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Startup AiDash Raises $50M for Tech Using AI, Satellites to Spot Wildfire Risk

Article 0 Comments A California startup using artificial intelligence (AI) and satellites to spot fire and weather risks on power lines, AiDash, reported it had raised $50 million in new funding, reflecting Silicon Valley efforts to create products that help energy companies adapt to climate change. Power utilities are under pressure to cut risks of forest fires and storm-based outages after massive fires have been sparked by power lines and weather events brought down lines. At the same time, loads on the grid are likely to rise as electricity displaces fossil fuel in applications such as electric vehicles and home heat pumps. Hundreds of startups and small companies offer services and technology aimed at improving forest management, forest-fire spotting and response and other wildfire and forest-fire services, data from researcher PitchBook shows. AiDash uses AI to search satellite images for problems and changes along power utility electric transmission lines, such as where vegetation has grown and whether trees are encroaching on lines. The technology is also being used to help create surveys for companies facing new biodiversity reporting regulations, such as in the United Kingdom. The new funding will be used in part to open a European headquarters. National Grid,...

Sedgwick highlights industry trends for the year ahead 0

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Sedgwick highlights industry trends for the year ahead

Sedgwick launches ‘Connect 2024’ list of major trends and issues Memphis, TN (Jan. 18, 2024) – Sedgwick’s industry experts and thought leaders are committed to keeping our clients informed on emerging challenges, opportunities and industry news. We’re excited to introduce our Connect 2024 list, which highlights major industry trends and issues that employers, carriers, brokers and risk management and human resources professionals should watch throughout the coming year. In 2024, we expect connected conversations to center around key topics related to people, property, brands and performance and our analysis pinpoints opportunities for collaboration across a variety of industries. People: Workforce, consumer experience, health and well-being Every critical decision you make this year will have an impact on people — whether employees, partners, clients, consumers or other constituents. And the needs of these individuals are fundamentally different now than in years past. The workforce is not just changing; it has been transformed. Priorities have shifted; people expect elevated experiences in the workplace and in everyday interactions. Employers are thinking holistically about health and well-being options for their teams, focusing on culture and development, and finding ways to make the workplace more appealing as individuals adapt to new realities. Throughout the year,...

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People Moves: Aventum Promotes Eldridge to MD; Aon Names Dando as EMEA Head of Strategy, Technology Group; Chubb Taps WTW’s Källs as Country Mgr, Sweden/Finland

Article 0 Comments This edition of International People Moves details appointments at the re/insurance group Aventum, the broker Aon, and insurer Chubb. A summary of these new hires follows here. Aventum Promotes Eldridge to MD Aventum, the London-based re/insurance group that operates across both the underwriting and broking sectors, announces that John Eldridge has been promoted to managing director of Aventum. In this newly created position, Eldridge will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the business, with a particular focus on coordinating the group’s central functions, to support the continued global expansion of its re/insurance managing general agent (MGA), Rokstone, and specialty broking platform, Consilium. John Eldridge Eldridge was previously chief commercial officer for the group, having joined the business in 2020. Before joining Aventum, he held a variety of leadership roles over a 15-year period, including managing director of Canopius UK Specialty, managing director of Coleman Insurance Brokers, and head of Operations at HSBC Insurance Brokers. The promotion comes after two further C-Suite appointments made last year at Aventum: Robert Moorehead-Lane, formally chief risk officer of Aspen Insurance Group, was appointed CRO, and Hassani Jess, previously chief technology officer of Simply Business, was appointed CTO for the Aventum...

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Advisor M&A Fell in 2023: Why DeVoe Says It’s No Big Deal

RIA mergers and acquisitions declined year over year for the first time in at least a decade in 2023, as higher interest rates discouraged sellers, according to a new report Thursday by DeVoe & Co.  For advisors looking to buy or sell, the good news is that the overall M&A market remains busy.  Deals also began to tick up in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to DeVoe’s latest RIA Deal Book report. Sixty-six deals closed in that quarter, up 8% over the prior year.  “Many sellers believe that the interest rate environment has compressed valuations,” the firm’s CEO and founder, David DeVoe, said in an email to ThinkAdvisor on the study. “Pausing any major moves is not uncommon in times of uncertainty or volatility.”  What to know: In 2023, the number of deal closings fell 5% to 251, from the record 264 in 2022. Up to that point, the industry had seen nine consecutive years of record deal volume, DeVoe said in the report.  In addition to interest rates, “other factors contributing to the slowdown included extended due-diligence processes, evolving deal structures and a greater emphasis on the true value of a buyer’s equity,” the report authors wrote.  Why it matters: In particular, RIAs seeking...

People Moves: Jewelers Mutual Makes Leadership Appointments 0

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People Moves: Jewelers Mutual Makes Leadership Appointments

Article 0 Comments Jewelers Mutual Group, headquartered in Neenah, Wis., hired two new leadership team members. Nick Tenekedes is now senior vice president of digital solutions. Tenekedes joins Jewelers Mutual with over 15 years of experience. Most recently, Tenekedes was the vice president, marketplace at Getaround. Howard Stone joined Jewelers as vice president, global risk and analytics. He has over 30 years of progressive loss prevention experience. He previously held leadership roles at Macy’s, Old Navy, Anchor Blue Stores and The Wet Seal. Most recently, Stone was the director, loss prevention and operations at Amazon in Seattle, Wash. Topics Leadership Was this article valuable? Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article. Submit No Thanks Thank you! % of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it. Submit No Thanks Here are more articles you may enjoy. Interested in Leadership? Get automatic alerts for this topic.

New Digital Solutions are Transforming Insurance Distribution 0

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New Digital Solutions are Transforming Insurance Distribution

By Mark Breading, ReSource Pro — At ReSource Pro, we talk a lot about the technological innovations underway across the insurance industry. However, the reality remains that many processes continue to involve manual paperwork and legacy systems, leading to reduced efficiencies and increased chances of errors. While carriers have invested heavily in distribution capabilities and enhancing agent-carrier connectivity, many agencies and brokers lag behind. But the tide is changing, with a wide range of solutions – from leads to binding – emerging to streamline the distribution process for agents, brokers, and MGAs. A new research report from ReSource Pro explores today’s distribution technology landscape and spotlights the solutions that can benefit the distribution value chain for agents, brokers, and MGAs. To identify the solutions that will add the most value to their businesses, it is critical for distributors to first identify their top pain points.Pain Points Facing Insurance Distributors Data enrichment represents a significant challenge for agents and brokers. Customers often provide incomplete underwriting information, leaving agents/brokers to fill in the gaps. Data enrichment solutions help fill these gaps. While historically, these solutions have been carrier-centric, many vendors are now extending their offerings to distributors, such as using APIs to...

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529-to-Roth Rollovers: What We Still Don’t Know

What You Need to Know The IRS has yet to release detailed guidance on the rules around this Secure 2.0 provision, which took effect this year. There are a number of open questions, such as how the lifetime limit is applied and how beneficiary switches are handled. Clients would be wise to tread carefully until the IRS provides more clarity. It’s now 2024, and the Secure 2.0 Act’s 529-to-Roth IRA transfer option is officially live and available to taxpayers. However, the IRS has yet to provide any type of detailed guidance on the rules that will apply to these rollovers. While allowing taxpayers to execute tax- and-penalty-free rollovers from 529 plans to Roth IRAs can be extremely helpful for taxpayers who don’t end up needing the college savings funds, the details are always important. While some issues have been addressed squarely by the law itself, we continue to await guidance on some important issues from the IRS — meaning that clients should tread carefully when determining how to interpret certain rules. 529-to-Roth Transfers: The Basics Under the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) 2.0 Act, beginning with the 2024 tax year, taxpayers are officially permitted to roll Section...

CFC Joins Quotey Marketplace 0

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CFC Joins Quotey Marketplace

Whitby, ON (Jan. 22, 2024) – Quotey is delighted to announce that it has expanded its commercial and specialty insurer marketplace to include CFC’s Cyber insurance product. CFC is a global specialist insurance provider, pioneer in emerging risk and leader in cyber. Broker partners using the Quotey platform can now receive instant Cyber insurance quotes for their clients from Canada’s market leader, CFC. In just a few questions, CFC will quote for over a thousand specific industries and offer their award-winning coverage, together with proactive cyber-attack prevention and unrivaled cyber claims and incident response services. “CFC is an undisputed leader and pioneer in Cyber insurance, so enabling Quotey’s users to instantly obtain their Cyber quotes through our marketplace is a big step forward,” said Quotey CEO and Co-Founder, Nick Kidd. “In my experience, Cyber insurance is an extremely important, yet highly misunderstood product in Canada. By working with CFC, we intend to help Canadian insurance brokers de-mystify the product and provide better overall protection for their clients.” “We’re delighted to join forces with Quotey and widen access for Canadian brokers to our market-leading cyber insurance,” says Laura Martin, CFC Cyber Development Manager, Canada. “This partnership shows our joint commitment to...

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What Does Red Sea Disruption Mean for Europe’s Economy?

Article 0 Comments Weeks of attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi militants on vessels in the Red Sea have disrupted shipping in the Suez Canal, the fastest sea route between Asia and Europe, carrying around 15% of global sea trade. For the European economy, already skirting a mild recession as it tries to shake off high inflation, prolonged trade disruption could derail plans by central banks to start cutting interest rates this year. Here are some factors policymakers are considering as they assess the implications of the disruptions. WHAT HAS BEEN THE IMPACT ON THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY SO FAR? In macroeconomic terms, small to negligible. Germany’s Economy Ministry said last week the only noticeable impact on output so far was a few cases of stretched delivery times. Bank of England chief Andrew Bailey concurred, telling a parliamentary hearing it “hasn’t actually had the effect that I sort of feared it might,” though uncertainties remained. No impact from the attacks has yet turned up in Europe’s main economic indicators, including December inflation numbers, which ticked up slightly. That might change – watch Wednesday’s preliminary PMI readings for activity in European economies in January, and Feb. 1’s first estimate of euro zone inflation for...

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What Pills Is That Client On?

What You Need to Know The famous Medicare annual enrollment period is over until October. The lesser-known Medicare Advantage enrollment period is in progress right now. Clients whose drug coverage needs have changed might want to make a switch. Some older clients who were happy with their Medicare coverage a few weeks ago are looking more carefully at their prescription benefits and finding … problems. One client wants a particular form of insulin. Another needs a new miracle drug with no generic competition. A patient’s out-of-pocket cost for a drug might be $50 per month at one plan and high enough to infuriate a high-net-worth client at another plan. If you sell Medicare plans for a living, you know the “secret” solution. If you’re just starting to learn about the subtleties of Medicare, the answer is: the other Medicare plan enrollment period. Thanks to the seriously underpublicized annual Medicare Advantage open enrollment period, which runs from Jan. 1 through March 31, clients unhappy with their prescription benefits “can switch to a new Medicare Advantage plan better suited to their needs,” according to Bob Rees, chief sales officer at eHealth, a company that helped create the online health insurance sales industry....