Commerce Bancorp in New Jersey is offering customized employee-benefits intranets as a way to sell personal-lines insurance as well as investment products and bank accounts to the employees of its corporate clients.
The Cherry Hill company has been talking with client companies about the idea but has not signed any up. Commerce already has a large insurance operation, Commerce National Insurance Services, that sells personal and commercial property-casualty and life insurance online, on the phone, and in person.
Tim Casey, the unit's chief information officer, said Thursday the intranets will also give it an edge in competing for client companies' benefits business.
The sites will be created by vSimplify of Fairfield, Conn., which runs employee-benefits intranets for midsize companies. The sites will include information and tools about the clients' human resources and employee benefits as well as links for buying financial products.
Mr. Casey, a vice president, said the new intranets will link to some of the insurance sales features on Commerce's main Web site. By clicking on links, employees will be able buy banking products, insurance - disability, property, and auto - retirement plans, and more from Commerce, he said.
The sites can be customized to offer particular products when the employee undergoes a "lifestyle change," Mr. Casey said. For example, a site might offer more life insurance or a college savings fund when the employee has a child.
The intranets will offer discounts on some products, said Edward Kiessling, Commerce National's chief operating officer, but "that's going to vary depending on the product and the carriers involved."
Rudy Nadilo, vSimplify's chief executive officer, said its intranets help human resources people manage employee benefits and the relevant information. Employees can use the sites to check benefits information, review the employee handbook, and update information about themselves in the employer's files, he said.
All the tools and software can be used to manage benefits from any insurer, he said.
"Our system is a self-service system that provides the employees with personalized statements as well as access to all of the HR forms and reports and employee manuals," he said. Putting this information online for employees to access themselves reduces the burden on human resources staff, Mr. Nadilo said.
Mr. Casey said that Commerce is focusing initially on clients with more than 100 employees. Agents are being taught about the product, and some of the intranets will probably be up and running in the second quarter, he said.
Commerce is still thinking about what to charge for the service, Mr. Casey said. Large clients that let it sell on the site might pay nothing, he said. Those that bar such sales might be charged more than Commerce pays vSimplify - $3.50 to $5 per employee.
Mr. Nadilo said vSimplify is negotiating with several other banks to offer similar services. He declined to name them.
