InsureZone, National City Partnering Deal

The agreement designates InsureZone to provide access to insurance products designed for small businesses. Customers interested in InsureZone can contact a National City small-business banking officer, a member of the NCIG sales force, or call 866 243-5938, NCIG's toll free number.

Customers in most risk classes will be able to obtain multiple quotes and binding in a single business day for business owners, workers' compensation, commercial auto, and umbrella policies as well as a variety of other small commercial products.

The companies said policies are underwritten by "A" rated national carriers such as American International Group, Chubb, CNA, The Hartford, Kemper, SAFECO and Zurich North America Small Business.

Russ Miller, vice-president of NCIG said working with InsureZone would give his company's small business customers access to hundreds of classes and coverages from leading companies in the commercial property and casualty field.

Mr. Miller said, "This insurance offering is an essential part of our overall effort to give small business customers a comprehensive solution to their financial needs."

The companies said they contemplate having the referral program followed later this year by the launch of a private-label Web site to which small business customers can link through National City's external Web site at www.nationalcity.com.

This National City-branded site would provide a secure and private online environment in which to compare quotes and bind coverage. It would be based on InsureZone's flexible, scalable, XML-based technology platform, MarketSecure.

Seamless, end-to-end integration of MarketSecure with carrier legacy systems would result in an ability to deliver quotes in near real-time.

"Our partnership with National City is a perfect example of the phenomenon of 'convergence' as it applies to financial services," said Kevin DeVaan, president of InsureZone's SBSecure unit.

Mr. DeVaan continued, "With InsureZone handling the rating, underwriting and policy-issuance work through its dynamic Web-based solution, National City's own licensed property-casualty sales force can focus on what it does best – selling insurance face-to-face to small-business customers."

Because InsureZone is joined to an insurance broker licensed in 49 states and the District of Columbia, it also can service larger commercial accounts through its "bricks and mortar" affiliate.

InsureZone's AgentSecure, BrokerSecure and SBSecure products make it possible for small-business owners nationwide to quickly and easily purchase insurance from a trusted source, using any style of transaction they prefer– from a traditional face-to-face encounter across an insurance agent's desk, to a completely automated online experience with little or no human intervention.

InsureZone agency partners with other agents and brokers, as well as financial institutions and Web portals, to provide small-business customers with multi-channel access to multiple quotes and insurance products from top-rated carriers.

The InsureZone solution also includes a Web-enabled Customer Contact Center that delivers personalized, expert advice in real time from licensed agents using instant callback, real-time online chat, e-mail or fax.

InsureZone is powered by the scalable, XML-based MarketSecure technology platform. For more information, visit www.insurezone.com, or call 1/866-INSZONE (467-9663).

National City Corporation is a $106 billion financial holding company headquartered in Cleveland.

National City operates banks and other financial service subsidiaries principally in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Indiana. National City subsidiaries provide financial services that meet a wide variety of customer needs, including commercial and retail banking, consumer finance, asset management, mortgage financing and servicing, and item processing.

National City can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.nationalcity.com.