With apologies to Charles Dickens, David Leifer, senior counselfor the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI at www.acli.com), suggests e-commerce in thelife insurance industry is a tale of two worlds. Life insurers areexamining consumer-focused applications they can bring to theInternet and other electronic capabilities that will furtherbusiness, says Leifer. But on the other hand, he adds, its alsoevident there are some [existing] things they need to work on.

The ACLI represents life insurers and fraternal benefitsocieties before federal and state policymakers, insurancedepartments, and the courts. Member companies account for 75percent of life insurance premium in the U.S. As part of its annualconference in October, 44 member companies were surveyed on variouse-commerce issues.

One area troubling insurers is electronic signatures. Despitepassage of the E-Sign Act by Congress, insurers have lingeringconcerns about what is the right technology to use, reports Leifer.There are still some concerns about the legal ramifications ofdoing things electronically, he says. There is definitely work forus to do as an association to identify barriers to e-commerce andeliminate them.

Cost is a major part of the electronic signature debate, Leiferpoints out. Using public key infrastructure [PKI] is veryexpensive, and I dont think too many companies are using it, hesays. He believes technology needs to provide the answers to thisdilemma. Electronic signatures are a problem when you are sellingto a new customersomeone you dont have a relationship with, hesays. How do you know who that person is? Our companies are hopingthere will be a third-party solution to this issue. When offeredfour options for providers of e-signature validation, the lifeinsurers chose a private entity as the most preferred choicefollowed in order of preference by the federal government, banks,and the U.S. Postal Service. Insurers want to have the confidencethe people they are dealing with are the people they claim to be,so there is no fraud and there wont be any challenges to thetransaction down the road, he says.

What almost all life insurers are doing on their Web sites isoffering a self-service function for customers. Once you know whoyour customers are, the customers can have access to their accountsthrough a PIN and a password.

The survey found that commodity-like products, such as term lifeand fixed annuities, are the products most likely to be found on alife insurers Web site. They are more prevalent than the morecomplex products offered by insurers, he says.

The need for improvement is one of the themes of the survey,says Leifer. Most of those we surveyed are not completely satisfiedwith the implementation of their e-commerce strategy. There isdefinitely room for improvement. Robert Regis Hyle