ATLANTA, GA – July 18, 2011 — Ebix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBIX), a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance industry, today announced the addition of large distributors and insurance companies to its Annuity Exchange in the second quarter of 2011. In the recent quarter several new annuity carriers and distributors joined the AnnuityNet Exchange in order to extend their sales reach and to grow their electronic sales of annuities. This list of additions included large names like Mutual of Omaha, Great-West Life & Annuity Company, Western National Life, Commonwealth Annuity & Life Insurance Company (a subsidiary of the Goldman Sachs Group), Regions Bank and the large captive agency group of Prudential Insurance Company, who intend to automate their annuity transactions through the AnnuityNet Exchange. Ebix also reported on the progress of its recently launched Annuity Maintenance Exchange, for servicing and maintenance of existing annuity policies. Approximately 1/3 of all existing annuities in the U.S. have maintenance transactions each year including, funds transfers, asset reallocation, cash withdrawals and demographic transactions. Ebix’s Annuity Maintenance Exchange automates this transaction through its Annuity Maintenance Exchange Platform by applying business rules and sending electronic messages from annuity distributors to annuity manufacturers and back to the policyholders confirming that the transaction has taken place. Previously done by paper, the Annuity Maintenance Exchange eliminates all errors and eliminates the necessity of paper forms, wet signatures and redundant data entry into carrier policy administration systems. The Company reported that its Annuity Maintenance Exchange has been adopted by large broker-dealers and insurance companies, such as Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors, Edward Jones, Stifel Nicholas, Prudential, Hartford, Nationwide, Lincoln Financial, SunAmerica, Pacific Life and NY Life. In response to certain investor queries, the Company also clarified the following –
Safe Harbor for Forward Looking Statements under
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 — This press
release contains various forward looking statements and information that are
based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information
currently available to management, including statements regarding future economic
performance and financial condition, liquidity and capital resources, acceptance
of the Company's products by the market and management's plans and objectives.
The Company has tried to identify such forward looking statements by use of
words such as "expects," "intends," "anticipates,"
"plans," "believes," "will," "should,"
and similar expressions, but these words are not the exclusive means of identifying
such statements. Such statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties
and other factors which could cause actual results to vary materially from those
expressed in, or implied by, the forward looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties
and other factors include the extent to which the Company's new products and
services can be successfully developed and marketed, the integration and other
risks associated with recent and future acquisitions, the willingness of independent
insurance agencies to outsource their computer and other processing needs to
third parties, the Company's ability to continue to develop new products to
effectively address market needs in an industry characterized by rapid technological
change, the Company's dependence on the insurance industry (and in particular
independent agents), the highly competitive and rapidly changing automation
systems market, the Company's ability to effectively protect its applications
software and other proprietary information, the Company's ability to attract
and retain quality management, and software, technical sales and other personnel,
the potential negative impact on the Company's outsourcing business in India
from adverse publicity and possible governmental regulation, the risks of disruption
of the Company's Internet connections or internal service problems, the possibly
adverse effects of a substantial increase in volume of traffic on the Company's
website, mainframe and other servers, possible security breaches on the Company's
website and the possible effects of insurance regulation on the Company's business.
Certain of these, as well as other, risks, uncertainties and other factors,
are described in more detail in Ebix’s periodic filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, including the company’s annual report on form
10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, included under "Item 1. Business—Risk
Factors." Except as expressly required by the federal securities laws,
the Company undertakes no obligation to update any such factors or to publicly
update any of the forward looking statements contained herein to reflect future
events or developments or changed circumstances or for any other reason. The
cash growth numbers presented in the press release are preliminary and non-GAAP. With 30+ offices across Brazil, Singapore, Australia, the US, New Zealand, India, China, Japan and Canada, Ebix powers multiple exchanges across the world in the field of life, annuity, health and property & casualty insurance, while conducting in excess of $100 billion in insurance premiums on its platforms. Through its various SaaS based software platforms, Ebix employs hundreds of insurance and technology professionals that provide products, support and consultancy to thousands of customers on six continents. Ebix’s focus on quality has enabled it to be awarded Level 5 status of the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model (CMM). Ebix has also earned ISO 9001:2000 certification for both its development and BPO units in India. For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.ebix.com Contact: |