DISTRIBUTION ACQUISITIONS - Many of you have asked for more detail on National Financial Partners, so here it is. NFP is targeting the upscale financial services entrepreneurs who "want to continue operating their firms independently and seek to liquefy a portion of the value of their businesses." This means that NFP has already bought all or part of these firms: Partners, Windsor, Barry Kaye, Dublin, Eastman Bernirschke, Goodman Financial, Spalding Financial and others. Other participants in this consolidation move are LifeUSA, which has been acquiring percentages of brokerage MGAs (the latest being Pinnacle USA), Highland Capital (funded by Jeff Pilot, Protective and Berkshire Life) and Clark-Bardes, which raised $36 million in an IPO. Watch for this: The "big daddy" of all producer groups, M- Financial, will likely pursue an IPO or some other strategic initiative. (P.S. The president of NFP is Jessica Bibliowicz...daughter of Sanford Weill of Citigroup.)

OFFERING AN ALTERNATIVE - As reported in Investment News, the National Association of Life Underwriters (NALU) board of directors has voted to promote the Personal Financial Planner (PFP) designation offered by UCLA and to support changing the organization's name to the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, both seen as moves to offer an alternative to IAFP members unhappy with the pending IAFP/CFP merger.

DI EXITS - With the sale of 68,000 disability income policies to MetLife for a reported $500 million, Lincoln National has completed its exit from the individual disability income market. The transaction moves MetLife from 11th to 5th among DI carriers. Meanwhile, UNUM has decided that in order to focus on its "core skills," it will exit nearly all of its reinsurance businesses.

BROKER-DEALER DEALS - Reliastar has purchased Financial Northeastern Companies (FNC). FNC markets primarily to credit unions and other institutional investors and will fit into Reliastar's third-party bank marketing efforts. Guardian launched its own broker-dealer, Park Avenue Securities (great name!), with a start-up of about $10 billion of client assets.

DIGITAL SIGNATURES - Investment News reports that legislation allowing brokerages to use clients' digital signatures is expected to be introduced in the Senate. The ability of clients to electronically "sign" documents online would save millions of dollars annually in administrative costs.

BISYS PURCHASES EXAMCO - The parent company of BISYS Insurance Services just bought Examco, one of the country's leading CE and exam prep companies. In the past two years, three of the largest CE providers have changed hands (Examco, Pictorial and Life Instructors).

ENDGAME? - That's the title of the cover story in LAN magazine (the NALU publication) and it refers to the state regulation of life insurance. Support for federal regulation is mounting...president of MDRT, the CEO of New England and others have endorsed the concept. As you might expect, the National Association of Insurance Commissions is not supporting it at all. We really aren't sure what's best for the industry and consumers, but after just completing 17 different CE Instructor Certifications for a one-hour talk, you might guess which way we're leaning!

FRESH CASH DRYING UP? - According to the Investment Company Institute, mutual fund assets increased in March by 2.6%, to $5.77 trillion, a healthy rebound from February when assets fell 1.6%. Problem is that fund companies are relying more than in the past on rising markets to keep managed assets growing...net flows into mutual funds in March were less than half the total from a year ago.

INSWEB ON THE MOVE - In an attempt to solidify its position as a major player in the e-commerce arena, InsWeb is obtaining nearly $100 million of additional capital ($35 million from minority owner, Softbank Group, and about $60 million from an expected IPO). Look for them to use part of the money to enter the small group health market and for TV ads (just saw one today!).

ANOTHER INTERNET FIRST? - Channelpoint, Inc. has introduced the "first" business-to-business Web marketplace. Their site (http://www.channelpoint.com) is nicely put together, but we had trouble figuring out exactly what they want to do. If we understand their direction of linking brokers to insurance carriers, we believe that VILINK (http://www.vilink.com) and several major brokerage agencies have been doing this for a couple of years.

AT LEAST $1.485 BILLION - That's the estimate of insured losses from the killer tornadoes that struck between May 3-7, with most of the damage occurring in Oklahoma (an estimated $955 in insured losses).

NEW DESIGNATION - This one is from LOMA and is specifically designed for the annuity industry. The designation is AAPA (Associate, Annuity Products and Administration). The goal is to provide "in-depth product knowledge about annuities."