Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

A prominent third-party administrator of group insurance benefits is teaming up with an established virtual healthcare service provider to support Canada’s workforces amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Elmira-based RWAM Insurance Administrators and Montreal-based EQ Care have forged a new partnership to allow thousands of Canadian families to access virtual healthcare services. Through the collaboration, RWAM’s members are given 24/7 access to EQ Care’s secure, home-grown online platform, available in both official languages. “Gaining the confidence of Canadian ground-breakers in the Third Party Administration space is incredibly validating for our team as we work tirelessly to exceed expectations in the Benefits industry,” EQ Care CEO Daniel Martz said in a statement. “RWAM Insurance’s history of innovation and commitment to personalized, superior service makes this partnership a logical fit, and one that will further help to relieve pressure on the public healthcare system at a critical time,” Martz said. The virtual healthcare services open to RWAM clients include medical consult sessions, triage, and medication prescribing. They may also get in touch with mental health specialists, who can provide virtual cognitive behavioural therapy (vCBT) and digital cognitive behavioural therapy (dCBT), which together can help patients faced with stressful mental and emotional challenges. “The focus...

The Life Insurance and Annuities Committee granted two time extensions today to allow state regulators to finish work on a pair of key disclosure issues. Holding its summer meeting via Zoom call, the committee granted extensions to these two working groups: The Annuity Disclosure Working Group for its work to increase the time indexes must be in existence to be used in annuity illustrations from 10 to 15 years. Regulators are concerned that consumers are being misled by unrealistic indexed annuity illustrations. The Life Insurance Illustration Working Group for its work to develop policy summary disclosures across the various life insurance products. Annuity Disclosure The annuity disclosure group met for many calls to settle on the 15-year number. It represents a compromise between hardliners pushing for a 20-year requirement and those who wanted 10 years. But the group has a couple more issues to iron out, said Mike Yanacheak, Iowa actuarial administrator. In particular, the working group needs to decide whether it wants to “make a recommendation to the A Committee related to whether there is a need for product approval standards for proprietary indices and whether there needs to be standards surrounding the relationship between the hedging provider and...

Staff with files from Canadian Press | August 11, 2020 The federal government is setting a temporary minimum unemployment rate of 13.1 per cent for all employment insurance economic regions across Canada. The move, which took effect Aug. 9, is meant to recognize the ongoing unpredictability of the pandemic on the country’s labour market. The regional unemployment rate is part of the calculation that determines how many weeks of EI an unemployed Canadian can receive, along with the number of hours of insurable employment they worked. Read: Could the pandemic prompt employment insurance reforms? When unemployed workers begin transferring out of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and back to EI, the new temporary minimum entry requirement will allow those living in regions with a lower unemployment rate to have their claim assessed at the new floor. Canadians living in a region with an unemployment rate higher than 13.1 per cent will be assessed on the region’s actual rate. “The temporary use of a national minimum unemployment rate for the EI program will help more people access EI regular benefits and provide eligible Canadians with access to a minimum 26 weeks of benefits,” said Carla Qualtrough, minister of employment, workforce development and disability inclusion, in a news release. The...

Staff | August 11, 2020 Much debate remains as to whether private equity is an appropriate option for members of capital accumulation plans. Canada’s neighbours to the south have been examining the potential legal pitfalls of these allocations. A recent information letter from the U.S. department of labor set forth a framework plan sponsors can use to consider the prudence of private equity within their plans. In response, the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association wrote its own supplemental materials on the matter. The letter from the department of labor noted that U.S. legislation does allow for plan sponsors to explore the idea of adding a private equity element to a diversified management fund, be it a custom target-date, target-risk or balanced fund. These allocations have the potential to be managed in numerous ways, it said, such as through an account managed separately by a plan investment committee, under the supervision of a delegated asset manager or as part of a pre-packaged fund-of-funds product or some other pooled vehicle. Read: If private equity doesn’t perform, is it worth institutional investors’ trouble? However, the department of labor noted that direct and separate private equity investments don’t fall under this set of guidance and would require separate analysis....

Staff  | August 11, 2020 The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System’s growth equity arm is leading a $66 million Series D funding round for American online learning company Skillshare Inc. With more than 12 million registered members and 8,000 teachers, the company offers online classes in different creative areas, such as graphic design and photography, through a community-based model. To date, Skillshare has raised $42 million from a variety of investors that also participated in this round. The current round of funding will primarily go towards creating localized experiences for international students while also expanding domestically and growing the company’s offerings, according to a press release. Further, the funding will create more opportunities for its teachers and assist the company in building out its enterprise offering. Read: OMERS investing in German internet infrastructure, PSP in cloud security platform “As the leading platform for creative skills, Skillshare brings together a truly global community of students and teachers,” said Saar Pikar, managing director at OMERS Growth Equity, in the release. “Skillshare serves the needs of professional creatives and everyday creative hobbyists alike, which presents a highly innovative value proposition for the online learning market.” Pikar will also be joining Skillshare’s board of directors. Read the full...

Boulder, CO, August 11, 2020 – According to a survey of more than 1,100 U.S.-based respondents interested in flexible work, more than half (53%) of people are currently earning half or less of their pre-pandemic income. Approximately one-third (31%) of respondents have lost their entire income since the pandemic started. This survey was conducted by FlexJobs, fielded in partnership with Prudential (1), in late June 2020. Almost half (46%) say their emergency savings wouldn’t last them more than three months and roughly a quarter (24%) said their savings would not even last one month. Overall, 62% of those surveyed do not have enough emergency savings to last six months. Lack of Financial Wellness:  As a result of the pandemic, many have experienced a significant shift in their financial stability: 44% of respondents reported that they are currently struggling financially, whereas only 24% reported the same thing before the pandemic 21% said they were financially secure before COVID-19, and only 10% say the same thing now. Immediate Financial Steps Taken: Advertisement 84% of respondents are taking specific steps regarding their finances, many of which may have a negative long-term impact on their financial health, especially on their retirement planning. Collectively, 1 in...

Staff | August 10, 2020 The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec had a challenging first half of 2020, posting a negative 2.3 per cent return. However, the pension fund remains in a strong financial position, according to president and chief executive officer Charles Emond, holding assets of more than $333 billion and with an 8.7 per cent annualized return over the past 10 years. “In the first half of 2020, the global economy was hit by a crisis that was unprecedented both in its speed and reach,” he said in a press release. “Exceptional central bank monetary policies coupled with historic government assistance programs have prevented the recession from becoming a depression, but there is a growing dichotomy between the real economy and financial markets.” Read: Caisse real estate arm partnering to provide retail tenants with e-commerce solutions Indeed, real estate has been a sore spot for the Caisse so far this year, posting a negative 11.7 per cent return. Much of this underperformance was due to the pressure on U.S. retail and office spaces, noted the release. The pandemic has accelerated the challenges that shopping centres in particular have faced in recent years and the sub-sector’s underperformance is pushing Ivanhoé Cambridge, the Caisse’s real...

Staff  | August 10, 2020 British Columbia’s new health tax will cost the average worker nearly $3,000 a year in foregone wages, according to a new study released by the Fraser Institute. The health tax, which began gradually phasing out B.C.’s medical services plan premiums in January 2019, applies to employers with annual payrolls of $500,000 or more. In a news release from July 2018, the government said the transition to the new tax would result in savings of more than $50 million annually due to the costs of administering the current premiums. The study, by Steven Globerman, professor emeritus at Western Washington University and senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, found employees will bear the burden of the new tax through lower annual wages, reduced work hours and fewer employment opportunities. Read: B.C. to introduce employer health tax, remove health premiums “While the government’s new tax targets employers, it’s actually employees who will suffer with lower wages and other negative consequences,” said Globerman in a press release. “When governments raise taxes on businesses, including small businesses, employers typically react by reducing their demand for workers, which in turn affects wages and the number of hours of work available. While B.C. workers no longer directly see...

Staff | August 10, 2020 The Investment Management Corp. of Ontario is investing in an affordable housing fund to build apartments in Toronto and Vancouver. The IMCO is committing $60 million to the Kingsett Affordable Housing LP Fund, managed by Kingsett Capital Inc. The investment comes as vacancy rates in both cities continue to decline due to unaffordability and lack of options, reaching 1.5 per cent in Toronto and 1.1 per cent in Vancouver in 2019, according to a report by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp.  Affordable unit vacancy rates in both cities are at virtually zero per cent, it said, and the average rent for a two-bedroom unit in Canada has increased 24.6 per cent over a 10-year period. Toronto (29.8 per cent) and Vancouver (50.1 per cent) well outpaced the rest of the country. Read: IMCO reaches more than $70 billion AUM in 2019 “There is a housing unaffordability problem in Canada that has been driven by many factors, most notably a lack of supply of purpose-built rental properties, as most multi-residential development projects in Canada are on for-sale condominium product,” said Brian Whibbs, managing director of real estate at the IMCO, in a press release. “Our commitment to the Kingsett Affordable Housing...

Effective fraud detection seen as critical element to exceeding customer satisfaction goals Boston, MA (Aug. 4, 2020) – Shift Technology, a provider of AI-native fraud detection and claims automation solutions for the global insurance industry, today announced that -iA Auto and Home Insurance (iAAH), one of the largest insurance groups in Quebec, has selected the company to support the carrier’s fraud detection initiatives for its Property and Casualty line of business. The insurer will deploy Force, Shift’s fraud detection solution to uncover suspicious behaviors and potentially fraudulent claims related to policyholder losses. iAAH has long been recognized in the Quebec insurance market for its cutting-edge approach and dedication to innovation. This ethos is applied not only to improve the efficiency of the insurer’s business operations, but also to help it achieve its ambition to be the company that best meets client expectations. Force applies artificial intelligence and advanced data science to the insurance claims process to identify those claims that may be fraudulent. The ability to quickly and efficiently spot anomalies, outliers, and unexpected connections provides claims professionals with the insight required to understand the true nature of a claim and process it effectively. Suspicious claims are referred for further...