Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Life insurance sales struggled mightily during a pandemic-marred second quarter, according to new data from Wink’s Sales & Market Report. “Product repricing for 2017/PBR is definitely catching up with everyone,” said Sheryl J. Moore, president and CEO of both Moore Market Intelligence and Wink Inc. “This cyclical reduction in sales is something we see every time the mortality tables update, but this time it was definitely more severe.” Non-Variable Universal Life Non-variable universal life sales for the second quarter were $642 million, down 16.6% when compared to the previous quarter and down 27.5% as compared to the same period last year. Non-variable universal life (UL) sales include both indexed UL and fixed UL product sales.Noteworthy highlights for total non-variable universal life sales in the second quarter included Pacific Life Companies retaining the No. 11 ranking overall, for non-variable universal life sales, with a market share of 11.2%. Pacific Life Pacific Discovery Xelerator IUL 2 was the No. 1 selling product for non-variable universal life sales, for all channels combined, for the fourth consecutive quarter. Advertisement Indexed life sales for the second quarter were $494.9 million, down 6% when compared with the previous quarter, and down 14.3% as compared to the...

Philly.com Montgomery County financial adviser Dean Vagnozzi says a federal lawsuit criticizing lender Par Funding and Vagnozzi’s ties to the firm could end up hurting investors in his unrelated funds, but the court-appointed receiver in the case says Vagnozzi’s recent actions make him hard to trust. On Friday, Vagnozzi warned that a federal judge’s freeze on his bank accounts — ordered in response to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit — threatens to halt the payment of premiums for life-settlement policies packaged as investments for hundreds of his customers. He asked U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz to unfreeze money to pay those premiums so the policies bought by investors don’t expire starting as soon as Wednesday. Brian P. Miller, a lawyer for Vagnozzi, expressed impatience with the SEC’s criticisms in a court filing Friday. “Mr. Vagnozzi is sick and tired of being falsely accused of being uncooperative,” Miller wrote. “And this has zero to do with whether life insurance premiums should be paid.” Advertisement But in his court response Monday, Gaetan Alfano, the attorney for the court-appointed receiver who has taken control of Par and Vagnozzi’s businesses, questioned whether it was clear which were the right funds to pay...

Staff | September 1, 2020 The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is lifting the temporary freeze on portability transfers for private pension plans. The move reverses the OSFI’s response in March to market volatility caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which froze portability transfers and annuity purchases from defined benefit pension plans. The restrictions are no longer needed, it noted in a release, as markets have sufficiently stabilized. Read: OSFI temporarily freezes portability transfers, annuity purchases due to coronavirus “The changes announced today result from our ongoing effort to ensure that our regulatory measures continue to be appropriate for this unprecedented situation while remaining risk-focused and forward-looking,” said Jeremy Rudin, superintendent of the OSFI, in the release. The OSFI noted private pension plans have demonstrated resilience during the tumult of the past five months, adding it remains ready to take further action if needed, given the remaining risks to the financial sector as the pandemic continues. Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

Tom Milne | September 1, 2020 How long is your attention span? Be honest and think back to the last time you received an email about your employee benefits and didn’t tune out just a little bit. Now think about your intended audience and where their heads are at these days. The reality is, most people now have an attention span that’s better suited to the length of a TikTok video. We’ve gone from 140 characters on Twitter to single image infographics, all in the hope of holding an eyeball for that extra second. Before you know it, we’ll be back to hieroglyphics. While the ancient Egyptians may not have had the written word, maybe they already knew a picture was worth 1,000. Better yet, maybe the most basic form of written/visual communications just yields better understanding. People in marketing get it — they’ve mastered the art of using visuals and short, direct content to drive messages home. Most video advertisements on social media no longer need sound. By distilling their content down to the most basic form of written/visual communications, they improve their chances of delivering their message in a short period of time. Read: Innovative benefits communication nets award for WSP Canada As human...

‘Migration’ continues HTM’s digital transformation strategy Coburg, ON (Aug. 17, 2020) – HTM Insurance Company (HTM) migrates their Personal Property operations to the Cognition+ platform as part of their continuing work on Digital Transformation. Joining the automobile line of business on the Cognition+ solution, this move enables all forms of personal property including residential, seasonal, watercraft and other assorted personal insurance product lines of business. The quality of the product and the consistency with the auto line of business allowed the team at HTM to adopt all transaction types on day one with ease. The guided workflow along with Task Management has improved overall efficiency, service and control. “I am really proud of our team at HTM how they’ve been able to push this project through to a successful completion during these current uncertain times,” said Alec Harmer, President & CEO of HTM Insurance Company. “While initially the pandemic posed some early challenges to the Change Management process, the team has used a combination of virtual tools and collaboration to overcome not being able to work directly together. Our team has been working closely with Cognition+ to ensure a smooth transition. We’re extremely pleased how our first week on the...

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press | August 31, 2020 Uber Technologies Inc. is trying to keep its Canadian drivers from joining or starting class-action lawsuits against the company — a move that threatens to upend a $400-million fight from drivers wanting to be recognized as employees, says a lawyer. Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru, who is pursuing the case, said drivers using the platform were asked to sign new contracts days ago that asked them to agree not to pursue class or collective action. Uber, instead, wants drivers to agree to settle their issues with the company through arbitration or on an individual basis, he said. “The drivers get locked out of the Uber app, unless they accept this new agreement. For a driver that is trying to earn a living wage, especially during these difficult times, what are the chances that someone is actually going to read this in detail, understand what it means, understand the options and make an informed decision?” Read: Uber Black drivers fight for unionization at labour board hearing In a statement to The Canadian Press, Uber said “with the updated arbitration clause, dispute resolution is now more accessible to drivers, bringing Uber Canada in line with other jurisdictions.” However, Samfiru...

GlobeNewswire CINCINNATI, Aug. 31, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ohio National Financial Services is pleased to announce the addition of the Protector Plus and Level-premium Paid-up Additions (PUA) riders to its limited pay whole life insurance lineup.  Previously available together only on the Prestige 100 II lifetime pay whole life policy, their combination on limited pay whole life policies gives producers greater flexibility to help their clients with a wide range of individual and business planning needs. When added to a Prestige 10 Pay II, Prestige 20 Pay or Prestige Max III (Paid to 65) limited pay policy, the Protector Plus rider can be paired, or blended, with the Level-premium PUA rider to enhance early guaranteed cash value and dividend-earning potential. This can be especially helpful for individuals and businesses needing greater and/or faster access to policy values. “We believe the addition of Protector Plus rider to our Prestige limited pay policies gives our producers a competitive advantage,” said Karl Kreunen, CLU, vice president, product marketing. “We are one of a few carriers offering a PUA rider/term blending capability on limited pay whole life policies. Adding extra flexibility to the already efficient Prestige limited pay product suite, the Protector Plus rider...

Staff  | August 31, 2020 More than 90 per cent of global public investors have specific environmental, social and governance investment policies in place or are in the process of developing them, according to a new report by BNY Mellon and the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. The report combines the results of two separate surveys, with respondents to the first including 17 global pension funds, 11 sovereign funds and 50 central banks and respondents to the second including 27 pension and sovereign funds. Motivations for implementing ESG policies included the expectation of superior risk-adjusted returns and the need to align investment strategies with organizational values or minimize reputational risks. However, respondents said they struggle to formally measure the impact and non-financial performance of investment decisions, even though many said they aim to do so in future. Read: Most Canadian institutional investors engaging in ESG issues: survey Some 81 per cent of pension funds said they apply exclusion or negative screening strategies compared to 58 per cent of sovereign funds and 28 per cent of central banks. The sectors most frequently excluded are tobacco, arms and coal, while a minority of investors said they exclude oil and gas, though only partially. Among pension funds, 93 per...

ACORD’s 2020 Insurance Digital Maturity Study of top global insurance carriers identifies key factors for insurers to successfully navigate the digital journey Pearl River, NY (Aug. 26, 2020) – ACORD, the global standards-setting body for the insurance industry, has released its 2020 Insurance Digital Maturity Study of the world’s top 130 insurance carriers. A rapidly evolving insurance ecosystem, paired with financial uncertainty amid a global pandemic, have led to a need for insurers to modernize that is more urgent than ever. Yet the ACORD study indicates that much work remains to be done. Among the 130 largest worldwide insurers, fewer than 30% have truly digitized the value chain while 13% are not leveraging digital technologies within their current business processes. Further, more than half of the insurers in the study are still exploring how digitization can be applied against their business model. The ACORD 2020 Insurance Digital Maturity Study is the 4th edition of this annual study, and includes data and insights current as of July 2020. The study assessed each company’s digital maturity relative to its peers; compared the extent of digital capabilities with the level of value creation; and identified the issues, implications, and most importantly, execution imperatives...

COVID-19 is expected to weaken world economic resilience by nearly 20% in 2020 as countries’ fiscal and monetary headroom is depleted, Swiss Re Institute’s annual Macroeconomic Resilience Index shows Among major economies, resilience in the UK, Japan and the US may be hardest hit, but they should still rank higher than many European countries The combined insurance protection gap for mortality, health and natural disaster risks is calculated as reaching a new high of USD 1.24 trillion Zurich, Switzerland (Aug. 26, 2020) – The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to reduce global macroeconomic resilience by about 20% in 2020 from 2019 levels as stimulus packages deplete countries’ fiscal and monetary buffers around the world. According to the latest annual Swiss Re Institute resilience indices, the UK, Japan and the US will experience the greatest falls in resilience among major economies. Switzerland, Finland and Canada remain the world’s three most resilient countries, reflecting their comprehensive economic strength against future crises. Global economic resilience held up in 2019 compared with 2018, but the world entered the COVID-19 crisis with less shock-absorbing capacity than before the global financial crisis of 2008-09, the last major economic downturn. The Swiss Re Institute Macroeconomic Resilience Index (E-RI)...