Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Toronto, ON (Aug. 24, 2020) – As they continue to build out their national benefits practice, Navacord Corp., one of Canada’s top four commercial insurance brokerages and a leader in risk management services, is pleased to announce the addition of PEI-based Cooke Capital, effective August 13, 2020. Founded in 2003 as a division of Cooke Insurance Group, the Maritimes’ largest P&C broker, Cooke Capital specializes in affordable, custom group benefit plans and solutions to help mid-market businesses attract and retain valuable employees in a competitive landscape. The partnership offers synergies across the companies between P&C and benefits lines of busines, and supports Navacord’s business strategy of providing a more robust platform of product offerings as they expand their benefits practice. “Cooke Capital complements Navacord’s business and is one of the few firms in Canada that has successfully cross-sold P&C and benefits,” says Shawn DeSantis, Navacord President and CEO. “In addition to expanding our reach to the Maritimes, Danny and his team bring a lot of value to our benefits practice and we are pleased to welcome them to the Navacord family.” Thanks to a unique ownership and operating model, Navacord continues to attract a strong pipeline of entrepreneurial brokers across...

Most insurers agree that Customer Experience/User Experience (CX/UX) CX/UX is about providing agents and policyholders with both short-term and long-term positive experiences: Novarica Boston, MA (Aug. 25, 2020) – Customer experience/user experience (CX/UX) is commonly understood as an important part of digital strategy, but approaches, resourcing, measurement, and focus vary widely within the insurance industry. In a new report, Insurer CX and UX: Approaches and Current State, research and advisory firm Novarica presents the results of a survey of 79 insurers across Novarica’s Research Council and Community, concerning attitudes and practices related to customer experience and user experience. “For insurers, CX/UX is still a new and emerging discipline,” said Paul Legutko, VP of Digital Marketing and Analytics, and lead author of Novarica’s new report. “Insurers —especially life insurers—need to develop a distinct CX/UX strategy, given the need for brands to establish a direct relationship with consumers in the wake of COVID-19. The key elements of a CX/UX strategy would include ownership, scope, and criteria for success and would be designed to encourage dialogue among the diverse teams who provide touchpoints to agents and policyholders.” Among the key findings of the reports are: Marketing and tech/digital teams are most likely to...

New SMA Blog by Megan Bock Zarnoch, Founder, Boundless Consulting Group Boston, MA (Aug. 31, 2020) – You believe your culture is pretty darn good, and your systems, while not perfect, are improving … but what would your underwriters say? Underwriting professionals are acknowledged to be the company’s most valuable assets, which you tell them all the time. But the war for talent is real in this business, especially considering that the pool isn’t nearly as deep as we’d all like it to be. The demographics indicate retirements over the next 5-10 years will significantly drain that pool. So, the real issues we need to face are how our actions support, empower, and engage those assets. Or don’t. A 2019 Gallup survey found that only one in five US employees strongly agreed with the statement “My opinions seem to count at work” and fewer than one in 10 with the statement “I take risks at my job that could lead to new products or solutions.” The reality of our business is that change is constant. That manifests to your underwriting teams as new risk appetites, profit improvement strategies, predictive modeling tools, RQI systems, semi-automated processes, cross-sell initiatives, broker assignments, organizational...

Kelsey Rolfe | August 31, 2020 In the wake of the pandemic-related market volatility that battered already challenged public sector defined benefit plans in the U.S., a recent paper by New York University’s Stern School of Business is arguing that Canadian-style reforms could help secure these plans for the long term. “The COVID-19 pandemic introduced new fissures in state and local government finances, heightening the need to bolster long-term public pension fund robustness,” wrote the co-authors, Clive Lipshitz, managing partner at Tradewind Interstate Advisors, and Ingo Walter, a professor of finance, corporate governance and ethics at Stern. “Long-term pension sustainability, once politically prioritized, must be built on equity and discipline in plan design, funding and amortization of existing deficits.” The Canadian pension model offers several lessons for the U.S., wrote the authors, noting that Canada’s success traces back to concentrated efforts on reform in the 1980s and 1990s. Read: Yes, Canadian pension plans actually do outperform their global peers: study Before the enhancements, rising debt levels at both federal and provincial levels began to highlight design flaws in Canada’s public pension funds. These had several commonalities: benefit enhancements were untethered from contribution rates; contributions were co-mingled with general government funds instead of segregated in separate accounts;...

Aside from straight cash donations, gifts of life insurance are one of many ways by which charitable organizations are able to receive support from philanthropic donors. But the province of British Columbia could have set an uneasy climate for charities using that strategy, based on recent communications from its financial-services watchdog. In a recent blog post, Susan M. Manwaring and Sarah Fitzpatrick of Miller Thomson LLP explained that donors can use life insurance to facilitate charitable giving in several ways. But concerns of legal liability arising from the practice have been raised in BC, particularly because of provisions against trafficking of life insurance policies laid out in section 152 of the province’s Insurance Act: “Any person, other than an insurer or its authorized agent, who advertises, or holds himself or herself out, as a purchaser of life insurance policies or of benefits under them, or who traffics or trades in life insurance policies for the purpose of procuring the sale, surrender, transfer, assignment, pledge or hypothecation of them to himself or herself or any person commits an offence against this Act.” In a bulletin issued in May, the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) sought to offer reassurance, clarifying that “solicitation...

Capital (Annapolis, MD) By Daniel Bortz As a young entrepreneur with no kids, Jesse Silkoff hadn’t purchased life insurance before the coronavirus crisis. “I just didn’t think I needed it yet, and I’ve committed most of my financial resources to my business,” says Silkoff, 31, the president and co-founder of MyRoofingPal.com, an online marketplace that connects property owners with roofing contractors. COVID-19, though, forced Silkoff to consider his mortality. “I don’t want to leave my wife in debt should something happen to me,” he says. “Also, during the slowdown, I had more time to do the research.” So Silkoff purchased a 10-year term life policy with $500,000 of coverage for about $30 a month. Nicholas Mancuso, life insurance expert at Policygenius, an insurance comparison website, says the site is seeing an “uptick” in life insurance searches. “Pandemics and major catastrophic events can serve as a catalyst for people to reassess their financial security, including life insurance.” Advertisement Mancuso says most people should get term life insurance over whole life insurance because, dollar for dollar, term gives you the most protection for your money. How much coverage you need, though, depends on your age, the size of your family, your health...

Staff | August 28, 2020 More than 2,000 former Foodora Canada couriers will receive compensation for losing their contracts when the food delivery service abruptly exited the Canadian market in mid-May. The $3.46-million settlement between the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, non-unionized couriers represented by Koskie Minsky LLP, Foodora Inc. and its German parent company Delivery Hero will resolve the CUPW’s ongoing labour claims against Foodora Canada before the Ontario Labour Relations Board. Delivery Hero will compensate all couriers for the termination of their contracts after Foodora Canada filed a notice that it planned to make a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. Read: Foodora couriers attempting to unionize for better pay, benefits “We’re happy to see Foodora has acknowledged its workers deserve a settlement,” said Iván Ostos, a former Foodora courier and union organizer, in a press release. “It’s a big change for gig workers. If employers believe it is not worthwhile to do business here, we will fight to make sure workers receive what they’re due.” Andrew Hatnay, partner at Koskie Minsky, highlighted the importance of the courts appointing representative counsel to vulnerable groups in insolvency proceedings, like the couriers who weren’t represented by the union. “This settlement will provide significant compensation to riders who...

Attorneys at Dell & Schaefer disability insurance law firm reveal the most common causes of disability insurance claims, including common medical conditions.

Staff | August 28, 2020 The U.S. Department of Labor is taking jabs at the inclusion of environmental, social and governance products in capital accumulation plans — and it could be to members’ detriment. In late June, the Department of Labor proposed new rules around ESG products in retirement accounts. “The proposal is designed, in part, to make clear that . . . plan fiduciaries may not invest in ESG vehicles when they understand an underlying investment strategy of the vehicle is to subordinate return or increase risk for the purpose of non-financial objectives,” noted a release from the department. However, a recent blog by Jennifer DeLong, head of defined contribution at AllianceBernstein, and Michelle Dunstan, the firm’s global head of responsible investing, said the regulations proposed could unnecessarily deter plan sponsors from offering ESG options. Read: CFA Institute proposing industry standards for ESG disclosure They noted the proposed rules aren’t a major shift from what’s already in place. “The new rules wouldn’t prohibit ESG options, but they could encumber the selection and monitoring process. For example, plan sponsors would need to do a lot more documenting to validate any ESG considerations on top of the current ‘all else being equal’ test. The rules would also all...

Staff  | August 28, 2020 Aon and Willis Towers Watson’s proposed merger has received approval by their respective shareholders. The merger, announced in March, remains subject to customary regulatory and other closing conditions. It’s expected to close in the first half of 2021. Upon closing, Willis Towers Watson shareholders will receive 1.08 Aon shares in exchange for each Willis Towers Watson share they held immediately prior to the closing. Read: Aon and Willis Towers Watson set to merge “On behalf of Aon’s board of directors and executive team, I would like to thank our shareholders for their overwhelming support of the proposed combination with Willis Towers Watson,” said Greg Case, chief executive officer of Aon, in a press release. “Our combination, which will accelerate innovation and strengthen our capability to provide more relevant solutions for clients, has only become more important through the COVID-19 pandemic. “The events of 2020 are illustrative of the exact type of transformative long-tail risk our new organization will be best positioned to address, creating significant value for clients, colleagues and shareholders.” Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com