Agency Book Transfers (ABT) are quite common and occur when agencies are bought, sold, merged or when personnel within an agency leave to open an agency or become employed by a different agency. It is also a common practice to have book transfers occur on a specific date (Transaction Effective date prior to the policy expiration date) or during the renewal, or anniversary period, (Transaction Effective date is on the policy renewal date) of any policies affected by the transfer.
Note: You must have authority to process, edit and view agency book transfers.
In Diamond, there are two (2) ways a policy can be transferred from one (1) agency to another: Manually or automatically.
Manual Transfer: This is done by issuing a manual ABT Cancel-Rewrite transaction. The transaction type the new policy is rewritten to is determined by the effective date of the transfer. If the transaction effective date is on the renewal date, the ABT Cancel-Rewrite is rewritten to a renewal image on the new policy. If the transaction effective date occurs on another date other than the renewal, the ABT Cancel-Rewrite transaction is rewritten to a Rewrite Pro Rata image on the new policy. Agency and agency producer can be changed on the "Pending" image of the new policy.
Automatic Transfer: This type of transfer is used for setting up an agency to transfer ALL of its policies to another agency either using: Specific Date, Renewal Date or Anniversary Date. If transferring by a "Specific Date," the Process Specific Date Agency ABT process is used in Diamond Administration. If transferring by "Renewal Date" or "Anniversary Date," the Diamond Automatic Renewal Process is used.
This Help File explains:
System Settings
Administration: Agency Book Transfer Setup
Exception Processing
Diamond Processes: Specific Date ABT
Diamond Renewals: Renewal or Anniversary Dates
Miscellaneous Notes: ABTs
Before using agency book transfers, there are two (2) system settings in the Diamond System Editor in the Transaction folder that need to be set. These are:
Get New Policy Number For ABT: If this is set to "True" (Enable), a new policy number is generated for the policy the ABT is being transferred to. If it is set to "False" (Disable), no new policy number is generated at the time the policy is transferred. This includes all types of ABT transactions (i.e., Manual ABT Cancel-Rewrite, Specific Date, Renewal and Anniversary Dates).
Suppress Printing On ABTs: If this is set to "True" (Enable), all printing is suppressed at the Diamond Base level for ABTs. The setting prevents all printing except for invoices on an anniversary or renewal transaction.
To set up an agency for automatic agency book transfers for one (1) line of business:
Access Administration or on the Employee Web Utilities / Administration / Agency Setup.
Click Agency Setup / Agency.
When the Agency Setup screen displays, highlight the agency and double click.
On the Edit Agency screen, highlight the line of business in the lower right of the screen and click Edit.
When the Edit Line of Business screen displays, select the Agency Book Transfer button at the top of the screen.
On the Agency Book Transfer screen, click Add.
Fields include:
Status (Active / Inactive): This determines if the Agency Book Transfer is "Active" or not. For example, there may be a potential merger or split to occur in the future. In this case, you can set the agency up for ABT and mark the Status field "Inactive;" no transfer will occur. At a later date, the split or merger actually occurs. You can then set the Status field to "Active" and enter an Effective Date.
Reason (Split / Merger): Choose the reason for the transfer by selecting the "Split" or "Merger" radio button.
Type: Select one (1) of the following from the combo box: Specific Date, Renewal Date or Anniversary Date; defaults to "Not Assigned."
Effective Date: The date the transfer takes place.
Specific Date: If "Specific Date" is selected, the Process Specific Date ABT in Administration uses the date entered here for the transfer:
Renewal Date: If "Renewal Date" is selected, Diamond Automatic Renewal Processing uses this date. When this option is selected, the policy uses a new rate book version if one is available.
Anniversary Date: If "Anniversary Date" is selected, Diamond Automatic Renewal Processing uses this date. When this option is selected, the policy does not use a new rate book version even if one is available.
To Agency: Select the agency the policies are being transferred to from the combo box; defaults blank.
To Producer: Select the producer within the agency the policies are being transferred to; defaults blank.
From Producers (All Producers / Selected Producers): Defaults to "All Producers" in the agency. If you only want to transfer the policy or policies to a few producers, click the Selected Producers button. Names of the producers assigned to the agency display in the Available Producers column on the left of the screen. Highlight and click the single right arrow (>) to move the producer to the Selected Producer column on the right. Repeat for other producers, if needed.
Exception Processing (Send To User / Queue): Click either "User" or "Queue" for Exception Processing.
Users / Queues: Depending on the type of Exception Processing selected, choose either a user or a queue to send a diary item to when an exception occurs. Please refer to Exception Processing in the following section.
Specific Date Processed: Defaults to "No;" protected field and cannot be changed. If Specific Date Processing is selected, the flag is automatically switched to "Yes" if one (1) of the policies has errored out while processing via Administration: Process Specific Date ABTs. If all policies were transferred without error, the flag stays set to "No," so if any future policies are entered that fit that criteria, they will also be transferred to the new agency. If the flag is set to "Yes," this ABT will not be run again. Even if the user edits the date or any other information, the changes will not take effect, because the ABT is marked as already being run.
Once all selections have been made, click Save at the top of the screen. The Agency Book Transfer screen returns. A line is displayed in the list view for the line of business being transferred.
To set up an agency for automatic agency book transfers for either "selected" or "all" lines of business:
Access Administration or on the Employee Web Utilities / Administration / Agency Setup.
Click Agency Setup / Agency.
When the Agency Setup screen displays, highlight the agency and double click.
On the Edit Agency screen, click the ABT button on the far right of the Lines of Business section at the bottom of the screen.
When the Multiple Agency Book Transfer screen displays, click Add.
Make the following selections at the top of the screen:
Available Lines of Business:
Individual Lines of Business: If you only want to transfer a single line of business, highlight the line of business in the Available Lines of Business column on the left. Click the single right arrow (>) to move it to the Selected Lines of Business column on the right. For any other lines of business being transferred, repeat this procedure.
All Lines of Business: If all lines of business are being transferred, select the double right arrows (>>). All lines of business are transferred to the Selected Lines of Business column on the right.
Selected Lines of Business: Displays the lines of business being transferred. If you have made an incorrect selection, use the line of business and click the single left arrow (<) to move it back to the Available Lines of Business column. Click the double left arrows (<<) to move all lines of business back to the Available Lines of Business column.
Make all remaining entries and selections as you would if you were transferring a single line of business.
Click Save at the top of the screen. The Agency Book Transfer screen returns. For each line of business selected for transfer, a line is displayed in the list view.
There are two (2) specific exceptions that ABT processing checks for that can prevent a policy from automatically being processed.
Any future transaction activity that occurs after the Specific Date the ABT is scheduled to take effect.
Any claims with a loss date that occurs after the Specific Date the ABT is set to occur.
Either one (1) of these exceptions, in addition to any other validations or errors, stops the automatic ABT and assigns a Diary Item to either a user or workflow as selected in the Exception Processing section of the Add ABT screen. When an exception happens, regardless of whether it happened during the submission or issuing process, both the submission and issuance of a policy are stopped. The agency book transfer status is set to "1" internally (Initiated), and a Diary Item is then assigned to the user or workflow to be processed manually. When set to "1," (Initiated), the automatic process ignores the policy on all subsequent executions of the automatic ABT process.
After setting up Specific Date ABTs:
Select Process Specific Date ABTs from the Diamond Administration Tree View.
When the Process Specific Date ABT screen displays:
Process ABT Through: The date defaults to the current system date. If this is not the current processing date, enter a date, or double click to return a pop-up calendar for date selection. Entry format for date: MM/DD/YYYY.
OK: Click the OK button.
Yes: Answer Yes to the question: "Are you sure you want to Specific Date ABT transfer all policies on agencies set to transfer effective <DATE ENTERED>?"
When finished, the Diamond Administration Tree View returns.
The new policy / policy_id will have a term = 12 month pro-rate. This is used in rating to identify that a prorated factor should be used when determining premium. A new policy / policy_id will be created with the first image being a "New Business" image. The image will have a Type = New Business with a Reason = ABT Rewrite. The remark that displays will be "Rewritten From <Policy Number>."
The effective and expiration dates will show the term for the new policy / policy_id indicating the date of the ABT transaction was effective.
The guaranteed Rate Term dates will show the term of the original policy indicating the original policy effective date.
When the policy is renewed, the system will automatically change the pay plan back to the original term (12 month) and reset the effective and expiration dates.
Automatic Renewals is the program that processes Renewals and Anniversary Date ABTs. When it runs, it does the following:
Renewal ABT Policies (Guaranteed Expiration Date):
The original policy is non-renewed and rewritten.
It is created as a "Rewrite-Full" transaction type.
The new policy is created as a renewal.
If the system setting, Get New Policy Number For ABT, is set to "True" (Enable), a new policy number is generated for the policy the ABT is being transferred to.
If it is set to "False" (Disable), no new policy number is generated at the time the policy is transferred. It maintains the original policy number.
The new / renewal rate book is used, if available.
New Guaranteed Dates are set.
Policies are transferred to the new agency.
Anniversary ABT Policies (Expiration Date):
The original policy is cancelled and rewritten.
The new policy is created as a renewal.
If the system setting, "Get New Policy Number For ABT," is set to "True" (Enable), a new policy number is generated for the policy the ABT is being transferred to.
If it is set to "False" (Disable), no new policy number is generated at the time the policy is transferred. It maintains the original policy number.
The new policy maintains the old policy's rate book.
The new policy maintains the Guaranteed Dates from the old policies.
Policies are transferred to the new agency.
Other items to note on agency book transfers.
To be transferred to a different agency, a policy must be "Active."
"Cancelled" Policies: No additional transactions may be done on a cancelled ABT.
Policies Having "Future" Transactions: Policies having "Future" transactions are not transferred to the new agency's policy.
Any ABT occurring on a policy having a "Future" transaction is excluded from the process.
Credit Balances: These are transferred from the canceled policy to the new policy so the new policy does not go into Legal Notice of Cancellation.
Policy History: For both Specific Date ABT and Renewal Date ABT, the original policy will be canceled and have a status of "History" (H). The image will display a Type = ABT Cancel Rewrite with a Reason = ABT Cancel Rewrite. The remarks that display will be the remarks entered on the Transaction Submission screen.
New Policy (Renewal Date): A new policy / policy_id will be created with the first image being the renewal image. The image will have a Type = Renewal with a Reason = ABT Renewal. The remark that displays will be Renewal from ABT Cancel-Rewrite.
Premium: If a Specific Date ABT is processed, the system will pro-rate the premium based on the effective date of the ABT. If a Renewal Date ABT is processed, the system will rate based on the full term of the policy with no pro-rate factor.
Commissions:
If a Renewal Date ABT is processed, the system will automatically generate renewal commissions based on the company's commission setup for the new agent.
If a Specific Date ABT is processed, the system will automatically generate agency commission records during the month the transaction becomes effective. The first record will be for the cancellation and will follow the company rules to adjust the original agency's commission balance based on the pro-rated commission amount. The second record will be for the new agent with the commission amount calculated based on the new WP (Written Premium) for the pro-rated term.
Specific Date ABTs: Issued (Active) policies having a Renewal Underwriting transaction have two (2) images created in the new policy record after the Specific Date ABT. On a Specific Date ABT the agency is changed automatically. When the policy is issued, the “Active” image is copied to the “new” policy. After issuance, the system then looks for any Renewal Underwriting image and creates a second image if one exists. The Renewal Underwriting transaction is then updated at renewal.
Diamond Renewal Processes ("Renewal Date" or "Anniversary Date" ABT): The agency assignment changes automatically. On issued (Active) policies processed having a renewal underwriting transaction, these are processed with Renewal Underwriting changes applied; only one (1) image is created in the new policy record.