Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Staff | July 24, 2020 Mercer Canada is appointing Teresa Palandra as leader of its wealth business. Palandra will be in charge of investment, wealth management and retirement services and solutions for the Canadian market. She’s taking over from Jean-Philippe Provost as he moves on to lead the multinational plan sponsor client segment of the firm’s global business solutions team. A partner with Mercer, Palandra most recently headed up the firm’s Toronto office. She has more than 20 years of advisory experience with financial management, design, risk management, plan governance and pension plan administration. She’s also a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, as well as the executive sponsor of the Toronto Women@Mercer chapter and its Canadian racial and ethnic diversity group. Read: Mercer appoints Canadian and U.S. heads of responsible investing “I am confident that Teresa’s outstanding leadership and deep knowledge across our business will help drive the team for sustained success in Canada,” said Jaqui Parchment, Mercer Canada’s chief executive officer, in a press release. “Teresa’s diverse and expansive consulting background will ensure we continue to create successful financial outcomes for our clients and their employees.” In other personnel news, Simon-Alexandre Lachance has taken on a role as senior consultant for group savings...

Jamar Cobb-Dennard, a business broker at Indiana Business Advisors, discusses how emotional intelligence affects racial relations in a National African American Insurance Association webinar. Confronting racial bias in the workplace is not just about policies and practices. Although they are important, something else is far more significant. It is emotional intelligence, where “80% of your success lives,” according to Jamar Cobb-Dennard, a business broker at Indiana Business Advisors, who spoke about racial bias in the workplace in a webinar, Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself, for the National African-American Insurance Association, which represents 750 members across all sectors of insurance. “The hippocampus part of our brain drives decision-making, and especially emotional decision-making, and 80% of our success actually comes from using our emotions to make decisions, versus 20%,” Cobb-Dennard said, citing research that Daniel Goleman explained in his 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence. “You learn science. You learn English,” Cobb-Dennard said. “But he came out and said that’s really just a small portion of what actually creates success for you personally, but also for organizations. For organizational success and for building equity, we’ve got to understand our emotions and then how to manage and understand the emotions of others.” So, what...

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) has published a report detailing complaints of agent misconduct it received from its June 8, 2019 launch to the end of its fiscal year on March 31, 2020. During that period, FSRA said it received 52 life agent reporting forms (LARFs) from insurers detailing cases where they suspect an agent of being unsuitable of carrying on business as an agent, based on non-compliance with the Insurance Act, regulations, or the terms of their license. Of the 52 files generated from the LARFs, 23 resulted in Letters of Warning, 16 were escalated for further investigation and possible regulatory action, and 13 were closed with no action due to lack of jurisdiction, insufficient evidence, or no financial consumer harm caused. In eight of the 23 cases that generated a letter of warning, the agents were found to have insufficient continuing education credits, with no consumer harm identified. Six out of those 23 involved findings of forgery and fraud, including: Three where fraudulent activities were conducted in another province and reported to the regulator concerned; One finding of fraudulent activities where the agent is placed under investigation and strict supervision by the respective insurer; One...

The Canadian Press | July 23, 2020 The purchase offer for Cirque du Soleil from its secured creditors risks eliminating Quebec’s longstanding presence as a shareholder and causing losses of tens of millions of dollars to two of the province’s largest institutional investors. A US$1.2-billion takeover proposal by a group of debt holders, which was approved on Friday as the benchmark bid for a court-supervised auction of the insolvent entertainment giant, would push aside the trio of current stakeholders: Quebec’s pension fund manager, the Texan fund TPG Capital and the Chinese firm Fosun. Read: Caisse part of consortium bidding to acquire Cirque du Soleil assets The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec estimated in its most recent annual report that its initial 10 per cent stake, bought in 2015, was worth between $50 million and $100 million as of Dec. 31. It scooped up another 10 per cent chunk in February from co-founder Guy Laliberte, who sold off his remaining shares just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit North America. Court documents filed under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act also show that the Caisse and Quebec’s Fonds de solidarité FTQ each lent Cirque US$30 million last year. The Fonds confirmed recently it doesn’t expect to...

Staff | July 23, 2020 Navacord Corp. is acquiring Ontario-based firms Selectpath Benefits and Financial Inc. and ProBenefits Consulting Inc., more than doubling its benefits revenue. With a strong presence in Ontario’s southwest, Selectpath specializes in benefits and pension solutions for the hospital and health-care sectors, as well as a wide range of industries including transportation, automotive dealerships, technology and manufacturing. “Selectpath deepens our leadership and expertise and expands on our multi-line approach with a broader scope of products and services,” said Shawn DeSantis, president and chief executive officer, in a press release. “The Selectpath team brings significant new capabilities in financial planning, human resources management, [human resources information services] and payroll — something not many other brokers can offer.” Read: Navacord acquires Edmonton-based benefits consulting firm ProBenefits, also based in Ontario, specializes in designing customized and sustainable benefits and pension plans using a proprietary audit and disciplined cost-containment strategy. The addition of ProBenefits also broadens Navacord’s benefits and pensions business in the Toronto area. “Navacord continues to attract strong, like-minded brokers who wish to partner with a national organization to scale or build out their service offerings while maintaining their unique brand, culture and autonomy,” said T. Marshall Sadd, executive chairman at Navacord, in the release. “We’re...

Several life insurers are reversing COVID-19 restrictions on underwriting, even as the pandemic continues to infect record numbers of Americans. On June 25, John Hancock resumed issuing policies up to and including age 90. The insurer paused issuance of policies for anyone between ages 80 and 90 for three months, a spokeswoman said. Earlier this month, Pacific Life reinstated underwriting for applicants (in a standard or better risk class) up to age 81. A spokesman declined comment on the decision. On April 7, Pacific Life temporarily limited underwriting to age 75 and below. The insurer was among many who restricted underwriting as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States. Those decisions were very difficult for insurers because the age 60+ group is a big potential customer pool for life insurance. And the tightened underwriting hurt overall policy counts. Advertisement According to MIB Group data, 60+ policy application activity was down 2.3% year over year at the conclusion of June. However, 60+ applications were up 3.4% in January and February saw a whopping 6.4% increase. Prudential is the only insurer known to have completely pulled a product, suspending all sales of its 30-year term offerings in mid-April. Those products returned...

Montreal, QC (July 21, 2020) – Apollo Insurance Solutions Ltd. (“Apollo”), Canada’s largest online insurance marketplace, has partnered with K&K Insurance Canada to add Special Event and Wedding insurance to the Apollo Exchange’s rapidly growing catalogue of digital insurance products. This Special Event coverage offers Commercial General Liability with $2M and $5M limits, with available liquor liability. Pricing starts at $125. Canadian insurance brokers are able to access all of the products on the Apollo Exchange by registering for free. “This is a  great example of exactly how Exchange technology can help a broker get these one-off Special Event policies off their desk quickly and efficiently, while serving their clients more effectively,” said Margo Lyons, Head of Broker Distribution at Apollo  “Credit to K&K in putting together this great insurance product.” As with every Apollo Exchange product, the entire process, from quoting, binding coverage, and issuing policy documents is immediate, online, and paper free. Some of the coverage features for this Special Event product include: Liquor liability coverage included if alcohol is served Clients can self-serve — brokers are able to send send a link to the application to their client for them to complete Meets requirements for most municipalities...

New Sun eApp fast tracks the life and critical illness insurance process so advisors can help Clients quickly and easily Toronto, ON (July 21, 2020) – At a time when Canadians are thinking about their health and financial security needs more than ever, Sun Life Canada is pleased to launch Sun eApp – an online, sustainable insurance application platform for third-party advisors and their Clients. As Canadians continue to navigate the pandemic, the Sun eApp makes it easier for Clients to get the solutions they need to close insurance coverage gaps and build long-term wealth. Financial security is a key pillar of Sun Life’s sustainability strategy and part of our focus on providing Clients with innovative products and services to help increase their lifetime financial security. Sun eApp helps Clients and their advisors through the process of applying for life and critical illness insurance digitally. The online platform supports advisors as they submit digital insurance applications, settle and manage in-force policies and speeds up the end-to-end process – helping a Client receive a decision on their application in as little as 24 hours. The Sun eApp is another example of how Sun Life Canada is enhancing its digital platform for...

Toronto, ON (July 22, 2020) – CSIO is pleased to announce that Applied Systems and Northbridge Insurance have jointly achieved Level II – Verified in CSIO’s Commercial Lines (CL) Certification Program. To accomplish this, each organization implemented the CL minimum data set and successfully demonstrated real-time quoting for specific contractors’ industry codes. Launched in May 2020, the CSIO Commercial Lines Certification Program was created to guide and support those insurer and service provider members who are committed to providing real-time quoting using CSIO XML Data Standards. There are three levels within the program, each representing a milestone in the adoption of CL data standards: Level I – Foundation, Level II – Verified, and Level III – Certified. “Since our acquisition of Policy Works, we have been actively working toward real-time quoting capabilities and attaining industry consensus on data requirements is bringing this vision to life,” says Steve Whitelaw, Vice President of Industry & Partner Relations at Applied Systems. “Achieving Level II Certification with Northbridge, one of the largest commercial lines insurers, has further strengthened our commitment to provide straight-through commercial lines quoting and processing capabilities directly from their daily broker management system (BMS) workflows.” “We’re excited to be the first insurer piloting...

Staff | July 23, 2020 When it comes to retirement benefits like the Canada Pension Plan and old-age security, the majority of Canadians don’t understand their options for deferral, according to a new survey by Employment and Social Development Canada. The survey, which polled 8,622 Canadians, found just 36 per cent are correctly aware of the deferral options for CPP and even fewer (17 per cent) understand them for OAS. Men are somewhat more (42 per cent) aware of the CPP deferral options than women (34 per cent), as well as for OAS (20 per cent versus 16 per cent, respectively). And older Canadians are more aware for CPP, with 58 per cent of respondents aged 60 to 64 being aware, compared to just 16 per cent of those aged 40 to 44. Read: CPP enhancements good start, but more needed to ensure retirement readiness: report Income also appeared to be correlated with this knowledge. More (59 per cent and 29 per cent) Canadians with an annual income of over $125,000 understood CPP and OAS deferrals respectively, while fewer (26 per cent and 12 per cent) of those with an annual income below $25,000 understood them. Education also appeared to be a factor. More respondents with an...