ISO Service Helps Spot Terrorists
NU Online News Service, Feb. 17, 12:06 p.m. EST?Insurance Services Offices Inc.'s A-PLUS unit has unveiled a new service insurers can use to check policyholders against a U.S. Treasury Department list of terrorists and other undesirables.[@@]
ISO, based in Jersey City, N.J., said the product would "ensure that customers are not conducting business with persons and entities proscribed by the government."
The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) maintains a master list of individuals and organizations with ties to terrorism, international narcotics trafficking and activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, explained ISO.
Insurers are legally required to screen their customers against the OFAC list and notify the Treasury Department of any matches. Failure to do so can result in corporate or personal fines and jail time.
According to ISO, the new A-PLUS service automatically checks each insured's name against the OFAC list whenever an A-PLUS auto or property loss-history report is ordered. The insurer is automatically notified of a potential match. This optional service is currently available only to A-PLUS subscribing insurers.
The A-PLUS service is fast and fully automated, said ISO. Insurers do not have to make special submissions or reconfigure their systems to benefit from the service.
"Our new OFAC service grew from increasing customer requests for help in complying with the government's legal requirement to identify organizations or individuals that may be on the master list," said Steven Craig, A-PLUS general manager.
ISO is a source of information, products and services related to property and liability risk. For a broad spectrum of commercial and personal lines of insurance, ISO provides data, analytical and decision-support products; consulting; data processing; and technical, statistical and actuarial services.
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