Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Staff | July 23, 2020 Several prominent players in Canada’s pensions and benefits industries have signed onto the BlackNorth Initiative, pledging to take specific actions within their organizations to tackle anti-Black racism. “The persistent inequities across our country underscore our urgent, national need to address and alleviate racial, ethnic and other tensions and to promote the elimination of anti-Black systemic racism wherever it exists,” read part of the pledge. “As leaders of some of Canada’s largest corporations, we manage hundreds of thousands of employees and play a critical role in ensuring that inclusion is core to our workplace culture and that our businesses are representative of the communities we serve. Moreover, we know that true diversity is good for the economy; it improves corporate performance, drives growth and enhances employee engagement.” Read: OPB outlines commitment to stand against anti-Black, anti-Indigenous racism The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, the Ontario Pension Board and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan were among more than 200 organizations that signed the pledge. “Until now, Blacks have been left behind by the diversity movement in Canada. Today, that changes,” said Wes Hall, founder and chairman of the Canadian Council of Business Leaders Against...

Insurers paid out $30+ billion due to natural catastrophes in the first six months of the year, according to Aon Catastrophe Report Chicago, IL (July 22, 2020) – Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, is pleased to announce the launch of its Global Catastrophe Recap: First Half of 2020 report, which evaluates the impact of natural disaster events that occurred worldwide in the first six months of the year. Published by Impact Forecasting, Aon’s catastrophe model development team, the report reveals that global natural disaster events during 1H 2020 caused total economic losses estimated at USD75 billion – 25 percent lower than the 2000-2019 average of USD98 billion. Meanwhile, insured losses were estimated at USD30 billion – five percent higher than the 20-year average of USD28 billion. These totals are preliminary and will change as losses continue to develop. Natural disasters were responsible for approximately 2,200 fatalities during the first half of 2020, significantly below the long-term (1980-2019) average of 39,800 and the median of 7,700. Flooding was the deadliest natural peril during the period, having been responsible for 60 percent of the death toll. The total of...

Stand-alone rating engines can be paired with legacy policy systems to deliver rate flexibility, buying insurers time before modernizing their PAS; Novarica profiles five solutions in new report Boston, MA (July 21, 2020) – As competitive conditions in the insurance marketplace have insurers evaluating all aspects of their delivery life cycle, rating engines play a critical role in helping insurance companies deliver new products and enhancements to market. In Property/Casualty Rating Systems, research and advisory services firm Novarica provides an overview of the current solution provider marketplace for rating systems available to US property/casualty insurers, as well as profiles of five stand-alone vendor solutions. “Insurers can acquire rate development and deployment capabilities in two ways,” said Kevin Rall, Vice President of Research and Consulting, and co-author of Novarica’s new report. “Through a stand-alone rating engine or by using the native rating engine offered in most modern policy administration solutions. As digital capabilities proliferate, a well-architected, high-performing, and integrated rating engine will be the cornerstone of every customer experience.” Each profile summarizes the vendor organization, technology used, differentiators, client base, lines of business supported, deployment options, implementation approaches, upgrades/enhancements, and key functionality. Vendors profiled include: CGI, ClarionDoor, Decision Research Corporation, Duck...

Mentorship is the key in recruiting the next generation of Black advisors, and in helping them build their careers and eventually take over existing practices when the older generation of advisors is ready to retire. That was the word from the panelists who spoke during a recent online roundtable, “The Legacy And Future Of The Black Agent,” held by the National African-American Insurance Association. The panelists each had their own stories of how they came into the business and what they are doing to help others consider insurance and financial services as a career, and eventually own an agency. Too often, agency owners don’t give much thought to who will take over their practice until they are ready to retire, said Eileen Frank of JP West. “We have to plan for our legacy,” she said. Agency owners can’t count on their children to carry on the family business, said Amir Ali, an insurance consulting executive who calls himself “The Insurance Samurai.” Advertisement “I’ve seen it from both sides,” he said. “The kids either want to be like their parents or they want to be nothing like their parents.” The industry tends to attract those who are “rugged individualists,” said Kenneth...

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, along with French utility company Engie, is acquiring the remaining 10 per cent stake in Brazilian oil and gas transportation network company Transportadora Associada de Gás. Together, the two entities bought 90 per cent of the enterprise in 2019. The latest transaction is valued at about €160 million and brings Engie’s stake in TAG from 58.5 per cent to 65 per cent and the Caisse’s from 31.5 per cent to 35 per cent. TAG has about 4,500 kilometres of gas pipeline infrastructure in Brazil. Read: Caisse taking stake in Brazilian oil and gas transportation company Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

Staff  | July 22, 2020 As lockdown restrictions begin to lift and companies co-ordinate their return-to-work processes, more than half (55 per cent) of Canadian employees said they’d prefer to work from home more frequently, while 41 per cent agreed the era of the 9-to-5 workday is now over, according to a new survey by multinational software company Citrix Systems Inc. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Canadian office workers only worked from home an average of 2.89 days a month, with seven per cent of respondents reporting they never worked from home. Indeed, employers will have to rethink their traditional work models: 62 per cent of employee respondents said they consider the office a place mainly for exchange and collaboration and 42 per cent want to see more flexible-working models that allow them to switch between the office and their home. Read: Remote working, distributed workforces could be part of new normal post-coronavirus “Upon the return to work, company leaders will need to rethink the purpose of the workplace and re-evaluate how they are measuring employee productivity,” said Ed Rodriguez, general manager and vice-president of Citrix Canada, in a press release. “A shift needs to happen where work is no longer viewed as a place you go to,...

U.S. insurance carriers’ potential small commercial insurance premium loss ranges from US$4.9 billion to US$19.5 billion Boston, MA (July 22, 2020) – Beginning in March, 2020, a range of government-imposed lockdowns and stay-in-place orders effectively brought the U.S. economy to a grinding halt, and even with government backstops in place, many small businesses are not likely to survive several months without revenue. Closures of these small businesses could have a significant impact on carriers’ annual written premium intake, which could prove problematic for carriers with a heavy presence in the small commercial insurance market. This report estimates the impact of small-business closures and the resulting loss of small commercial premium in the United States. While it shows premium for the industry as a whole, it also drills down into specific industry classes that are likely to experience more turmoil than others. Premium loss calculations are based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), nonbindable quotes received from small-business insurance aggregator websites, and the author’s knowledge of small commercial insurance. This 50-page Impact Report contains 37 figures and 12 tables. Clients of Aite Group’s P&C Insurance service can download this report, the corresponding charts,...

By Andi Dominguez, Principal – Insurance & Healthcare, Quadient — If you are in the insurance business, your goal is to establish long-term, trusting relationships with customers, and those relationships have many touchpoints along the journey. To win and retain customers, it’s essential to identify the most critical of these touchpoints so that consistent, relevant and personalized experiences can be delivered to every customer, every time. But exactly what is it that customers expect? Driven by today’s communications technology, customer expectations have evolved to include connectivity, immediacy and simplicity—a complex mandate for many insurers. Regardless of who they contact in your organization about any specific topic, customers want experiences that meet their high standards—and they no longer have patience if you can’t meet their expectations. To understand the customer journey and improve the customer experience, insurers must optimize the moments that matter most to consumers and to the business. “Moments of truth” are those make-or-break instances that represent a customer’s key decision points. If executed well, the customer continues doing business with your organization. If executed poorly, he or she likely will begin shopping elsewhere. There are three key moments of truth in the insurance industry, each one influenced by...

Ford and Mobileye, an Intel company, are expanding their relationship to offer even better camera-based detection capabilities for driver-assist systems, including improved forward collision warning, vehicle, pedestrian and cyclist detection, plus lane-keeping features Mobileye will provide its suite of EyeQ® sensing technology to support available Ford Co-Pilot360™ Technology driver-assist features such as Lane-Keeping System, Auto High-Beam headlamps, Pre-Collision Assist with Automatic Emergency Braking and Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop-and-Go and Lane Centering Ford will display Mobileye’s name in vehicles through the inclusion of its logo in the automaker’s SYNC® driver-assist communication displays, making customers aware that some Ford Co-Pilot360 Technology features use sensing capabilities provided by Mobileye Dearborn, MI (July 22, 2020) – Ford Motor Company and Mobileye, an Intel company, are collaborating on cutting-edge driver-assistance systems across Ford’s global product lineup. “Providing people with extra confidence while driving is invaluable, and it’s exactly what our available Ford Co-Pilot360™ features are designed to do,” said Lisa Drake, chief operating officer, North America; vice president, Global Purchasing, Ford Motor Company. “By customizing Mobileye’s excellent software and sensing technology, Ford’s great driver-assist features will continue to evolve and provide customers with confidence on the road throughout the life of their vehicles.” As...

Staff | July 22, 2020 Even before the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. employers were beefing up their financial well-being offerings and starting to see positive results, according to a new survey by Buck. The survey, which polled more than 150 U.S. organizations, found employees’ financial stress is a top motivator for companies to invest in financial well-being programs. As well, 40 per cent of employers reported that addressing financial stress is a key reason for increasing their voluntary benefits program, well up from just 16 per cent of respondents in 2017, the last time Buck performed a similar survey. Read: Four steps to building a successful financial wellness program Many employers said they’re approaching their financial well-being initiatives as a way to help employees with short-term financial needs. While just 38 per cent of employers cited helping employees retire when ready as their top financial well-being priority, 68 per cent listed budgeting and saving, 66 per cent said credit card debt and 59 per cent said unexpected medical expenses. Four in 10 (40 per cent) said their millennial employees are the top targets for financial support, as many are dealing with student loans, consumer debt and a lack of emergency and retirement savings. On that...