv can be found on the Internet at www.fiserv.com.
VerticalPoint, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., provides new business and underwriting software and consulting services to a diverse insurance industry clientele across both the United States and Canada. VerticalPoint's LifeSuite, the company's automated underwriting system, is marketed both as a traditional licensed product, and as an ASP offering. VerticalPoint president and CEO Joseph Breakey and his staff will become Fiserv employees.
Acquiring LifeSuite, along with VerticalPoint's other products, will allow Fiserv to offer greater flexibility to its insurance industry clients, according to Leslie M. Muma, Fiserv's president and chief executive officer.
"Fiserv's presence in the insurance industry is growing, and our goal is to provide clients with as much functionality and flexibility as possible in serving their customers," said Muma. "The acquisition of VerticalPoint allows us to expand those services even further."
LifeSuite is a web-based productivity application that streamlines workflow, automates underwriting and manages the entire new business process for carriers and their distribution channels. Its application will give Fiserv Insurance Solutions a complete portal solution that provides a comprehensive platform for managing existing policy life cycles, according to Terry Wade, president of Fiserv's Insurance Group.
"Acquiring VerticalPoint fills a solutions gap we currently have in the market's front-end delivery space," said Wade. "The combination of the VerticalPoint product set with our existing Life Portraits sales illustration products, along with the back-end administrative capabilities from our ID3 administration system, is unmatched in the marketplace."
LifeSuite helps health and annuity insurance companies streamline and automate new business and underwriting functions, manage multiple partners and systems and consolidate a company's entire new-business function into one common system. Fiserv will integrate LifeSuite within its life-based insurance systems to offer one of the most comprehensive solutions for true straight-through processing and end-to-end management for clients.
The new relationship with Fiserv also will help VerticalPoint enhance its client service, according to Breakey.
"Fiserv's scale, marketing expertise and reputation for quality products, reliability and enterprise-level support are exactly what we've been seeking to take VerticalPoint to the next level," said Breakey, "Our combined teams will be a powerful force for innovation around cutting-edge platforms for delivering content and applications to facilitate straight-through processing and business process management for the financial services industry."
Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) provides information management systems and services to the financial and health benefits industries, including transaction processing, business process outsourcing and software and systems solutions. The company serves more than 16,000 clients worldwide, including banks, credit unions, financial planners and investment advisers, insurance companies and agents, self-funded employers, lenders and savings institutions. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., Fiserv reported $3.4 billion in processing and services revenues for 2004. Fiserv was ranked the largest provider of information technology services to the U.S. financial services industry in the 2004 FinTech 100 survey by the American Banker newspaper and the Financial Insights research firm. Fiserv can be found on the Internet at www.fiserv.com.