Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Canada’s largest life insurance company has appointed a new leader to help steer its ongoing shift toward a more digital and agile business model. Manulife Canada has named Sarah Miller Wright as its new head of Operations. Wright will be sitting on both the global operations and Canada leadership teams. In an emailed statement, Manulife said Wright’s responsibilities will include “continuing to reimagine how and when Manulife Canada interacts with customers across all its channels,” as well as “build foundational capabilities to drive effectiveness and improve the customer experience.” Wright’s professional career includes leadership roles in client services and customer care at companies including Virgin Mobile Canada and BCE Inc. Most recently, she was with Shaw Communications, where she moved through several senior leadership roles that culminated in her being SVP, Digital, Product & Service Delivery. At Shaw, she took charge of driving digital adoption to enhance the overall customer experience. She also spearheaded the company’s shift to more agile ways of working, building more effective systems and processes, and finding new ways to collaborate across teams. A passionate believer in developing strong talent to create a high-performing culture, Wright co-founded an employee resource group at Shaw to support women...

Staff | August 18, 2020 The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is leading a US$50-million series C funding round for Calgary-based 3D robotics supply chain company Attabotics Inc. The pension fund is making the investment through its Teachers’ Innovation Platform, along with existing investor Honeywell International Inc. According to a press release, Attabotics, which implements a combination of robotic shuttles and vertical storage to improve traditional supply chain logistics, intends to use the funding to accelerate its commercial deployment, invest in new technologies and further scale its operations. Read: Ontario Teachers’ investing in U.S. video games developer “We are excited by the opportunity to become a long-term investor because we believe in Attabotics’ differentiated technology and highly skilled team and how this combination is poised to disrupt existing cube storage solutions currently available in the market,” said Olivia Steedman, senior managing director of the TIP at the Ontario Teachers’, in the release. “We believe [Scott Gravelle, Attabotics founder, chief executive officer and chief technology officer] and his team have created a unique technology that can rapidly be deployed and which provides concrete benefits to retailers and their customers, including quicker delivery, reduced inventory, more efficient use of warehouse space and lower overall costs.” In personnel news, the Ontario Teachers’ chief...

Staff  | August 18, 2020 Navacord Corp. is acquiring Cooke Capital, a group benefits plan provider based in Prince Edward Island, effective Aug. 13, 2020. The partnership aims to combine the two companies’ insurance and benefits lines of business, supporting Navacord’s business strategy to provide more robust product offerings as it expands its benefits practice. Read: Navacord acquiring Ontario-based benefits firms “Cooke Capital complements Navacord’s business and is one of the few firms in Canada that has successfully cross-sold [property and casualty insurance] and benefits,” said Shawn DeSantis, president and chief executive officer at Navacord, in a press release. “In addition to expanding our reach to the Maritimes, [the firm] brings a lot of value to our benefits practice and we are pleased to welcome them to the Navacord family.” Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

Kelsey Rolfe | August 18, 2020 Best Buy Canada Ltd. has had a well-used on-site gym at its Burnaby, B.C. head office for a decade. But when employees started working from home during the pandemic, the company decided to bring the gym to their laptops with a virtual fitness program. “We realized that staying fit and staying active was something we wanted to continue for people who were already part of our gym membership population and we wanted to offer it in a bigger way because of all the crazy stress that’s been added to people’s lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Carol Graziani, director of human resources services at Best Buy Canada. “We wanted to go beyond the basics of, ‘How do we get work done?’ to ‘How do we maintain some of our culture and take care of our people in the same way we were committed to doing in the physical world?’” Read: How to energize employees using virtual wellness The company partnered with Curtis Health, a corporate health and wellness service provider that managed its onsite gym, to offer virtual fitness classes to the company’s entire employee base. Employees have access to a regular rotation of classes through a virtual gym...

Giving brokerages even more insight into their digital performance Calgary, AB (Aug. 13, 2020) – Trufla Technology is excited to announce the official launch of truScore Pro, one of the most comprehensive reports for digital reach including analysis of marketing and sales aptitude. Measuring over 26 data points from SEO strength, to website optimization and social performance, truScore leaves no digital stone unturned. “We really wanted to develop a product that gives brokerages not just a partial picture of how their performing digitally, but a holistic view of how well their operations are set up to respond to and manage the entire buying cycle,” says Dave Duncan, Vice President Digital Strategy and Operations. “We have worked with hundreds of brokerages across Canada, and we realized that we cannot address just one part of the puzzle, it needs to be a 360 approach from awareness, to lead generation, to binding business. We noticed a lot of brokerages are great at getting prospects but are not converting this into results because their operations and sales strategy aren’t optimized to respond quickly and bind the business. truScore Pro is designed to help close this gap,” continues Duncan. Trufla has developed truScore Pro to...

Agents, brokers a ‘shining star’ in first half of 2020, reports Reagan Consulting Atlanta, GA (Aug. 13, 2020) – While the U.S. economy contracted in the second quarter of 2020 (Q2) at a rate not seen in 70 years, the insurance brokerage industry is a “shining star” with median organic growth of 4.4%, according to Reagan Consulting. This is the rate of growth for the six-month period that ended on June 30, compared with the same six-month period in 2019, as noted in Reagan Consulting’s quarterly Organic Growth and Profitability (OGP) survey. Although the result dropped from the strong Q1 rate of 6.6% and is the lowest organic growth rate recorded by the OGP Survey since Q3 2017, “it is an encouraging and perhaps surprising result given the COVID-related headwinds,” says Jim Campbell, Reagan Consulting partner. Several factors contributed to this result, he says: P-C Rate Increases Rate increases appear to have continued and, for some markets and coverages, accelerated through Q2. These increases helped offset potential losses from cancellations and/or exposure reductions and enabled median commercial P-C organic growth of 4.7%. Benefits Resilience For many firms, the anticipated hit to employee benefits revenue from COVID-related layoffs has not yet...

The top 10 ‘disruptor’ InsurTech companies announced by Lloyd’s Lab were selected from over 140 worldwide applications Cork, Ireland (Aug. 11, 2020) – Blink is pleased to announce that it has earned its place as 1 of just 10 InsurTechs selected following a competitive ‘virtual pitch’ process that had 140 of the world’s insurance industry trailblazers vying for a place on the prestigious Lloyd’s Lab innovation accelerator programme. Lloyd’s, the world’s leading specialist insurance and reinsurance market announced Blink’s selection to join its fifth cohort which will be focused on 3 themes including data & models, new insurance products & markets and response to COVID-19. The 10-week programme will commence on 7th September. The 10 successful companies can be viewed here. Speaking of today’s announcement, Blink’s co-founder and CEO Paul Prendergast said: “This has already been a tremendous experience for us and we’re just getting started. The pitch process allowed us to really refine our platform’s potential with an exciting range of commercial solutions and Lloyd’s Lab is going to work with us to accelerate the development and realization phases by providing us not only with Lloyd’s market access, but with rich historical data, analysis, modelling and testing forums. Our...

Research from Cambridge Mobile Telematics and IoT Insurance Observatory show drivers across all segments are ready for telematics Cambridge, MA (July 28, 2020) – Research shows that 63% of U.S. consumers are open to changing their current auto insurance policy for one with a telematics-based premium, according to a new report jointly published by Cambridge Mobile Telematics, the world’s leader in mobile telematics, and the IoT Insurance Observatory, a global connected insurance think tank. The research report, entitled Attractive UBI Business Models for US Consumers: The future of auto insurance will be telematics-based, mobile, and enriched with services, details the results of a recent wide-spread survey of U.S. drivers and their attitudes toward usage-based insurance (UBI). In order to have a comprehensive gauge of attitudes worldwide within the report, CMT and IoT Insurance Observatory launched three series of surveys, between June 2017 and January 2020, that collected responses from 2,500 respondents across all 50 U.S. states, as well as France, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. According to the report, many drivers are ready to work with insurers to price their insurance based on how they actually drive, instead of traditional insurance rating factors like zip code, age, gender,...

Telematics systems create ways for carriers to control claims exposures and increase engagement Boston, MA (Aug. 12, 2020) – The commercial vehicle insurance market has been facing strong headwinds for the last few years and is finding it increasingly difficult to manage risk while controlling costs and improving customer interactions. Carriers have looked to telematics systems as a partner in this fight for many years, but technology advancements have created new opportunities for carriers to leverage these systems throughout their commercial vehicle segments. As the commercial vehicle insurance market continues to evolve, can these solutions help the industry manage current risks and prepare for future changes? This report outlines key commercial insurance market trends and presents a telematics feature function roadmap. It discusses what lies ahead for the market and profiles 12 vendors: Amodo, Arity, Azuga, CMT, DriveQuant, IMS, OCTO, SpeedGauge, Telematicus, The Floow, Verisk, and Verizon Connect. This report’s analysis is based on 25 interviews of global telematics companies and other insurance industry executives and influencers conducted during Q1 and Q2 2020. This 56-page Impact Report contains eight figures and eight tables. Clients of Aite Group’s P&C Insurance service can download this report, the corresponding charts, and the Executive...

Strategic Underwriting Managers, Inc. is a leading Managing General Agent and expands One80’s footprint into the Canadian insurance market Boston, MA (Aug. 11, 2020) – One80 Intermediaries, a national wholesale broker, program manager, and insurance aggregator headquartered in Boston, is pleased to announce that it has acquired Strategic Underwriting Managers, Inc. (SUM), a Canada based Managing General Agent for property, casualty and other specialty insurance products. Dowling Hales served as an advisor to Strategic Underwriting Managers; terms of the deal were not disclosed. With offices in Toronto, Montreal, and Lachine QC, SUM works collaboratively with best-in-class insurers and reinsurers to design, underwrite and deliver market leading insurance products to brokers throughout Canada. “One80 has rapidly expanded throughout the United States and we look forward to establishing an international footprint with Strategic Underwriting Managers,” said Matthew F. Power, President of One80 Intermediaries. “SUM and One80 uphold a similar entrepreneurial culture and strategic long-term vision. With that we are confident that together, we will further support our brokers on both sides of the border.” SUM is empowered with broad, in-house binding authority on behalf of the world’s highest quality insurance carriers. This allows SUM to provide coverage to the most challenging insurance...