Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Open-source frameworks provide blueprint for better protecting society against systemic catastrophic events Toronto, ON (July 1, 2020) – Lloyd’s, the world’s leading specialist insurance and reinsurance market, has published a number of ways the insurance industry could fast-track global economic and societal recovery from the far-reaching impacts of COVID-19. These include three open-source frameworks[1], that help build future resilience through innovative partnerships and products together with a Centre of Excellence to better understand, model and provide insurance for systemic catastrophic events. The solutions and frameworks, developed in conjunction with our UK and Global Advisory Groups[2], are detailed in Lloyd’s new Supporting global recovery and resilience for customers and economies: the insurance response to COVID-19 report. Following interviews with executives and experts across key global industries, the proposals seek to address short, medium and long-term challenges customers face as they begin to recover and reopen.[3] The proposals include solutions for the reopening of businesses against the threat of further waves of COVID-19, building greater resilience across global supply chains as well as the digital economy, and preparation and protection for the next systemic catastrophic event. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate economies and communities, with impacts requiring resources that can...

Palo Alto, CA (July 8, 2020) – SkyWatch.AI, the leading telematics-based drone insurance company, today released their new online policy management platform. The revamped platform offers an advanced streamlined user experience with a modern design and improved functionality when purchasing and managing drone insurance policies. The system was created to help drone pilots, fleet managers, brokers and affiliate partners easily control and manage their insurance online. The new comprehensive platform is currently available on web and mobile web, and will soon be released for SkyWatch.AI’s mobile app as well. Throughout the new system’s development process SkyWatch.AI participated in Google for Startups Growth Program. Under the guidance and mentorship of Google’s expert team, SkyWatch.AI’s R&D team developed this innovative drone insurance management system. “During the program, we provided SkyWatch with the best of Google to help them grow. It was a great pleasure to have the SkyWatch team on our program, watching them achieve new targets,” says Lior Noy, Startups Growth Lead at Google Israel. “We are thrilled to debut our improved drone insurance policy management system to insured SkyWatch.AI pilots, our affiliate partners, brokers, and to the drone industry as a whole,” says Ori Blumenthal, SkyWatch.AI’s CTO and Co-founder. “The...

Staff | July 8, 2020 Virtual-care options are gaining ground, according to the 2020 Sanofi Canada health-care survey. Looking at a scenario where plan members would receive health-care services through secure digital chat or video devices — where the health-care professionals aren’t the member’s usual providers, but would be able to share the consultation information with them if requested — 71 per cent said they’d be willing to use these services. Plan members between ages 18 and 34 were more likely (76 per cent) to say so compared to those aged 55 and older (63 per cent). “Virtual health care is expanding and rightly so,” said Mélina Lamarche, director of product development at la Capitale Insurance and Financial Services and a member of the Sanofi Canada advisory board. “It provides personalized medical support anytime, anywhere. The financial benefits are significant and employees are very interested. They are ready. The time has come to seize such opportunities to reinvent group insurance through digital means.” Read: Canadians cite 91% satisfaction rate with virtual health care The survey also found 74 per cent of plan members said they’d be open to allowing their physician to get a sample of their DNA by cheek swab so they can prescribe a medication most likely to be effective. Of 15 potential...

Business Wire KKR & Co. and Global Atlantic Financial Group Limited today announced the signing of a strategic transaction where KKR will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Global Atlantic, a leading retirement and life insurance company. After closing, Global Atlantic will continue to operate as a separate business with its existing brands and management team. Global Atlantic serves more than two million policyholders through its retirement and life insurance products. It is one of the largest fixed rate and fixed indexed annuity providers in the United States, offering annuities for individuals through a network of banks, broker-dealers, and insurance agencies as well as life insurance for individuals and corporates. Global Atlantic is also a leader in the institutional channel, providing customized reinsurance solutions to its life and annuity company clients. “We are thrilled to have a new, long-term partner in KKR,” said Allan Levine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global Atlantic. “With its global presence, investment acumen and long-term focus, we believe we will be even better positioned – financially and strategically – both to help Americans address the financial challenges they face today and to help our institutional channel clients achieve their strategic, risk, and capital...

In the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada Protection Plan sprung into action. Amid rampant business lockdowns, surging coronavirus infections, and social-distancing measures, the company accelerated its push to offer full e-Policy and e-Applications for its products. Even then, it was clear to them that digital life insurance was graduating from a nice-to-have to an absolute necessity. At that point, the company had notched March sales figures reflecting double-digit percentage growth from both a month-on-month basis and an annual basis. Since then, the growth trend has continued, particularly among the millennial cohort. “I think the under-30 demographic, the millennials, are really enjoying the electronic process,” said Michael Aziz, co-president at Canada Protection Plan. “I think that’s enticing them. And now they’re realizing that the cost is very reasonable, especially at their age, and the process is much easier than they thought.” Among clients under 30 years of age, Canada Protection Plan found that the number of life insurance policies issued between mid-March until June 2020 showed a near-20% jump compared to the same period last year. Looking at the more immediate past, those sales figures showed a 14.13% increase compared to January to mid-March of this year. “As a...

Sun Life’s Group Retirement Services (GRS) has launched a proprietary ESG evaluation framework, which encompasses its core investment platform of 23 investment managers and over 140 investment options. “This new evaluation framework is an expansion of the strong governance process we have in place today for our investment platform,” Tom Reid, senior vice-president for Group Retirement Services, Sun Life Canada, said in a statement. With the new framework, Sun Life said it’s giving its GRS plan sponsors and members the opportunity to more easily make informed decisions with respect to sustainable investing. Sun Life said that among the variety of fund- and security-level ESG scoring systems offered by third-party providers, there is no single provider that overarches all GRS investment platform options. Giving ESG scores on a fund-by-fund basis, it said, can create confusion for clients. The ESG approach Sun Life has developed reportedly has two objectives: Identify ESG leaders (managers and funds) in every major asset category on its GRS core investment platform with the use of proprietary criteria; and Help plan sponsors easily understand the level of ESG integration for the various investment options offered in their retirement savings plans. The adoption of the evaluation framework also reflects...

Prudential Financial is pulling its UL Protector product from the market, effective July 13, and one industry analyst expects many more products to join it on the sidelines. The problem is that ultra-low interest rates make it difficult to support guaranteed universal life designs, explained Sheryl J. Moore, president and CEO of Moore Market Intelligence and Wink. “The reserve requirements for these products are steep, and when interest rates are dim, it can tough to maintain profitability,” she said. “This is just the first domino to fall in the insurance Rube Goldberg machine. Others will suspend products if the current rate environment continues.” Prudential also plans to reintroduce its Term30 product, effective July 20, said Jamie Lorenz, manager of global communications for the insurer. Prudential had suspended applications for its 30-year term life insurance policy on April 13. The rest of Prudential’s statement reads: Advertisement Prudential remains focused on helping customers with their life insurance needs in this challenging time. We actively manage our product strategy and portfolio to address impacts of the sustained low interest rate environment and ongoing market volatility. … Offering a broad, diversified suite of life insurance solutions is a priority, as we continue to work...

PR Newswire Foresters Financial™ (Foresters) today announces it is now one of very few industry players to offer standalone Children’s Whole Life Insurance, with the launch of BrightFuture, its first product designed specifically for those currently under the age of 181. Available from July 5, 2020, a single BrightFuture application can be used to apply for coverage for up to six children. By purchasing BrightFuture, the owner, whether it be a parent, grandparent, or other legal guardian, protects an insured child’s future insurability at a low cost and provides the child with an opportunity to join a purpose-driven organization that gives its members the chance to make a difference in their community. The owner can transfer the ownership to the child at any age and time of their choosing2. The premiums, death benefit amount, and cash value are guaranteed for the child’s lifetime and the built-in Guaranteed Insurability Rider permits the insured to purchase additional life insurance coverage at specific ages or for future life events (such as marriage) without any further underwriting at the time. Up to three supplementary riders are also included at no added premium – an Accelerated Death Benefit Rider (Terminal Illness), a Common Carrier Accidental...

Toronto, ON (July 6, 2020) – Over the last several months, CSIO has seen a significant increase in insurance providers adopting My Proof of Insurance as their preferred solution to go paperless and send policy documents to end consumers. While the solution has already been successful as a way to electronically send and store eSlips (digital proof of auto insurance cards), the recent shift towards documents reflects the current safety and paperless climate of the pandemic. With the government deeming insurance an essential industry, insurance companies are still required to send consumers their important insurance policy information in a timely manner. Since paper mail and in-person meetings are no longer the norm, My Proof of Insurance has become an attractive solution to fill that gap for organizations who may not have a process in place for electronic distribution. By using My Proof of Insurance, companies can seamlessly email personal and commercial lines documents to the customer directly from their policy management systems. Attachments can include policy renewals, declaration pages, and billing statements. One of the benefits of My Proof of Insurance is that the implementation of the solution is easy and straightforward, meaning those companies who were facing COVID-19 social...

Majority of organizations have no specific plans for common and emerging attacks Cambridge, MA (June 30, 2020) – IBM Security has announced the results of a global report examining businesses’ effectiveness in preparing for and responding to cyberattacks. While organizations surveyed have slowly improved in their ability to plan for, detect and respond to cyberattacks over the past five years, their ability to contain an attack has declined by 13% during this same period. The global survey conducted by Ponemon Institute and sponsored by IBM Security found that respondents’ security response efforts were hindered by the use of too many security tools, as well as a lack of specific playbooks for common attack types. While security response planning is slowly improving, the vast majority of organizations surveyed (74%) are still reporting that their plans are either ad-hoc, applied inconsistently, or that they have no plans at all. This lack of planning can impact the cost of security incidents, as companies that have incident response teams and extensively test their incident response plans spend an average of $1.2 million less on data breaches than those who have both of these cost-saving factors in place.[1] The key findings of those surveyed from...