Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Toronto, ON (June 3, 2020) – PLATFORM Insurance Management Inc., a leading construction, real estate and development insurance broker, is pleased to announce that it has opened PLATFORM Quebec Insurance Brokers Ltd. / PLATFORM Québec Courtiers d’Assurance Ltée (“PLATFORM Quebec”), with offices in Montreal. This new office establishes a new location for PLATFORM to service the local market needs and provide expertise for our Quebec-based clients. PLATFORM Quebec will be led by Terry Kocisko, who is an established Montreal-based insurance broker focussed on providing commercial insurance and risk management solutions to construction and surety operations throughout the province. “We are delighted to partner with Terry to form PLATFORM Quebec”, commented PLATFORM CEO, Charles Quenneville, “we have enjoyed a collaborative relationship with Terry in the past and his leadership will accelerate our offerings to our Quebec-based clients”. “We’re optimistic about the medium and long term prospects of Quebec’s construction and high-rise market”, said PLATFORM President, Matthew Francis, “we’re very pleased to contribute to the continuing development of one of the world’s premier destinations”. “I have been watching PLATFORM’s growth and success in Ontario and BC over the past few years and am excited to be part of PLATFORM’s ambitions in Quebec”,...

Guidewire Software joins Betterview’s existing investors in a $7.5 million funding round that brings Betterview’s total capital raised to $17 million Columbus, OH (June 3, 2020) – Betterview is pleased to announce it has raised $7.5 million in new funding from Guidewire Software and existing investors. Betterview will use the funds to expand its industry-leading capabilities in the Remote Property Intelligence space. ManchesterStory led the round with participation from Nationwide, EMC Insurance Companies, MaidenRe, Compound, Winklevoss Capital, and Chestnut Street Ventures. This round brings the company’s total capital raised to $17 million. Betterview delivers a software platform that leading P&C insurance carriers use to identify and manage property risk throughout the policy lifecycle. Property underwriters, loss-control specialists, and claims staff use Betterview during policy inception and renewal to get a comprehensive understanding of individual properties to drive better outcomes for the insured, agent, and carrier in a faster, more transparent, and cost-effective manner than has ever been possible. “After surveying the InsurTech and property intelligence landscape, we believe that Betterview has created an innovative solution that aligns with Guidewire’s vision and product initiatives to help insurers better understand and manage risk,” said Mike Chen, Vice President of Corporate Development, Guidewire...

INDIANAPOLIS – (June 3, 2020) OneAmerica® today announced its 2019 financial results, recording another solid year of growth, highlighted by strong capital levels and robust sales. “OneAmerica is built to thrive under any circumstance, and our exceptional financial strength and mutual structure ensure our focus remains on the customers we serve,” said Scott Davison, OneAmerica chairman, president and CEO. “Because we don’t serve stockholders, we’re prepared for times like these – to pay claims, provide benefits and help ensure people are secure in the retirement they’ve planned for. In 2019, we delivered on more than $6 billion of promises to customers.” Over the past five years, each OneAmerica business line has experienced tremendous compound annual sales growth, with increases of 7.7% in our Individual Life and Financial Services products, 8.8% in Retirement Services and 21.8% in Employee Benefits. Assets under administration for the enterprise tallied $86.5 billion, with a compounded annual growth rate of 14% over the past five years, while the enterprise maintained a 93% customer- retention rate. The company’s continued growth is supported by its very strong capital position and financial strength, which were again validated by major ratings agencies in 2019. Total available capital finished 2019 at...

Staff | June 4, 2020 The federal government and several provinces are signing a new agreement regarding administration and regulation of multi-jurisdictional pension plans. The provincial governments of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are all on board with the agreement, which replaces the 2016 version, only signed by some provinces; a 1968 reciprocal agreement signed between all provinces except Prince Edward Island; and former federal-provincial bilateral agreements, in as much as they previously applied to older agreements between the governments signing on to the fresh 2020 version. Developed by the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities, the 2o20 agreement extends the legal framework established in the 2016 iteration over the administration and regulation of the large majority of Canadian MJPPs. Previous agreements will remain in place for Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador. Read: Five provinces enter into multi-jurisdictional pension agreement In the new agreement, an MJPP is only required to apply the major authority’s legislated pension funding rules for its ongoing funding requirements, and a major authority that has legislated funding rules for annuity discharges can now apply those rules in place of any minor authority’s rules. As well, to accommodate recent changes to solvency funding requirements in some jurisdictions, the requirements around...

First-quarter non-variable universal life sales totaled $770.3 million, down 2.5% over the first quarter 2019, according to Wink’s Sales & Market Report. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, which interrupted sales near the end of the quarter, insurers had to deal with new mortality tables and principle-based reserving formulas. The new regulations forced a repricing of many products, said Sheryl Moore, president and CEO of both Moore Market Intelligence and Wink, Inc. “As with any product, it takes salespeople about a full quarter to learn new products, and get up-and-running where they left-off with sales,” she added. Non-variable universal life (UL) sales include both indexed UL and fixed UL product sales. Sales of these products were down 28.4% over the fourth quarter 2019, when many insurers rushed product sales under old mortality and PBR regulations. Noteworthy highlights for total non-variable universal life sales in the first quarter included Pacific Life Companies retaining the No. 1 ranking overall for non-variable universal life sales, with a market share of 11.6%. Pacific Life Pacific Discovery Xelerator IUL 2 was the No. 1 selling product for non-variable universal life sales, for all channels combined, for the 3rd consecutive quarter. Indexed life sales for the...

Kelsey Rolfe | June 4, 2020 With many Canadians dealing with financial stress, employers are uniquely positioned to help, but their financial wellness programs must go beyond just literacy. “[Everyone] has heard the term financial literacy, but as we know, it’s not enough,” said Saijal Patel, founder and chief executive officer of Saij Wealth Consulting Inc., during a Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute webinar earlier this week. “The term financial capability is more encompassing — it’s not just literacy, it’s helping build confidence. It’s skills, it’s engagement with the financial industry, because [these are] key to being financially well.” Nearly half (47 per cent) of Canadians said they’re living paycheque to paycheque and 35 per cent said they’re overwhelmed with their current debt level, according to a recent survey by the Canadian Payroll Association. But the survey was conducted prior to the coronavirus pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on people’s financial wellbeing, noted Patel. Read: Four steps to building a successful financial wellness program “We know that when we went into a lockdown in March, we . . . heard stories of numerous people who couldn’t meet their rent and they were seriously struggling. We know that this is an issue,” she said, highlighting a more recent survey that found...

Staff  | June 3, 2020 If employee productivity increases by two per cent per year for the next decade, Canadians could enjoy a four-day workweek without giving up income or sacrificing their living standards, according to a new study by the Fraser Institute. “In light of the COVID-19 lockdown, there’s been a lot of talk about a possible four-day workweek in Canada,” said Steven Globerman, a senior fellow at the institute and author of the study. “But to achieve a four-day workweek where we actually work fewer hours while at the same time maintaining our current living standards, we need to be more productive.” Read: My Take: Making it work, four days a week With two per cent productivity growth per year, employees would even enjoy an inflation-adjusted cumulative 1.5 per cent increase in income, noted the study. But how realistic is it to aim for a two per cent annual increase in labour productivity? It would about double the productivity growth rate experienced in recent years. However, since labour productivity in Canada’s business sector increased at around two per cent a year from 1961 to 2012, the target isn’t unrealistic, said the study, noting the goal of returning to the country’s long-run productivity growth performance deserves a...

Staff  | June 3, 2020 Hub International Ltd. is acquiring Usefulideas, an employee benefits and group retirement consultancy based in Toronto. Joanne Rose, the organization’s principal and senior benefits consultant will join Hub Ontario, reporting into Matt Lievers, its president of employee benefits. Read: Hub International acquires two Canadian benefits firms “Usefulideas will be a great addition to our growing employee benefits and retirement team in Canada,” said Gregory Belton, executive chairman of Hub Ontario, in a press release. “The expertise and market relationships that Usefulideas has developed over the years will benefit our clients as they continue to seek a genuinely unique and differentiated service offering.” Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

Availability of a connector for Sefas’s customer communications management solution announced by Messagepoint Toronto, ON (June 1, 2020) – Messagepoint is pleased to announce the availability of a connector that enables its customers to leverage Sefas Designer, an end-to-end omnichannel customer communications management (CCM) solution, for communications composition. Sefas Designer is used globally by leading brands in financial services, insurance and healthcare sectors, primarily for critical and regulated transactional communications. The Messagepoint Connector for Sefas Designer makes it possible for Messagepoint customers to take advantage of Sefas’ high performance composition and post-composition capabilities. Messagepoint is an AI-powered content hub that gives business users control over the content within their CCM environments, simplifying and accelerating content authoring while also providing intelligent assistance for improving the quality of content. The Messagepoint Connector for Sefas Designer will enable Sefas customers to optimize their approach to content authoring, optimization and management for the purpose of creating more consistent, compliant and relevant customer communications. “The decision to partner with Sefas to build a connector between Messagepoint and Sefas Designer reflects Messagepoint’s focus of continuing to empower enterprises with choice and a broader range of world class options for composition,” said Steve Biancaniello, CEO of Messagepoint....

Most insurance carrier executives view maintaining loss ratios as the biggest obstacle to their success: Aite Group report Boston, MA (June 2, 2020) – While the loss ratio problem can be solved multiple ways, carriers often employ risk mitigation to address the issue. Still, it’s one thing to talk about enhanced risk mitigation in the abstract and another thing to face it in practice. For Aite Group’s new report, Gauging North American Carriers’ Views of Enhanced Risk Mitigation, we decided to go right to the source—insurance carrier executives—to gauge carriers’ receptiveness to the concept of enhanced risk mitigation. “Carriers have not been in a great position to look over their policyholders’ shoulders to ensure that they are avoiding risky situations and behaviors,” states Jay Sarzen, senior analyst at Aite Group. “In the past, helping policyholders avoid problematic choices has been limited to basic tactics, such as advising a business owner on how to establish good egress procedures. But the emergence of technology that enables enhanced risk mitigation, particularly telematics and advanced data analytics, have expanded carriers’ abilities,” he explains. This Impact Report is based on surveys conducted with executives at property and casualty insurance carriers in North America, and focuses...