Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

65% of businesses that suffered a cyber attack say a supplier was involved 58% of affected businesses experienced revenue loss New York, NY (May 19, 2026) – One in three Canadian businesses (33%) experienced cyber incidents in the past 12 months which they believe leveraged Artificial Intelligence, with phishing among the most frequent methods, according to global research* from business insurer QBE. Artificial Intelligence is becoming ubiquitous in the Canadian economy, with 97% of businesses using it or looking into it, up from 94% last year. 2025 2026 Canadian businesses using AI 71% 83% Canadian businesses looking into using AI 23% 14% Efficiency and productivity are among the top motivations for deploying AI, as more than half of businesses rolling out the technology mention these objectives. Canadian businesses are deploying AI to: Increase operational efficiency 53% Increase productivity 53% Improve decision making 42% Grow revenue 41% Improve compliance and reduce risk 36% Drive innovation 36% Improve customer experience and retention 36% Build competitive advantage 36% Increase agility 35% Enable personalization at scale 28% “As new technologies such as AI become embedded in operations, effective risk management remains fundamental to ensuring sustainable and resilient growth,” said Kyle Gray, Underwriter Team Lead,...

New capability combines proprietary claims data and advanced predictive models to deliver property-level, peril-specific risk insights that help improve risk segmentation and underwriting efficiency Atlanta, GA (May 14, 2026) – LexisNexis® Risk Solutions is pleased to announce the launch of LexisNexis® Location Intelligence for Home, an AI-driven predictive model that is redefining how U.S. home insurers assess property risk. Using advanced neural network modeling, LexisNexis® Location Intelligence for Home gives U.S. home insurance carriers a decisive advantage in assessing property risk with more accuracy and efficiency at new business and renewal. There is a growing interest across the market in utilizing location intelligence, in addition to existing underwriting practices, to pinpoint potential risks before claims occur and investigate and mitigate those risks during the underwriting process. Location Intelligence is now available via LexisNexis® Smart Selection, the automated data service that delivers inspection flags and customizable business rules to better identify and segment the property risks that require a higher probability of action. Due to rising costs to repair homes, increased costly catastrophic events and greater pressure on underwriting precision, traditional property risk assessment approaches, particularly ones that rely heavily on exterior condition and loss data alone, can leave critical gaps....

Toronto, ON (May 12, 2026) – Markel International, a division of Markel Insurance, the insurance operations within Markel Group Inc., is pleased to announce its partnership with hyperexponential (hx) to modernize rating, underwriting workflows and integration architecture across its Canadian business. The partnership reflects Markel’s significant investment in building a more sophisticated, AI‑native underwriting environment and further expands hyperexponential’s footprint in North American markets as the leading pricing and underwriting decision platform for commercial P&C carriers. As part of its collaboration with hyperexponential, Markel Canada has launched a purpose-built Environmental rating capability on the hx platform, enabling a more streamlined, digital experience. This investment marks a shift from fragmented, transactional pricing toward a more connected underwriting experience. By bringing data, pricing and context together in a single workflow, Markel Canada is creating an environment where underwriters have what they need at the point of decision – without friction or unnecessary hand‑offs. Establishing the hx platform as a centralized rating layer creates a scalable foundation that can support more sophisticated products, package policies and evolving portfolio needs over time. The result is greater clarity at the point of pricing today, and a platform designed to grow with the business – enabling faster, more informed...

New York, NY (May 7, 2026) – Willis, a WTW business, has released its latest Insurance Marketplace Realities report, revealing a global insurance market entering a more complex phase shaped by geopolitical volatility and the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure. Political risk is no longer confined to specific sectors, with impacts now extending across supply chains, infrastructure, and financial systems. Recent developments in the Middle East are driving notable shifts in the political risk insurance market, with rates in Gulf countries expected to increase by as much as 20-30%. By contrast, rates for both traditional political risk insurance and trade disruption insurance are expected to remain flat or increase by just 5%. These changes reflect a broader reassessment of risk. Insurers are increasingly evaluating exposures through a national security lens, while businesses are elevating political risk insurance as a core component of enterprise risk management. At the same time, geopolitical forces are driving systemic effects across global markets, influencing everything from capital flows and regulatory environments to operational continuity. “Geopolitical uncertainty is no longer a background risk. It’s a primary driver of volatility across the insurance market,” said Jackie Bolig, Head of Placement and Broking Solutions for Corporate Risk &...

KPMG expands global alliance partnership with ServiceNow to co-innovate, increase client value and create new growth opportunities London, UK (May 6, 2026) – KPMG is pleased to announce the expansion of its global alliance relationship with ServiceNow, establishing a multi-year commitment and US$40 million in services over the next three years to help clients accelerate AI-powered transformation across the enterprise, reinforcing KPMG’s position as a leading ServiceNow partner. The enhanced relationship builds on the AI-first commitments both organizations have made — beginning with KPMG UK’s recognition as one of the first and largest users in Europe to deploy ServiceNow AI Agents in a live environment, followed by KPMG US’s early adoption of the ServiceNow AI Control Tower to operate AI at scale. These efforts anchored by KPMG AI Trust services and Global Business Services, reflect KPMG firms’ approach of using advanced capabilities internally to help clients adopt them with confidence. “Every organization I talk to has moved past whether to use AI,” said Michael Park, SVP, Global Partnerships and Channels at ServiceNow. “The question now is how to get from ambition to outcomes fast. ServiceNow brings the AI Control Tower, the agentic workflows, and the governance. KPMG brings the advisory depth and change...

Specialty insurance rates soften at faster than expected pace, retreating to 2020 pricing levels, WTW survey finds New York, NY (May 6, 2026) – Specialty insurance market rates declined in 2025 and for 1 January 2026 renewals, with the pace of change exceeding expectations in the published forecasts by both brokers and insurers, according to WTW’s Specialty Insurance Marketplace Survey (SIMS). The WTW survey reflects around $250 billion of gross written premium over a 10-year cycle, including $45 billion in 2025, and covers specialty insurers operating across the London, Bermuda and the U.S. excess and surplus (E&S) markets. Rather than using broker-derived data, the survey is built exclusively on data contributed by clients of WTW’s Insurance Consulting and Technology business that participate directly in SIMS. Based on the SIMS insurance rate index, expected performance (which is net of exposure trends) in 2025 has unwound the rate strengthening gains of the last few years back to levels last seen in 2021. 2025 was the first year since 2018 for which rate adequacy for new business was lower than for renewal business. Data from 1 January 2026 renewals and new business point to continued rate softening, with a 10-point decline in the...