Life insurance isnt an impulse buyits not like picking up a pack of chewing gum at the checkout counter. And, just like with many products, salesmen know the quicker you can close the deal, the less likelihood there is the customer will decide he doesnt want (or need) the product.

Having that quick-strike capability has always been a problem for life insurers. What if your client is young, apparently healthy, and wants to make sure there will be enough money available to pay the family bills should tragedy strike? North American Company for Life and Health Insurance (NACOLAH), which conducts a segment of its business through financial institutions, felt these policies could be issued at the point of sale if the right questions were asked and the answers didnt set off any alarms.

Gary Gaspar, CIO at NACOLAH, and Bill Moore, vice president of risk analysis, felt there were opportunities available for banks offering NACOLAH productsopportunities that werent being used effectively. The carrier wasnt having problems, Moore said, We were just looking for expansion and other business opportunities. Banks seemed like a natural extension of this market, particularly if homebuyers and other good banking customers could get the products they needed quickly.

Gaspar said the search for software vendors was brief. E-Nable seemed to be the only game in town with MIB, he said, referring to the Medical Information Bureaupart of the MIB Group. We knew of them through other business associates so we got in contact with them.

The MIB Group, of which e-Nable is also a part, is an association of American and Canadian life insurers providing information and database management to combat fraud in insurance applications. E-Nable Alert, the system chosen by NACOLAH, transmits electronic application data into the e-Nable system, which has real-time MIB checking services. It then delivers the existing MIB codes and returns a clear or not clear signal to the point-of-sale.

The system doesnt take any chances; the wrong answer on the questionnaire will trigger a rejection. If you say you had a heart attack, there is a high likelihood that you wouldnt be approved, Moore said.

One of the things North American liked was that the system was up and running so quickly. It was been less than six months after the two sides first began correspondence when, with the exception of some filtering work that took a little longer to complete, the system was operational.

E-Nable has been extremely responsive, Gaspar said. They understand the business were in and our needs. Their technical group has been responsive to items we brought up. Its been a strong partnership. There has been a sharing of knowledge from both sides. Training issues have been nonexistent. Its pretty straightforward, Moore said. You are either approved or not approved. The system has responded the way we expected it to.

North American is keeping the system in its financial institution market for now, sticking to term life policies. Moore believes there could be opportunities in the future for other markets, but we would be reluctant to offer this with our fully underwritten products.

When the average amount of time for issuing a life insurance policy between two and six weeks, the ability to say yes or no (preferably yes) right away can be the difference between getting a signed policy and dealing with the second thoughts that come later. ROBERT REGIS HYLE

THE PROBLEM: GET POINT-OF-SALE UNDERWRITING APPROVAL FOR ITS FINANCIAL INSTITUTION DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL.

THE COMPANY: NORTH AMERICAN COMPANY FOR LIFE AND HEALTH

LINES: PROTECTION-ORIENTED LIFE INSURANCE

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

LIFE INSURANCE IN FORCE: $84 BILLION

WEB SITE: www.nacolah.com

THE SOFTWARE: E-NABLE ALERT FROM E-NABLE CORP.

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