Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

World Economic Forum Global Risks Report 2021 Billions are at risk of missing out on the digital leap forward, as growing disparities challenge the social fabric. In the medium-term, the global economy will be threatened by the knock-on effects of the coronavirus crisis, while geopolitical stability will be critically fragile over the next 5 to 10 years. Environmental risks continue to threaten: they remain top risks by likelihood and impact in this year’s survey. London, UK (Jan. 25, 2021) – The World Economic Forum has released its Global Risks Report 2021, the 16th edition of the Forum’s annual analysis, which looks back at a year ravaged by a global pandemic, economic downturn, political turmoil and the ever-worsening climate crisis. The report explores how countries and businesses can act in the face of these risks. Unsurprisingly, one of the big changes between this year and last, in terms of risks, has been brought about by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The risk posed by infectious diseases is now ranked at number one, while in 2020 it came in 10th place. Widespread effects “The immediate human and economic costs of COVID-19 are severe,” the report says. “They threaten to scale back years of...

Parametric specialists smash all previous records for catastrophe claim payments London, UK (Jan. 25, 2021) – FloodFlash, an InsurTech offering rapid-payout insurance at-risk businesses, has set new catastrophe claims records in the wake of storm damage in the UK. The fastest claim took just 9 hours and 44 minutes from the property flooding to the client receiving the full settlement in their account. Storm Christoph is the third named storm of the year, bringing widespread rain, snow and flooding across the UK. Over 350 live flood alerts were issued during the peak of the storm, whilst PwC estimate that losses will range between £80m – £120m (CAD: $ 140M – 210M). FloodFlash uses parametric cover to provide payouts. When taking out cover, the client selects a depth of flooding and a payout. FloodFlash install an internet-connected sensor that measures flood depths at the insured property and wirelessly sends it to FloodFlash HQ. When flood depths reach the pre-agreed amount, FloodFlash organise the payment. FloodFlash IoT sensors began to detect flozds on Wednesday 20th, triggering claims across the country. FloodFlash quickly validated the claims using the data provided by the sensors, paying them soon after. This resulted in clients receiving the...

While cancer treatments continued to dominate the therapeutic mix the drug pipeline in 2020, the impact of the COVID-19 is making itself felt. According to the latest edition of the Meds Pipeline Monitor report issued by the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB), cancer treatments made up just over a third (35%) of the 6,946 new medicines in all phases of clinical trials last year. Infectious disease treatments accounted for the second-largest share of the pipeline at 13%, and were expected to take on expected importance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of November 2020, 427 vaccines and therapies were being evaluated for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, according to PMPRB. “In addition to the wide variety of vaccines underdevelopment, many novel and repurposed medicines are currently being evaluated in clinical trials for their potential benefits in the treatment of COVID-19,” the PMPRB report said. Among the novel and repurposed medicines undergoing evaluation were antivirals, interferons, antimalarials, antiparasitics, and biologics, to name some. Based on GlobalData information accessed by PMPRB for the report, 52 out of the 427 COVID-19 treatments being evaluated as of November 2020 were vaccines. Of those 16 were in Phase I trials, 23 were...

In the flurry of conversations around the issue of drug prices in Canada, one of the loudest voices has been that of insurers, who at one point projected that private drug claims costs would rise by 11% as “market inflation” creeps in. But a new report by Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC) suggests that the reality has been far different. “The sky is not falling – contrary to popular belief, drug claim costs are increasing at 5% versus the 11% that the insurers would lead you to believe,” said Chris Pryce, CEBS, founder and president, Human Capital Benefits. Looking at private drug plan claims data from 2016 to 2019, the report found that private drug plan claims costs grew at a 5.3% compound annua growth rate. Of that, 2.8% was attributed to growth in utilization – which breaks down further into 2.5% claimant growth and 0.3% claims growth – while 2.5% attributed to cost per claim. Focusing on claimants by age, the study found that the 25-44 and 45-64 age groups were the greatest contributors to private drug plan cost growth, accounting for 1.6% and 2.2% of the 5.3% CAGR increase in costs observed from 2016 to 2019. While the 65...

The Canadian Press | December 8, 2020 Walmart Canada Corp. is giving new cash bonuses to its employees, saying the “appreciation bonus payment” recognizes their ongoing dedication during the coronavirus pandemic. The move follows similar announcements made by other companies in recent weeks, including Sobeys Inc., and could put pressure on more retailers to offer so-called hero pay to essential workers as the second wave of the pandemic worsens. Walmart said more than 85,000 employees will receive the additional payment on Dec. 11, with full-time employees expected to receive $250 while part-time staff would receive $150. Read: Sobeys bringing back pay premiums, LifeLabs giving hero recognition bonuses Horacio Barbeito, president and chief executive officer of Walmart Canada, said the store’s associates have stepped up “in true Walmart spirit” to serve customers during extraordinary times. “Every day, I hear stories about our associates going above and beyond and I am proud and grateful,” he said in a statement. “It continues to be a privilege and a tremendous responsibility to be providing an essential service for our communities.” In March, the company had provided workers with an appreciation bonus of $200 for full-time workers and $100 for part-timers. It also paid a “thank-you premium” of $2 an hour on top...

Sharon Ludlow and Maria Hancock bring rich, diverse experience as industry executives, technology buyers, entrepreneurs and investors to support rapid growth at Breathe Life Montreal, QC (Oct. 20, 2020) – Breathe Life, the enterprise SaaS platform provider for the life insurance industry, today announced the strategic addition of two exceptional industry leaders to its Board of Directors, Sharon Ludlow and Maria Hancock. Ludlow and Hancock are joining the Breathe Life board as the company’s breakthrough technology becomes the digital distribution platform of choice in North America. Adding diverse voices and perspectives has been a key goal for the Breathe Life Board of Directors heading into 2021. As the insurance industry continues to confront a host of challenges that have been accelerated by COVID-19, Breathe Life is well positioned to deliver the end-to-end solution life insurance carriers need to meet the needs of modern consumers and producers and fulfill the promise of digital transformation. “Adapting to the digital era is both an imperative and an opportunity for insurers to reconnect with customers and build stronger long-term relationships,” said Sharon Ludlow, a corporate director and former President & CEO at Swiss Re Canada. “The insurance industry must embrace opportunities to innovate in...

Staff with files from Canadian Press | December 8, 2020 The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is making several appointments in its real assets group in response to the departure of Macky Tall. He will lead the fund’s real assets and private equity business until the end of 2020 before joining The Carlyle Group Inc.’s infrastructure group in the U.S. as co-chair early next year. Effective Jan. 1, 2021, Jean-Marc Arbaud (pictured) is president and chief executive officer of the CDPQ Infra subsidiary. He’s been managing director since September 2018. As president and CEO, he’ll continue to be responsible for the team and for developing and managing projects, in particular the Réseau express métropolitain.  Harout Chitilian is vice-president of corporate affairs and development and strategy, directly supporting Arbaud in executing and developing CDPQ Infra’s business strategy. He was previously executive director, corporate affairs and development for CDPQ Infra. Read: Caisse shifts roles in response to economic challenges Emmanuel Jaclot will continue as executive vice-president and head of infrastructure and member of the Caisse’s executive committee, leading an infrastructure portfolio expected to reach $60 billion by 2024, according to a press release. And Martin Laguerre is executive vice-president of private equity and capital...

Jaqui Parchment | December 8, 2020 Employee benefits and total rewards planning have always been a critical element of business planning, but never more so than during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Mercer Canada conducted a recent client poll which showed that unlike previous years, most Canadian organizations still had not set their salary adjustment budget for 2021 as of early November. While it’s not surprising so many Canadian employers were in this position, the end of this tumultuous year presents an opportunity for business and human resources leaders to take a step back and identify gaps in current benefits structures. In 2021, organizations should focus more on how they can build a total rewards strategy that is agile, adaptive and designed for the workforce of the future. Read: HR teams focusing on total rewards, not just salary, for 2021 The need for a total rewards approach Taking a holistic view of planning and budgeting for 2021 means going beyond compensation alone and focusing on a total rewards strategy that balances empathy with economics. This opens up new pathways for organizations to support their business objectives and reinforce their employee experience, despite the uncertainties caused by the coronavirus crisis. Whether your organization is struggling,...

Two of the largest life insurers in the U.S. announced executive hires today to advance their respective diversity and inclusion strategies. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. named Regina Heyward head of supplier diversity, a new position reporting to William Porter, head of procurement. The insurer said Heyward will “strengthen its supplier diversity program focused on sustainable business relationships with diverse suppliers.” Likewise, Lincoln Financial Group announced that Brandy Smith has been named vice president, workplace diversity and counsel – part of the company’s ongoing expansion of its diversity and inclusion function. Smith will report to Allison Green Johnson, senior vice president, chief diversity officer. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, MassMutual and Lincoln ranked third and fourth in 2019 based on individual life insurance total premium. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s May 25th death in Minneapolis police custody, life insurers have been vocal about diversity issues. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners hired Evelyn Boswell as its first diversity, equity, and inclusion director and created a special committee on race and insurance. Advertisement ‘Seasoned Leader’ Heyward most recently served as senior vice president and head of supplier diversity at Wells Fargo & Company where she was responsible for a...

Toronto, ON (Dec. 7, 2020) – CSIO is pleased to announce that the Commercial Lines (CL) Working Group has finalized a standard set of questions required to underwrite and rate small business and professional services submissions. This latest set of questions is the third small business segment to undergo review, with questions for contractors and retail completed earlier in the year. The finalization of this work represents an impressive achievement by the working group towards enabling real-time quoting directly from the broker management systems (BMS). The finalized questions cover all 80 of the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s (IBC) business and professional services industry codes, ensuring all risks are accounted for. Standardizing the questions improves the speed of information exchange and strengthens the value proposition of the broker channel. The CSIO Commercial Lines Data Standards are mature and ready to be implemented. Once insurers and vendors program the CL data standards, commercial brokers will be able to exchange data in a simple, structured format directly from their BMS to the insurer’s system. Several vendors and insurers are working on mapping out prescribed fields and required data points: when this work is done, brokers will have the capability to receive commercial lines...