Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Staff | September 23, 2020 The Pension Investment Association of Canada is expressing its support for the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario’s draft guidelines for pension plan sponsors dealing with missing members. In a letter, the PIAC said the draft guidelines would be helpful on a go-forward basis, but also noted plan administrators need more options regarding current missing member situations. The FSRA’s draft guidelines included specifications on plan member responsibilities, such as promptly informing plan administrators of pertinent changes to their contact information, and best practices for plan communications and administration where the potential for missing members is concerned. Read: FSRA creates new advisory committees on pension sector matters The PIAC also expressed its support for the work of the FSRA’s missing members technical advisory committee — established earlier this year — in suggesting unlocatable members be found using an optional missing member registry, as well as the committee’s exploration of partnerships with other government entities in Ontario and Canada more broadly to discover information-sharing arrangements that could aid administrators. It also agreed with the committee’s recommendations that the FSRA “provide for asset transfers related to missing members on plan windup or consider automatic small benefit unlocking where FSRA has appointed an...

While the benefits of annuities as guaranteed income products have long been touted by insurance companies, they’ve faced significant challenges from advisors who refuse to take them up – but that could change. In the Annuities, Past, Present and Future panel conducted during the recently held Morningstar digital annual conference, three experts weighed in on the different shifts that have made the guaranteed income products more attractive to advisors than before, reported ThinkAdvisor. David Lau, founder of DPL Financial Partners, said the fact that annuities were commission-driven presented a conflict of interest for fee-based advisors, whose technology also didn’t accommodate annuities. But Lau said several macro trends are working to change advisors’ thinking, including a broad shift toward financial planning driven by the commoditization of asset management; the elongating life expectancies of clients; and the rise of commission-free insurance products, to name a few. Matt Carey, co-founder and CEO of Blueprint Income, which has a digital platform that offers annuities, cited research showing a 26% drop in fixed-income annuity sales between Q1 2019 and Q2 2019. But over the same period, his firm saw 336% growth. He suggested that the broader decline in sales can be attributed to not just...

Traditionally, the role of a benefits plan provider has been purely to provide a financial safety net in case a covered member goes through a disruptive health event. But as Donna Carbell, head of Group Benefits at Manulife notes, there’s an opportunity for carriers to do so much more. “Historically, benefit programs have really boiled down to being quite transactional: pay claims, pay them fast, pay them accurately, and don’t make any errors,” Carbell told Life and Health Professional. “Looking forward, we have the privilege of being able to engage with millions of people on a regular basis and work with them as they’re embarking on a health journey.” That approach, which she said Manulife had been working on for a decade, is called Health by Design, which works either by providing members with critical pieces of information, or nudging them toward a particular product or service. Whatever the case, the goal is always the same: to maximize the amount and quality of time that people spend at work by helping them maintain or return to their optimal level of health. “We kind of think about this in three buckets,” Carbell said. “The first is prevention; the second is intervention,...

Staff | September 22, 2020 Three-quarters (76 per cent) of Canadian business leaders say the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy is a good investment to help the economy rebound and get Canadians back to work, according to a new survey by KPMG in Canada. The same amount said they’ve relied on funds from the wage subsidy to keep employees on payroll and more than half (53 per cent) said the resulting reduction in costs has helped them deal with other coronavirus-related expenses. A quarter (23 per cent) said the CEWS has helped them hire back previously laid-off employees. The survey, conducted last month, received nearly 300 responses from senior leaders in a broad range of industries and sectors, including energy, manufacturing, automotive, mining, construction and real estate, travel and tourism, professional services, telecommunications and media, retail, agri-food and not-for-profit organizations. Read: Considerations for employers rehiring with help from federal wage subsidies “Our clients have told us that the federal wage subsidy program is helping them not only to retain their employees, but also to cope with pandemic-related costs and rehire workers who have been laid off,” said Lucy Iacovelli, Canadian managing partner of KPMG’s national tax practice, in a press release. “While there has been an upturn in the economy,...

Staff | September 22, 2020 A majority (79 per cent) of institutional investors see a global economic slowdown as the top threat to their portfolios in the next 12 months, according to a new survey by Schroders. Prompted by coronavirus-related concerns, it’s a big jump from the 49 per cent of respondents that said the same in 2019. Those concerns are also putting pressure on return expectations. Just 33 per cent said they’re confident they’ll be able to secure their anticipated returns this year, down from 52 per cent in 2019. The survey also found private assets look somewhat more attractive this year, with respondents saying they intend to increase their allocations to these assets, from 12.8 per cent in 2019 to 14.1 per cent this year. About half (46 per cent) said the increased allocation to private assets would help manage risk. Private equity, infrastructure equity and private debt were most cited as assets to which investors intend to up their exposure in the next three years. Read: Where can pension funds find returns in a low interest rate environment? In addition, 71 per cent of institutional investors said the pandemic has prompted them to seek out undervalued assets, while 26 per cent said they’ll continue to...

By Vinod Kachroo The insurance industry is in the midst of a paradigm shift. The rise in digitization is bringing a host of technologies that are disrupting the industry, while bringing new efficiencies and expanding business opportunities to everyone in the insurance value chain. It’s also changing the way we do business. The availability of highly reliable and diverse data sets around people, their lifestyles and behaviors have an enormous impact on everything from product design and sales approach to how customers like to be served. Data enables a whole new level of personalization and helps the carriers create an Amazon-like experience for their consumers throughout their life insurance product journey. Data also helps individuals obtain better solutions to their life needs and more affordable life insurance. It also gives agents and advisors a hearty boost to their business. Insurers are forming ecosystems, partnering with businesses on projects that achieve greater value together than each could capture individually. For example, John Hancock partnered with Verily and Onduo to provide consumers with type 1 and type 2 diabetes an experience that includes personalized education, diabetes management prompts, incentives, rewards and premium savings. The digital economy, rapidly-evolving technologies, the changing data paradigm...

Staff | September 22, 2020 Conte Financial Services Inc. and Dickinson & Associates are merging to become the Prime Benefits Group. The two Ottawa-based employee benefits and pension consulting firms finalized the merger earlier this month. The new firm continues to operate out of Canada’s capital city.  Read: Hub acquires Ontario benefits, HR consulting firm Tony Conte, formerly president of Conte Financial Services, and Dave Dickinson, former president of Dickinson & Associates, are now co-founders and senior partners of Prime Benefits Group. Both Conte and Dickinson bring more than 30 years of experience in the employee benefits and pension consulting business to the new group.  Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

Staff | September 21, 2020 The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is opening a new office in Singapore to enhance its capabilities in Asia Pacific. As of the end of 2019, the plan had more than 30 employees in the region and about $15 billion invested there across public equity, private equity and infrastructure. “Expanding our presence in Asia is critical to our future growth,” said Ben Chan, regional managing director for Asia at the Ontario Teachers’, in a press release. Chan will oversee operations in the new office. “Asia Pacific offers numerous emerging and developed markets across two continents,” he said. “Expanding our local capabilities will allow us to further generate returns to deliver on our pension promise.” Read: Why pension funds should have boots on the ground globally The Singapore office is set to target investments across Australia, India, New Zealand and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which encompasses 10 countries including Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. The Hong Kong office will continue its focus on China, Japan and South Korea. Bruce Crane, managing director of the team covering infrastructure and natural resources for Asia Pacific, will be based in the new Singapore office and the Ontario Teachers’ equities team will expand its capabilities in the...

Staff  | September 21, 2020 Osler Hoskin and Harcourt LLP is appointing Andrea Boctor as a partner in its pensions and benefits group. Boctor’s practice encompasses all areas of pensions and benefits law, including pension administration, investment structuring and compliance and pension issues that arise in the context of transactions, lending and restructurings. In addition, her practice has a particular focus on pension strategy, governance and fiduciary duty and on pension issues in the context of bankruptcy and insolvency. Read: Osler Hoskin & Harcourt names new partner in pension, benefits group “Andrea’s reputation as a pensions and benefits law expert precedes her,” said Paul Litner, chair of Osler’s pensions and benefits group, in a press release. “Our clients will be able to rely on her proven ability to effectively solve the most challenging and novel business issues that can arise, particularly in the current climate.” Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

New partner’s injury causation analysis to help reduce fraud and bodily injury claims costs, while enabling confident, efficient decision-making San Mateo, CA (Sept. 17, 2020) – Talem Health Analytics, a leading provider of bodily injury causation solutions, and Guidewire Software, Inc., the platform P&C insurers trust to engage, innovate, and grow efficiently, is pleased to announce that Talem Health Analytics has joined Guidewire PartnerConnect as a Solution partner. Using evidence-based research combined with machine learning and AI technology, Talem Health Analytics (Talem) works to empower insurers with an enhanced understanding of injury causation and medical recovery from the start of the claims process. Talem delivers an objective, scientific analysis of the injury and injury causation, as well as providing specific claim recommendations and action points for the adjuster. “Our mission is to demonstrate that technology advances insurance instead of disrupting it,” said Matthew Kay, chief operating officer, Talem Health Analytics. “Insurers can leverage our injury causation analysis to make informed decisions and establish a transparent and consistent narrative early on, decreasing overall medical claims costs, highlighting medical fraud, and increasing efficiency. We are pleased to partner with Guidewire to bring these benefits to our joint customers” “We are delighted to...