Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Toronto, ON (Sept. 2, 2026) – CSIO is pleased to congratulate Howick Mutual Insurance Company, Maple Mutual Insurance Company, Sandbox Mutual Insurance, Stanley Mutual Insurance Company, Westminster Mutual Insurance Company, and Yarmouth Mutual Insurance Company on achieving CSIO’s Compliance Certification. The CSIO Compliance Certification recognizes insurers that have eliminated Z-codes (non-standard coverage codes) from their data exchange with brokers and use only CSIO Standard codes. By adopting standardized codes, insurers help improve data quality and consistency across broker workflows, supporting more accurate reporting, operational efficiency, and a better broker experience. “Congratulations to Howick, Maple, Sandbox, Stanley, Westminster and Yarmouth on achieving CSIO Compliance Certification,” said Kathryn Sinclair, President & CEO of CSIO. “This certification reflects their commitment to using industry standards to improve the accuracy and consistency of data exchanged between insurers and brokers. As more insurers align with CSIO Standards, brokers benefit from straightforward data, more reliable workflows, and a better experience for the customers they serve.” CSIO works with insurers to support the transition from non-standard Z-codes to CSIO Standard codes, helping ensure that information is exchanged consistently across the industry. Insurers can also request new coverage codes through CSIO’s maintenance request process. Submitted requests are reviewed by...

By Deb Pimentel, President, IBM Canada — Recently, I’ve noticed that the discussion in Canada about digital sovereignty mainly revolves around borders. It focuses on where code is written, where data is stored and whether a solution is built domestically. While these factors are important, they don’t form the basis of true independence. Digital sovereignty is not defined by geography alone, but by governance. This includes who manages the technology, who gets access to it and under what circumstances. The danger is that a borders-only view of security can create a false sense of safety while limiting Canada’s access to the innovation it needs to remain competitive on the global stage. In my work across the Canadian technology ecosystem, I’ve seen digital sovereignty move to the centre of the debate. But the terrain is shifting quickly, as AI and cloud systems become increasingly woven into public services, economic infrastructure and national security. This raises the stakes for how these technologies are governed, posing a critical question: how do we build an infrastructure that can evolve with Canada’s needs? No country can afford to independently develop an entirely new technology stack, but governments and commercial entities do require sovereign control over...

New Manulife research finds fragmented planning is creating blind spots as longer lives reshape how wealthy individuals live, work and transfer wealth across generations Toronto, ON (Aug. 18, 2026) – Longer lives are changing what wealth needs to do. As high-net-worth (HNW) individuals expect to remain active for decades beyond traditional retirement age, many are rethinking how they work, invest and use their wealth throughout their lives. Rather than planning for a single retirement phase, they are increasingly preparing for multiple stages of work, reinvention, family responsibilities and new opportunities. This shift is prompting a rethink of traditional approaches to wealth planning. That is the central finding of The New Fluidity (opens in a new tab), new research from Manulife and FT Longitude among 1,000 HNW and mass-affluent individuals across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. While many wealthy individuals are adapting their lifestyles and investment strategies to longer lifespans, relatively few have put in place an integrated wealth plan that connects investments, protection, succession and family governance. Retirement is no longer a finish line Traditional notions of retirement are giving way to more fluid, multi-phase lives — what the Manulife-FT report describes as “portfolio lives”, where HNW individuals continue to...

This combination brings together connected intelligence, human expertise, and national scale to improve benefits performance every day, not just at renewal Irvine, CA (Aug. 18, 2026) – Alliant Insurance Services is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Nava Benefits, combining Alliant’s advisory depth, analytics, scale, and risk expertise with Nava’s AI-native HQ platform to help define the next generation of employee benefits brokerage. The acquisition comes at an important inflection point for the industry. Technology has long supported benefits brokerage, but artificial intelligence creates an opportunity to fundamentally change how benefits are delivered. Rather than adding another technology layer to a traditional service model, Alliant and Nava intend to create a more connected operating model in which real-time intelligence, technology, and human expertise work together to improve benefits performance for employers and their people. “AI is not an incremental change for our industry. It creates the opportunity to rethink how benefits are delivered from the ground up,” said Kevin Overbey, President of Alliant Employee Benefits. “This acquisition is about leading that transformation and building a model that is more connected, more responsive, and more capable of delivering measurable value for employers and the people...