RiskMeter.com Wins Award-

NAMIC ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF SECOND ANNUAL BEST INSURANCE WEB SITE AWARDS (Feb. 22, 2001)

Property/Casualty Insurance, flagship publication of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC), announced the winners of the second Annual Best Insurance site awards for insurance and insurance-related World Wide Web sites, here today. NAMIC gave the Annual Best Insurance Site Awards to businesses, organizations and associations that have a high-quality, user-friendly public presence on the Internet. "This year's group of nominees was impressive," said Laura Biddle-Bruckman, managing editor of Property/Casualty Insurance. "It's exciting to see that many companies are moving away from 'brochure-ware' and focusing on interactivity and functionality."

The awards were given in four categories:

• Small property/casualty insurance companies
• Mid-size property/casualty insurance companies · Large property/casualty insurance companies
• Company or organization that serves the insurance industry.

It was another year of spirited competition as the staff of Property/Casualty Insurance magazine sponsored the second annual "Best Insurance Site" competition. A panel of independent judges from within the insurance industry determined the winners.

SECOND ANNUAL BEST INSURANCE WEB SITE AWARDS

The first place winner for a company or organization that serves the insurance industry was CNA Reinsurance, of Chicago, Ill. Offering a wealth of information, this is clearly a site built with the end user in mind. In December of 2000, CNA Reinsurance announced that it was accepting property and casualty facultative submissions via the Internet, through the smartfac system. Property and casualty underwriters can use the smartfac system to forward property and inland marine, auto liability, general liability and umbrella liability submissions to CNA Re underwriters, as well as to other selected markets or individuals. The smartfac Web application allows users to submit, bind, endorse and review facultative activities online with CNA Re.

CDS Business Mapping, www.riskmeter.com, Boston, Mass., was named the runner-up for a company or organization that serves the insurance industry. The site allows users to type in an address and get back natural hazard information affecting the rates for a given policy location. Judges determined that the site was easy to navigate.

The awards were based on a site's visual appeal, ease of navigation, browser-loading speed, frequency of updates, and relevancy of information to a property/casualty insurance audience. A panel of communications professionals from within the property/casualty insurance industry judged the sites. Award winners received an engraved memento, a link from NAMIC Online, and a graphic that identifies the site as a winner for recognition on the company's Web site. The winning sites were featured in the January/February issue of Property/Casualty Insurance.

NAMIC is a full-service national trade association with more than 1,200 member companies that underwrite 40 percent ($123 billion) of the property/casualty insurance premium in the United States. NAMIC's membership includes four of the eight largest p/c carriers, every size regional and national p/c insurer and hundreds of farm mutual insurance companies. NAMIC benefits member companies through government relations, public affairs, education and arbitration services, and insurance and employee benefit programs. Information about the association, its member companies and the property/casualty insurance industry can be found at NAMIC Online, www.namic.org. NAMIC: Turning Issues into Positive Results