Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Auto and Home Insurance Apps Become Key to Managing Customer Expectations: J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Claims Digital Satisfaction Study Troy, MI (Dec. 5, 2023) – With customers saying their average auto repair cycle time has doubled in the past two years—now topping 23 days—and the average home repair cycle time increasing as well, insurers need to work harder than ever to manage customer expectations. According to the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Claims Digital Experience StudySM, digital communications channels have become the key to maintaining customer satisfaction throughout the claims process, but many insurers are still struggling to deliver a truly seamless digital experience. As a result, overall satisfaction is 854, down 3 points from 2022. “Across all of our insurance claims experience studies, we find that the more insurers can do to manage expectations, keep customers updated and make it easy for them to manage the claims process without a lot of effort, the more satisfied customers become—even when repair cycle times are longer than ever,” said Mark Garrett, director of global insurance intelligence at J.D. Power. “Customers have an expectation that using digital tools will create efficiencies in the process and keep them informed throughout their claim, but many...

by Miki Ho, Head of Underwriting (Canada), Resilience — Changes in the cyber insurance marketplace are increasing competition among insurers, prompting more Canadian organizations to expand their search for competitive cyber coverage. With increased capacity leading to more competitive pricing and broader coverage offerings, buyers are interested in exploring their options. Seeking alternative options from new coverage can provide significant benefits, but insurance buyers should, first and foremost, look for a solution that fits their risk management and cybersecurity needs. In the past three years, the cyber insurance market hardened as loss frequency and severity soared, particularly from ransomware attacks. Premiums adjusted considerably, in line with the changing loss environment. Before the market stabilized, insurers restricted the capacity for primary cyber layers. In addition, some cyber insurers sublimited coverage, added coinsurance requirements, and tightened conditions that would trigger coverage. It was not an easy market for risk managers and brokers to navigate, and stability in cyber insurance partners was difficult to find. A reprieve in 2022 claims helped stabilize loss ratios, and ongoing demand for cyber coverage attracted some new insurers with new or additional cyber capacity. As a result, the cyber market has stabilized, which is driving the trend...

Start Slideshow While it will likely be hard for investors to harvest the same degree of losses in either 2023 or 2024 as they managed in 2022 (and that’s a good thing for portfolios), tax-loss harvesting has nonetheless been an important consideration this year, and experts anticipate the same for 2024. In fact, as Hiren B. Patel, head of advisor solutions at 55ip, recently told ThinkAdvisor, loss harvesting benefits from an “always-on mentality,” so advisors should be ready to take potential action early next year if the market conditions are right — both on the stock and bond sides of the portfolio. As Patel emphasized, the potential value advisors can bring to their clients via effective loss harvesting is hard to overstate, especially over the long time horizon of the typical retirement investor. While academic research suggests the average annual “savings” or “excess return” is around 1% of a portfolio’s value, that figure can range up to 250 to 300 basis points, depending on the methodology and the manager being considered. In dollar terms, that equates to as much as $650 billion in tax savings that could be realized by advisors and their clients each and every year, according to estimates...

Start Slideshow Fiscal 2023, which ended June 30, was a so-so period for university endowment returns. Some of the richest U.S. universities posted sluggish returns, according to Inside Higher Ed, and a majority of the top 20 endowments saw returns of less than 5%. For Ivy League endowments, fiscal years 2022 and 2023 delivered the worst returns in the past 10 years, according to PitchBook. And as valuation corrections cut through the private markets, they may have to wait a while before they see above-average returns again. Only one Ivy League endowment exceeded 4% in fiscal 2023. And the pain may not be over with these endowments. Following a decade with annualized returns that averaged around 10%, the weak fiscal 2023 returns are a result of a high interest-rate environment, volatility in public equities and a drawn-out valuation correction in the private markets.  In fiscal year 2024, endowment returns will depend heavily on public market performance and their valuation processes, according to PitchBook. Besides continued catch-up declines in private asset valuations, higher interest rates will continue to hold back dealmaking.  See the accompanying gallery for the fiscal year 2023 endowment investment performances, ranked from worst to best. Start Slideshow

Start Slideshow Are growth stocks overpriced? That was the question posed by Margaret Giles, a Morningstar content development editor, in a new blog post. Growth stocks have enjoyed a sizable performance advantage over value stocks in 2023. The Morningstar US Growth Index outperformed the Morningstar US Value Index by some 25 percentage points through Dec. 8. Meanwhile, value stocks look attractive, Morningstar’s chief U.S. market strategist, Dave Sekera, said in the post. “Based on our valuations, we continue to advocate for an overweight position in the value category, whereas growth stocks are trading at a slight premium to our fair values and core stocks are valued near the market average,” Sekera said. In her post, Giles listed the best value stocks to buy for the long term. Analysts chose these stocks from the value portion of the Morningstar style box. They are also from companies that Morningstar includes on its list of the best companies to own. These have wide Morningstar economic moat ratings and predictable cash flows, and they are run by management teams that make smart capital-allocation decisions. Not least important, the stocks are trading below Morningstar’s fair value estimates. See the accompanying gallery for 10 value stocks...

Start Slideshow Are growth stocks overpriced? That was the question posed by Margaret Giles, a Morningstar content development editor, in a new blog post. Growth stocks have enjoyed a sizable performance advantage over value stocks in 2023. The Morningstar US Growth Index outperformed the Morningstar US Value Index by some 25 percentage points through Dec. 8. Meanwhile, value stocks look attractive, Morningstar’s chief U.S. market strategist, Dave Sekera, said in the post. “Based on our valuations, we continue to advocate for an overweight position in the value category, whereas growth stocks are trading at a slight premium to our fair values and core stocks are valued near the market average,” Sekera said. In her post, Giles listed the best value stocks to buy for the long term. Analysts chose these stocks from the value portion of the Morningstar style box. They are also from companies that Morningstar includes on its list of the best companies to own. These have wide Morningstar economic moat ratings and predictable cash flows, and they are run by management teams that make smart capital-allocation decisions. Not least important, the stocks are trading below Morningstar’s fair value estimates. See the accompanying gallery for 10 value stocks...