Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Nearly eight in ten working Canadians (76%) want employers to play an active role in building their financial security Less than half are currently receiving workplace savings support at work (41%) Working Canadians list financial stability as the most important aspect of employment Toronto, ON (Jan. 21, 2026) – Sun Life is pleased to announce Sun Life Essentials™ and Sun Life Essentials Plus™, new digital-first workplace savings solutions designed specifically for small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs). The plans are built to be simple and accessible, helping business owners better support their employees in building long‑term financial stability and confidence. Amid rising uncertainty and cost pressures, building a stable and loyal workforce is a priority for businesses of all sizes. Workplace savings plans can be a practical way for employers to invest in their people without adding complexity. Recent research conducted by The Harris Poll for Sun Life, underscores why this support matters right now. More than a quarter of working Canadians say financial stress is impacting productivity and engagement at work. And 87 per cent believe employers that help workers save earn greater loyalty. “Small business owners are the backbone of our economy, and we know how much they’re carrying...

London, UK (May 11, 2026) – According to a new report by Marsh Risk, a business of Marsh, and the world’s leading insurance broker and risk advisor, cyber risk is, for the first time, the top concern among UK business leaders. It is cited as the leading concern for 46% of business leaders, up three percentage points from 2024, and up from 20% in 2023. Marsh Risk’s UK Business Risk Report – which surveyed more than 2,000 business leaders, from sole traders to businesses of with over 250 employees across the UK – provides industry level insight and practical recommendations to help organizations prioritize actions, allocate capital and engage with insurers more effectively. The report underscores the need for businesses to adopt flexible risk management approaches that can adapt as threats evolve and interact across domains. The top risks include cyber threats (46%); economic and financial (44%); compliance, legal and regulatory (40%); and people (39%). According to the report, high profile attacks, greater digitalization and supply chain vulnerabilities have elevated cyber risk to board level, due to widespread operational disruption, potential regulatory exposure and reputational harm. Respondents also highlighted the growing interconnectedness of threats, signalling a move by organizations to...

EY study shows adoption is outpacing sentiment as AI takes on greater responsibility 13% of Canadians are already using autonomous AI, allowing systems to act on their behalf AI is embedded in daily life, with up to 78% using it in energy and mobility and 67% in customer experiences Trust remains fragile, as 71% fear AI system breaches and only 39% trust companies to protect AI‑used data Toronto, ON (May 11, 2026) – Canadians may describe themselves as cautious about artificial intelligence, but new findings from the 2026 EY AI Sentiment Study suggest a very different reality. While concerns about security, accountability and control remain high, Canadians are already embedding AI into everyday decisions, often in ways that extend beyond simple assistance into early autonomy. “What we’re seeing is less about blind trust and more about conditional permission,” says Biren Agnihotri, EY Canada Chief Technology Officer. “Canadians are comfortable with AI in familiar, low‑risk moments, and that everyday experience is reshaping how trust actually develops.” A ‘meaningful minority’ is already letting AI decide The study shows 13% of Canadians have used autonomous AI in the past six months, systems that go beyond recommendations to act on a user’s behalf. While...

Messagepoint announces launch of MARCIEAssist™, the first agentic AI capability to automate the work of Customer Communications Management Toronto, ON (June 4, 2026) – Messagepoint, a leading customer communications management (CCM) solutions provider, is pleased to announce the launch of MARCIEAssist™, the first agentic AI capability that automates the work of customer communications management. With MARCIEAssist, Messagepoint is introducing a fundamentally new model for customer communications management (CCM)—one where users no longer need to manually execute complex tasks. Instead, users simply describe what they want to accomplish, and MARCIEAssist intelligently plans and executes supported actions across content, rules, data, and templates—while keeping users fully in control. Organizations operating in regulated industries face increasing pressure to deliver accurate, compliant, and highly personalized communications across channels—yet CCM platforms still rely on manual processes that are time-consuming, complex, and dependent on specialized expertise. MARCIEAssist was specifically designed to address these challenges by leveraging agentic AI to do the heavy lifting of CCM work, dramatically reducing the time and effort required to manage communications. The first release of MARCIEAssist supports three core functions in Messagepoint: Automating key content operations such as creating, editing, and refactoring content objects Providing insights into content, rules, and communications...

IBM is announcing a significant milestone in our strategy to help enterprises modernize mainframe applications, bringing new levels of efficiency, productivity and intelligence to the IBM Z application development lifecycle — By Michael Kwok, Vice President, IBM Bob; Canada Lab Director — IBM Z is a family of enterprise-grade mainframe computer servers designed by IBM. Known for their legendary reliability (the “Z” originally stands for “zero downtime”), they are the backbone of the global economy, processing roughly 70% of all financial transactions worldwide. These modern compute stacks are built for massive-scale, mission-critical operations where failure is not an option. — We are excited to introduce IBM Bob Premium Package for Z, which integrates and enhances the capabilities of IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z to deliver advanced features for enterprise-scale mainframe applications. IBM Bob Premium Package for Z is currently available in private preview. AI-powered tool for enterprise developers Modern developers expect a cutting-edge, agentic integrated development environment (IDE) experience and teams working on IBM Z applications can experience that with IBM Bob. IBM Bob is an AI-powered development tool for enterprise developers that can plan, execute, validate and govern multi-step modernization tasks across the software development lifecycle (SDLC). It...