Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

With the economic recovery slowing, winter on the way, and a second round of COVID-19 threatening public health, insurers are staring at a prolonged downturn. This is the backdrop as public companies produce their third-quarter earnings reports. Analysts are eager to see the bottom lines as many insurers are starting to show cracks in the economic foundation — in the form of significant employee layoffs. Just under 300 employees from Pacific Life Insurance Co. were laid off last week, with the company citing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and low interest rates. MassMutual is laying off 160 employees at the end of the year, as part of the sale of its retirement business to Empower for $3.35 billion. Industry intelligence guru Sheryl Moore said the layoffs could be just beginning. “I am anticipating that this is just the beginning of the layoffs,” said Moore, president and CEO of Moore Market Intelligence. “I’ve heard about five companies and I think we could easily see 10 or 20 more companies making layoffs. And that’s really scary for the industry.” Advertisement The pandemic unleashed a chain reaction of bad economic conditions for insurers. Those conditions continue to multiply and are creating a deeper hole....

Staff | October 22, 2020 While the majority of Canadian employers feel confident about the economy, 49 per cent of employees are seriously considering leaving their role, according to a new report by Hays Specialist Recruitment (Canada) Inc. Among the reasons cited by dissatisfied employees were reduced social interaction due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (45 per cent), increased workloads (25 per cent) and a lack of well-being and mental health support, which 43 per cent of employees said were not offered by their employers during the pandemic. While 81 per cent of employee respondents rated their well-being earlier this year as “positive,” that number dropped to 64 per cent as the pandemic progressed. When considering a new role, employees said that their top criteria were benefits (53 per cent), career development (44 per cent) and work-life balance (40 per cent). Read: Canadian workers want vacation, benefits plans and to work from home: survey The report also found that by province, employees were most ready to switch jobs in Quebec (54 per cent), Ontario (52 per cent), Alberta (48 per cent) and British Columbia (41 per cent). By comparison, employer optimism was highest in Quebec and Ontario, at 77 per cent. Ahead of...

Staff | October 22, 2020 The OPSEU Pension Trust is investing in Environmental 360 Solutions Inc., an eco-friendly waste management solutions company headquartered in Napanee, Ont. Furthering its commitment to responsible investing, the investment signals that environmental, social and governance factors remain a part of the pension fund’s long-term vision, noted a press release. “We are very pleased to announce our investment into E360S,” said Trevor Speis, director in the OPTrust’s private markets group, in a press release. “Alongside our partners . . . we look forward to capitalizing on future growth opportunities and the continued success of E360.” Read: OPTrust launches sustainable investing, innovation team with capital allocation mandate Donato Ardellini, the company’s founder, noted the investment will allow E360S to continue on its growth trajectory and build a national diversified environmental management company. He added the investment further validates E360S’ vision of becoming Canada’s most trusted environmental partner. Capital raised from this investment will support organic initiatives and acquisitions. Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

Lauren Bailey | October 22, 2020 Starbucks Corp. is aiming to tie its executive compensation to diversity targets beginning in 2021. The move is one of a series of initiatives the coffee chain has pledged to implement in its diversity, equity and inclusion goals and training, which come at a time of social justice unrest in the U.S. Starbucks has committed to making its current workforce diversity for all its U.S. locations public. It also mandated anti-bias training for executives and pledged that at least 30 per cent of its corporate employees and 40 per cent of its retail and manufacturing workforce are people of colour by 2025. Read: Starbucks launching digital wellness app for staff, family members “As we discuss inclusion, diversity and equity, we discover time and again that these topics are foundational to our Starbucks’ mission and values,” said Kevin Johnson, chief executive officer of Starbucks, in a letter to employees. “We have a responsibility to build bridges and create environments where all are welcome. Our journey continues as we are guided by intentionality, transparency and accountability.” The company announced similar measures in Canada; however, tying diversity targets to executive pay is not one of these. Its anti-racism plan was released internally this month. “Starbucks...

Jennifer Paterson | October 22, 2020 At Benefits Canada‘s 2020 Workplace Benefits Awards on Oct. 16, Scotiabank was recognized for a mental-health strategy that starts at the top of the organization and focuses on total employee well-being. “It’s one thing for [human resources] to preach from the centre the importance of mental health, but it’s quite another — and quite inspiring — to see the leaders of the organization with vision and really role-modelling the behaviours that demonstrate the importance of mental health for all of our employees,” says Simone Reitzes, vice-president of global pension and benefits at Scotiabank. “We’ve heard our leaders say, time and again, that a healthy workforce is key to a healthy organization. So hearing that from the leadership of the bank is part of what helps our mental-health initiatives truly integrate into the fibres of who we are as an organization.” Read: Who are the winners of the 2020 Workplace Benefits Awards? After a few years of reviewing disability claims data and realizing that mental health was a key driver of employee absenteeism, the bank knew it had to do more to support its workers. It was also aware that mental well-being couldn’t exist without total well-being, including physical, social and financial health, so...

Julius Melnitzer | October 22, 2020 Last week’s Supreme Court of Canada ruling that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police pension plan discriminated against job-sharing women should be a wake-up call to pension administrators that changes in plan design to accommodate equality rights are long overdue. “The negative pension consequences of job-sharing perpetuate a long-standing source of disadvantage to women: gender biases within pension plans, which have historically been designed for ‘middle and upper-income full-time employees with long service, typically male,’” wrote Justice Rosalie Abella on behalf of the 6-3 majority. The case involved three former RCMP officers who opted to job share and work reduced hours to spend more time with their children. Read: How can employers help bridge the gender pension gap?  The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act calculates job-share hours as part-time hours. The act doesn’t allow part-timers to buy back into the pension plan, an opportunity afforded to other full-time employees who are absent without pay and return to their jobs. The aggrieved officers — Joanne Fraser, Allison Pilgrim and Colleen Fox — claimed this policy offended their equality rights under the Charter of Rights. They argued that women dominated the group who had chosen the job-share option and urged...

Toronto, ON (Oct. 21, 2020) – CSIO is pleased to announce that The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company has obtained CSIO Certification for Commercial Lines (CL) eDocs. This certification program enables insurers and vendors to verify their implementation of eDocs according to CSIO Standards, ensuring the seamless exchange of eDocs between insurers and brokers. As part of its commitment to streamlining and offering paperless workflows for its broker partners, Wawanesa expanded its eDocs to include commercial lines in October 2020. It previously achieved personal lines eDocs certification in November 2014. “Empowering our broker partners with easy and efficient access to digital policy documents is a core tenet of our partnership mandate,” says Vanessa Heichert, Director, Business Transformation, of The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company. “We know and support the fact that brokers want to spend time helping their customers, not tied up with outdated workflows.” CSIO Certification benefits member insurance companies and service providers by demonstrating compliance with industry standards and continuous improvement through implementing trusted solutions, reducing cost and risk. Adoption of CSIO CL eDocs certification continues to expand, growing from 2.5 million sent in 2017 to over 4 million sent in 2019. “Thanks to CSIO and its maintenance of standards, all parties are...

Staff | October 21, 2020 The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is leading a new US$360 million equity investment in a Singapore-based data centre developer. Founded in 2017, Princeton Digital Group has a current portfolio of 18 centres across China, India, Indonesia and Singapore. Global private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC is also participating in the investment. “We’re excited to invest in PDG alongside Warburg Pincus,” said Ben Chan, regional managing director for Asia-Pacific at the Ontario Teachers’, in a press release. “We see data centres as a compelling investment opportunity given their essential role in the rapid digitalization and growth of data occurring in Asia and around the world. We’ve been impressed by PDG’s high-quality management team, unique strategy and track record of success, and look forward to leveraging our experience to help the company continue to scale across Asia.” The investment takes place a month after the pension plan announced the opening of its Singapore-based Asia-Pacific office. Read: Ontario Teachers’ opening Singapore office The Ontario Teachers’ is also acquiring wealth management firm Allworth Financial in a joint investment with Lightyear Capital. The transaction, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020, will see the senior management team of Allworth remain as significant...

New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — It’s planning season – at least in most insurance companies. It is time to take out the 2020 budget and see where line items need to move for next year. Did the claims organization meet objectives? If not, what adjustments need to be made to ensure those objectives are fulfilled? What technology partners were aligned with the organization at the beginning of the year? And how do those initiatives need to be moved forward? It sounds like a reasonable place to kick off from, right? Actually, the answer is probably “no.” If 2020 claims plans are the baseline for 2021, I conjecture that this is the wrong place to start. SMA’s recently released report, Claims Transformation Reset: The Impact of COVID-19, lays out the case for why claims transformation and claims operations have a new performance baseline because of COVID-19. In most cases, many things changed, such as WFH practices and interactions with customers that are no longer being done face-to-face. The pandemic’s impact is generally part of everyone’s view, but it is still evolving daily. It is vital for claims executives to reassess other external forces impacting claims...

Are you asleep at the wheel? The world of mobility is changing as consumers discover efficient new means of transportation Boston, MA (Oct. 21, 2020) – Bike share, scooter rental, short-term vehicle rental, and car share programs are expanding globally, providing new options for consumers. In addition, the lines between personal lines and commercial lines are blurring with growth in ridesharing and delivery services. Unfortunately, these new types of mobility and vehicle use do not fit into the current insurance ecosystem, leaving many consumers without proper coverage and potentially exposing carriers to unforeseen liability. How can these mobility changes create opportunities for insurance carriers to protect their clients from loss? New Mobility Options: Aite Group This report acts as a guide to industry stakeholders at the onset of the revolution, identifying key current mobility trends most must consider and offering insight on value chain impacts. It is based on interviews and discussions with 26 executives at insurers, consulting firms, and technology vendors across North America and Europe between July and September 2020. This 30-page Impact Report contains 10 figures and four tables. Clients of Aite Group’s P&C Insurance service can download this report, the corresponding charts, and the Executive Impact...