Compliplan, LAS Help Companies Navigate Labyrinth of Insurance Compliance Regulations in Post-9/11 World.

HERNDON, Va. & CLEVELAND -- Language Analysis Systems, makers of powerful name recognition software, and Compliplan, a management-consulting firm, have partnered to help insurance companies comply with the U.S.A. Patriot Act and OFAC Watch List, the companies announced today.

Cleveland-based Compliplan provides advisory services to insurance companies for compliance with state and federal mandates, including the U.S.A. Patriot Act and regulations of the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), an office of the U.S. Department of Treasury. Patriot Act regulations include "know-your-customer" background checks and anti-money laundering surveillance. OFAC regulations prohibit insurance transactions with persons and organizations involved in terrorism, international crime, or otherwise subject to U.S. economic sanctions.

LAS and Compliplan will work together to provide both services and software to meet insurance compliance objectives.

"We partnered with LAS because it is the best name-matching software technology in existence, and it takes a scientific approach to name-matching," said Scott Lawson, director of Compliplan. "Instead of lumping all names into one basket, as if all names are the same, it takes a rule-based approach that treats names according to the nuances of the cultures from which they come. Without LAS, insurance companies can waste numerous employee-hours paging through reams of similar output with no real assurances of compliance and with many false-positive matches."

Language Analysis Systems is the recognized leader in providing multi-cultural name recognition software solutions for mission critical applications. LAS has worked with U.S. Intelligence and Border Protection agencies for nearly two decades, developing a revolutionary and patent-pending approach to name matching, searching, and parsing, going far beyond simplistic Soundex and other key-based approaches.

"Insurance companies face different compliance challenges than other financial institutions, such as banks," said Jack Hermansen, CEO of LAS. "Insurance companies don't just open new accounts, but they also have to make policy changes, including adding and deleting beneficiaries. These transactions can be very hard to track, but the LAS/Compliplan partnership will leverage the expertise of both companies to deliver solutions."

Here are some examples of blocked insurance transactions:

--A health insurance policy issued to a person on the OFAC list

--A life insurance policy naming a listed person as beneficiary

--The return of premium overpayment to a listed person

--A liability policy covering the pharmaceutical operations of an entity listed as an illegal drug trafficker

--A property insurance policy written for a hotel chain which covers the hotels in a blocked country

"Playing sleuths is a departure for insurance companies," Lawson said. "There has been some reluctance on the part of insurance companies to assume this role. LAS technology can help them perform these duties more efficiently and in a far less intrusive way."

Penalties for noncompliance with OFAC regulations can be severe, ranging from $11,000 to more than $1.0 million. In setting penalties, OFAC considers the totality of the circumstances surrounding the violation, including the quality of the company's OFAC compliance program. Using the same name searching software that government agencies use to match names mitigates the risk that an insurance company will be found deficient in that area.

About Compliplan

Compliplan, LLC is a consortium of experienced insurance compliance professionals providing legal, technical, management-consulting, and other services. It seeks to provide end-to-end solutions to the challenges presented by today's insurance regulatory environment. The company is customer-focused and driven to deliver value-added services that embody its commitment to excellence. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.compliplan.com.

About Language Analysis Systems

LAS has two decades of experience in making products that solve the complex problem of understanding unfamiliar names by combining computational linguistics with advanced software engineering. LAS software is used by Law Enforcement, U.S. Intelligence and Border Inspection agencies as well as commercial corporations. The government contracts that LAS has been awarded over the years have been "sole-source justified," meaning that no other company has the expertise needed to fulfill these advanced technology contracts. For more information, please visit www.las-inc.com.