NATIONAL NEWS ZONE......

FirstBest® Systems Inc., developer of advanced Underwriting Management Systems that enable property and casualty insurance carriers to profit from better underwriting, announced that ICW Group Insurance Companies (ICW Group) has realized significant results after implementing FirstBest UMS, which ICW Group has branded Snap, for its workers' comp line of business.


ICW Group's roll out of Snap, a rich agent portal with a next-generation underwriting workstation, has already reportedly resulted in increased submissions, increased quote production, underwriting productivity, and real-time collaboration with their agents.

The FirstBest UMS was deployed within 9 months. Results from Q1 2009, as compared to the same period in 2008, during a highly competitive market, include a:

-- 50.8 % increase in quality submissions
-- 70.8 % increase in quote production
-- 34.3% increase in bound policies
-- 47% decrease in policy processing time

For more information, visit http://www.firstbest.com/or call 1-888-863-6095.

• SeaBright Insurance Holdings Inc. reports it will reduce the base salary of the company's chief executive officer by 20 percent and the base salaries of executive officers and certain management employees by either 10 percent or 5 percent depending upon salary level, effective immediately. Also, the non-employee directors of the company's board have agreed to decrease certain of their fees by 20 percent.
  
  Seattle-based SeaBright Insurance Holdings is an insurance holding company whose SeaBright Insurance Co. unit operates as a specialty underwriter of multi-jurisdictional workers' compensation insurance. SeaBright Insurance distributes its maritime, alternative dispute resolution and state act products through selected independent insurance brokers and through an in-house wholesale broker affiliate. The company provides workers' comp coverage to employers in various regions nationwide.