Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Business Wire MADISON, Wis.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– National Guardian Life Insurance Company (“NGL”) today announced an agreement to sell certain closed-block businesses to Prosperity Life Assurance Limited (“Prosperity Life”). The subject businesses have combined net statutory reserves of approximately $400 million and consist of life, annuity and A&H lines. “This transaction is a significant milestone for NGL in executing our strategic capital optimization plan and is aligned with our objective of continually improving our return on surplus and risk-based capital position,” said Knut A. Olson, NGL’s President & CEO. Proceeds from the sale will be utilized consistent with NGL’s strategic capital optimization program, including investing in our core preneed business and enhancing the services and products provided to our nationwide base of policyholders. “This reinsurance transaction with NGL launches Prosperity Life Assurance Limited as an emerging provider of customized and innovative reinsurance solutions to the life insurance and annuity industry,” said Nicholas von Moltke, CEO of Prosperity Life. “We are very proud to work with NGL as this transaction supports its desired capital management objectives.” The transaction is expected to close in mid-2020, subject to regulatory approval and the satisfaction of other closing conditions. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed....

Given the ongoing health challenges associated with holding large in-person meetings in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is converting its Summer Meeting to a virtual format. A revised Summer National Meeting schedule with specific dates and times will be available on naic.org no later than July 6, the association said today. Registration for the Summer National Meeting will open June 23. The meeting was scheduled for Minneapolis, and is the second of three large gatherings the NAIC hosts annually. The Spring Meeting was also converted to online-only in March. The reduced registration fee is $495. Registration fee credits received from the cancelled 2020 Spring Meeting may be applied to the registration fees for the 2020 Summer Meeting and 2020 Fall Meeting, the NAIC reminded members. Plans call for the Summer Meeting to be spread over a three-week period, beginning the week of July 27 and wrapping up the week of August 10, as shown below. Tentative Overview of Summer National Meeting Schedule: Week of July 27: Working Groups, Subgroups and other meetings.Week of August 3: Task Force meetingsWeek of August 10: Standing Committees and Executive Committee meetings, along with EX/Plenary and special programs....

Staff | June 10, 2020 Through a partnership with Johnston Group Inc., Teledoc Health Inc. is offering its telemedicine services to 350 First Nations and Inuit employers to provide to their employees. Since nearly 40 per cent of Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples live in rural areas, Johnston Group’s specialty employee benefits program, CINUP, aims to provide health services to employees living hours away from the nearest primary care physician or hospital, noted a press release. Read: APTN introducing counselling with Indigenous elders into EAP “The ability to access care when and where needed is critical,” said Dr. Hanif Jamal, medical director of Teladoc Health Canada, in the release. “Through Johnston Group, CINUP will allow individuals who previously delayed or avoided treatment to now have accessible, quality care on their terms. Employers can rest assured that their staff have the right resources to help eradicate the barriers previously preventing plan members from seeking timely care.” Melanie Desjarlais, chief administrative officer at Sagkeeng First Nation, noted the difficulties faced by her community in only having access to a doctor in the area a few times a week. “In the past, employees would have to be away from work a long time if they needed access to...

While artificial intelligence is not widely in use by most financial institutions, new research by The Economist Intelligence Unit shows 86% of U.S. banks and insurance companies plan to increase AI-related investment into technology by 2025 Toronto, ON (June 2, 2020) – Artificial intelligence is set to shape the future of the banking and insurance ecosystem, according to a new report commissioned by ThoughtSpot, the leader in search and AI-driven analytics. The report by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), The Road Ahead: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Financial Services, analyzes the sentiments of 200 business executives and C-suite leaders at investment banks, retail banks, and insurance companies in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. The study found that while there is a strong degree of confidence in the benefits of AI, the reality is that the technology is not largely in use: more than half of respondents say AI is not incorporated into their business’s processes and offerings, with only 15% saying the technology is used extensively across the organization. However, the benefits that have already emerged combined with respondents’ plans to double down on AI investment in the short-term show this technology is slated to drive a massive...

Toronto, ON (June 9, 2020) – ClearPay, the leader in automating payment settlements and reconciliation for the insurance industry, is pleased to announce that it is extending payment services for vendors to brokerages in the P&C Insurance sector. “We are excited to offer vendors and brokerages another channel to easily send and receive funds with requisite payment information,” said John Knotek, Chief Executive Officer of ClearPay. “Over the last year and particularly the last couple of months with many brokers working from home, vendors have asked us for an easy and secure way for our extensive brokerage network to settle their invoices. With our payment portal, an industry first, we will make ClearPay available to all vendors and brokerages.” The payment portal will be made available to any industry vendors, associations and brokers wanting to settle invoices. Brokers will be in full control of amount and date of payments and vendors will receive notifications and appropriate information with respect to each payment. In addition, through the vendor portal each party will have access to the same information to assist with reconciliation of payments. All brokers already using ClearPay will have instant access to the portal and new brokerages can be...

Channel Harvest survey yields fresh insights on a contemporary issue Springfield, VA (June 9, 2020) – The annual survey of U.S. independent insurance agents from Channel Harvest Research shows insurance at a crossroads when it comes to ease of doing business and a divergence between agents who value the personal touch and those who promote self-service. Nearly 2,000 agency staff — from principals to producers to CSRs — participated in the survey between February and April, answering over 100 questions about their carrier relationships and trends in the insurance marketplace. Analysis of their answers yielded Channel Harvest’s exclusive carrier rankings and ratings, statistics on agency growth, and how agencies are preparing for a digital future dominated by younger generations. “What stands out is a divide between agents who are intentional about making insurance more like an Amazon purchase and those who prefer to offer a personal transaction,” says John Campbell, principal of Channel Harvest Research. “For example, only half of agents reported having a mobile-friendly website and 20% aren’t sure what kind of website they have.” Being visible when a consumer is searching online for a product or service is almost an imperative, yet the survey revealed large numbers on...

After two months of declines during the pandemic quarantine, U.S. life insurance application activity jumped 5.2% year-over-year in May in what appears to be a V-shaped recovery, according to the MIB Life Index. Using month-over-month comparisons, the recovery was even more impressive: February/March was off -6.7%, March/April off was -5.5%, and April/May bounced back an unprecedented 1.5% in a time period historically off -5.0% or more as the summer months approach. On a year-over-year basis, May 2020 index was up 5.2% with two less business days than in the 2019 comparative period. Year-to-date, the composite MIB Life Index is a percent higher than last month, up 1.6% at the end of May. May’s Life Index age groups showed strength in the younger and middle ages. Ages 0-44 gained 7.1%; ages 45-59 gained 6.9% ; and ages 60+ were off -1.9% year over year. Year-to-date, ages 0-44 are up 3.4%; ages 45-59 are up 0.5%; and ages 60+, while down -1.6%, remain ~10% higher than pre-2019 numbers. “As carriers and agents adjust to the new normal and society returns, we remain cautious about identifying any trends given the impact of the COVID-19 exogenous event,” MIB said in a news release. Looking...

Will autonomous vehicles be better than humans at predicting, planning and execution? Washington, DC (June 4, 2020) – Driver mistakes play a role in virtually all crashes. That’s why automation has been held up as a potential game changer for safety. But autonomous vehicles might prevent only around one third of all crashes if automated systems drive too much like people, according to a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “It’s likely that fully self-driving cars will eventually identify hazards better than people, but we found that this alone would not prevent the bulk of crashes,” says Jessica Cicchino, IIHS vice president for research and a coauthor of the study. Conventional thinking has it that self-driving vehicles could one day make crashes a thing of the past. The reality is not that simple. According to a national survey of police-reported crashes, driver error is the final failure in the chain of events leading to more than 9 out of 10 crashes. But the Institute’s analysis suggests that only about a third of those crashes were the result of mistakes that automated vehicles would be expected to avoid simply because they have more accurate perception than human drivers...

“Digital” Strategies are Diverse: Novarica study of 60+ insurer CIOs shows four distinct profiles of how insurers approach digital strategy Boston, MA (June 2, 2020) – Insurers show diverse opinions on what is part of a “digital strategy,” with different insurers clustering around different key functions, according to Insurer Digital Strategies: Current State and Post-COVID Plans, a new council study from research and advisory firm Novarica. Of the 67 participants surveyed – representing a cross-section of property/casualty and life/annuity insurers across all sizes of companies and most lines of business – only 40% of insurers have a formal digital strategy, but most claim at least a set of best practices. “Almost all surveyed insurers agreed that customer engagement and service were part of digital strategy,” said Paul Legutko, VP, Digital Marketing and Analytics, and lead author of Novarica’s new report. “Digital strategy needs to start with the customer experience and customer journey, though customer-centricity might manifest as digital marketing for some insurers and digital operations for others.” Among the key findings of the report are: Only 40% of insurers have a formal digital strategy, but most claim at least a set of best practices. For those with a formal strategy,...

Chicago, IL (June 2, 2020) – Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, is collaborating with The Climate Service to help clients understand and manage climate risks today and into the future. Financial regulators across the world, including in Canada, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK, are setting guidelines to manage the effects of climate change on financial stability and build on the work of the Financial Stability Board’s Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). This further compels businesses to measure and manage climate risk but often they do not have the tools to quantify the key parameters. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has tested the resilience of economies and is providing a good example of how systemic changes can impact financial, economic and social stability. To better prepare companies across all sectors for the impact on climate, Aon has entered into an exclusive broker relationship with The Climate Service (TCS) that combines science and technology to measure, monitor and manage the financial impacts of climate on business and investments. The combined service brings together complementary analytics with a climate focus and comprises: Scenario Analysis: Firstly,...