Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

By Joshua Motta, CEO and Co-Founder, Coalition Inc. — On Friday, July 19, 2024, at 04:09 UTC, cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike released a single computer file buried in a defective software update, causing a global IT outage for customers running the update on any Microsoft Windows operating system version 7.11 and above. Numerous airports, banks, 911 services, hotels, trains, hospitals, restaurants, governments, and maybe even your own computer were taken offline and replaced by the so-called Blue Screen of Death. Microsoft has estimated that 8.5 million computer systems were impacted. Coalition was not impacted by the outage. We are processing claims as they are received, and our security support and incident response teams are readily available to assist impacted customers. Remediation guidance was also directly provided to affected Coalition policyholders immediately following its availability and can be found on CrowdStrike’s remediation hub, together with a preliminary post-incident review detailing CrowdStrike’s investigation into the outage. Understandably, this event has garnered international media attention and raised questions among Coalition policyholders and insurance partners about how cyber insurance — and Coalition, specifically — will respond. It also highlights the ongoing discussion about risk aggregation and how (or whether) the insurance industry can insure widespread...

Start Slideshow The Internal Revenue Service recently began a regulatory project that could turn some annuity owners’ retirement accounts into rainy day funds. IRS officials posted draft guidelines for implementing sections 115 and 314 of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) 2.0 Act, or Secure 2.0, which added two important exceptions to Internal Revenue Code section 72(t). Comments on the draft are due Oct. 7. For a look at how that draft guidelines could affect annuity owners and annuity advisors, if the guidelines take effect as written and work as the IRS expects, see the gallery above. Internal Revenue Code Section 72(t): IRC Section 72(t) is a law that helps keep the yolk in a client’s retirement savings nest egg. Section 72(t) applies to individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plan accounts and other accounts that benefit from federal retirement savings tax incentives. The section normally imposes a 10% additional tax, on top of any income taxes, when a client cracks the nest egg and takes cash out before reaching age 59½. Before 2022, Section 72(t) already included exceptions for retirement savers who became disabled or retired early. The new IRC section 72(t) 10% tax penalty exemptions: Secure 2.0 was part...

Saputo Capital Collision will use Tractable’s AI solution to improve the efficiency and experience of the vehicle repair process This application will be primarily used on insurance policyholders, in a joint venture between Saputo Capital Collision and a top Canadian carrier Toronto, ON (July 25, 2022) – Saputo Capital Collision, a Canadian-based MSO with four locations across Ontario, is partnering with Tractable to use its artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for vehicle repair. Specifically, Saputo is looking to use Tractable at its carrier-branded collision center at the start of the vehicle intake process for repairable vehicles. Joe Saputo of Saputo Capital Collision has just recently opened his CARSTAR-powered Oakville East/Mississauga South location, primarily aimed at repairing policyholder vehicles with virtually zero delay in approval from the carrier. This joint venture between Saputo and a top Canadian carrier is one of the first partnerships of its kind and is aimed at creating the best possible experience for insureds in a time of uncertainty. Saputo is looking to use Tractable to improve upon that shared goal even further. To help create a superior customer experience, Saputo’s Collision Center is sending a Tractable link to customers at initial contact before even stepping foot inside...

Strategic acquisition to significantly expand and accelerate the delivery of AI capabilities across Applied’s global product portfolio Mississauga, ON (July 23, 2024) – Applied Systems is pleased to announce that it has acquired Planck, the leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) company for the insurance industry. This strategic acquisition will significantly expand Applied’s AI capabilities, accelerating its vision for the next generation of the digital roundtrip of insurance and creating more value at every stage of the insurance lifecycle for the benefit of agencies, carriers and their clients. “We believe the time is now to take bold steps to lead the insurance industry in discovering and implementing the benefits AI has to offer,” said Taylor Rhodes, CEO of Applied Systems. “By acquiring Planck, we will be investing behind a world-class team of AI and Data Science experts to accelerate the application of leading AI capabilities to insurance workflows. With our unique set of insurance technology assets that span both the agency and carrier sides of the market, our investment in Planck will deliver a significant opportunity to create AI-driven value throughout the next generation of the digital roundtrip of insurance in ways that will help our clients know more, do more of...

Secure chatbot empowers employees to safely experiment with GenAI Over 5,000 employees using the tool per week Propelled productivity and 229 per cent increase in use less than a year after launch Sun Life named a 2024 CIO Awards Canada winner Toronto, ON (July 13, 2024) – Sun Life has been named a 2024 CIO Awards Canada winner for their Sun Life Asks GenAI chatbot. The CIO Awards Canada celebrate Canadian organizations and the teams within them that are using IT in innovative ways to deliver business value, whether by creating competitive advantage, optimizing business processes, enabling growth, or improving relationships with customers. The award recognizes the tech world’s most innovative organizations and accomplished leaders. Sun Life Asks is an internal GenAI chatbot that enables employees to find quick answers and general assistance with daily tasks. Housed within Sun Life’s existing technology ecosystem, the tool performs tasks similar to chatbots available externally and can help with everything from summarization of text to organizing ideas for a presentation or even analyzing the purpose or sentiment of an article. “GenAI is an important part of our digital transformation and we are committed to safely innovating and adopting emerging technology,” said Laura Money,...