Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

MINNEAPOLIS – July 15, 2020 – In an effort to help its employees save for their own retirement, Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America  has announced a new benefit that will help employees with personal student loan debt save for retirement through the company 401(k)  program.   This new program, which launched July 1, will assist employees whose student loan payments may limit them from contributing enough to the company 401(k) program in order to earn the full 7.5% company  contribution. To help ensure employees don’t miss out on the available company contribution because of student loan burden, the company will assess an employee’s personal student loan payments, and determine how much the company will contribute to their 401(k) account, up to the full contribution of 7.5% of eligible pay.   “As a company, we are committed to helping people secure their future and plan for retirement, and that should start with our own employees,” said Jenny Guldseth, chief human resources officer, Allianz Life. “We know that student loan debt is a significant issue, one that often delays saving for retirement. Being able to address this matter head-on as a part of our overall benefits package is important to...

MINNEAPOLIS – July 15, 2020 – In an effort to help its employees save for their own retirement, Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America  has announced a new benefit that will help employees with personal student loan debt save for retirement through the company 401(k)  program.   This new program, which launched July 1, will assist employees whose student loan payments may limit them from contributing enough to the company 401(k) program in order to earn the full 7.5% company  contribution. To help ensure employees don’t miss out on the available company contribution because of student loan burden, the company will assess an employee’s personal student loan payments, and determine how much the company will contribute to their 401(k) account, up to the full contribution of 7.5% of eligible pay.   “As a company, we are committed to helping people secure their future and plan for retirement, and that should start with our own employees,” said Jenny Guldseth, chief human resources officer, Allianz Life. “We know that student loan debt is a significant issue, one that often delays saving for retirement. Being able to address this matter head-on as a part of our overall benefits package is important to...

Staff | July 16, 2020 When Canadian taxpayers are on the hook for public sector pension plan obligations, these institutions must spell that out clearly in their financial reporting, according to a new paper by the C.D. Howe Institute. “Reporting of pension costs as they accrue and net obligations at a point in time is tricky,” wrote William Robson, the organization’s chief executive officer and the paper’s author. “Pension payments will occur in the future — projecting even the simplest payment requires choosing a discount rate — and are subject to uncertainties such as longevity and future salaries. “Many major pension plans in the broader public sector have benefits that are contingent on their funded status. Moreover, many major plans are multi-employer plans, even when governments are the unique or majority funders of the employers, it is not clear that governments are, or should be, responsible for funding shortfalls if a plan gets into trouble.” Read: The impact of coronavirus on DB pension funding status, asset mix Currently, the Public Sector Accounting Board is reviewing accounting standards that could affect the entities consolidated in government financial statements, noted the paper, which made several recommendations with the aim of fostering more complete reporting. “A key one concerns public sector...

The Canadian Press | July 16, 2020 Industrial conglomerate Siemens is allowing more than 100,000 of its employees to work away from the office for two or three days a week on a permanent basis. The Munich-based company said the coronavirus crisis has “shown that working independently of a fixed location offers many advantages and is possible on a much wider scale than originally thought.” It said that surveys of Siemens employees worldwide had shown a desire for greater flexibility. Read: Employers moving to remote work to help ‘flatten the coronavirus curve’ The new arrangement applies to more than 140,000 employees at more than 125 locations in 43 countries and takes effect immediately, the company added. It said its “mobile working” concept doesn’t necessarily mean working from home. It said employees should, in consultation with supervisors, “choose the work locations where they’re most productive.” That could include co-working spaces, for example. Siemens said the new approach will be tailored to local legal requirements, the demands of specific jobs and individual preferences. The employer joins other companies, such as Shopify Inc., Slack and Twitter Inc. that have made similar announcements in the past few weeks. Read: Remote working, distributed workforces could be part of new normal post-coronavirus Read...

Philly.com The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday said it fined businessman Dean Vagnozzi and his financial firm, A Better Financial Plan, roughly $500,000 for securities violations and ordered him to cease certain investment activities. Vagnozzi, 51, established a series of investment funds named Pillar 1 through 8 to sell a portfolio of life insurance policies — also known as “life settlements.” Between April 2013 through August 2017, Vagnozzi sold five funds, none of which was registered with the SEC, the agency said. As part of the settlement, Vagnozzi did not admit wrongdoing and is suspended from acting as a broker for 12 months. His lawyer John Pauciulo did not respond to requests for comment by email and phone. A Better Financial Plan is Vagnozzi’s company based in King of Prussia. Vagnozzi is president and sole owner, and raised more than $32 million for the Pillar Funds from 339 investors, with individuals averaging an investment of $97,233, the SEC said. About 46% of investors were non-accredited, meaning they didn’t meet certain net worth requirements, the SEC found. The agency’s order did not indicate whether investors lost money. Advertisement Vagnozzi encouraged the public to “invest like the big boys,” and touted...

Staff  | July 15, 2020 The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is lending financing to Medicom Inc., a Quebec-based manufacturer and distributor of infection control products. The company, which also specializes in personal protective equipment, including medical grade face masks and gloves, has operations in North America, Europe and Asia. Through 13 distribution centres and 10 plants, it serves the health care and industrial sectors. While the Caisse is already one of Medicom’s financial partners, its support will be used to expand the company in Asian markets in the coming years. Indeed, the company is established in developed countries, but growth markets represent the next step in its strategy to expand through acquisitions, according to a press release. Read: Caisse providing $150M in financing to Quebec-based insurer “CDPQ is pleased to renew its support for Medicom and allow it to explore new avenues for expansion and increase access to its infection control products,” said Kim Thomassin, executive vice-president and head of Quebec investments and stewardship investing at the Caisse, in a press release. “Given the nature of its industry and its multi-year contracts, Medicom possesses the resilience that perfectly aligns with CDPQ’s strategy as a long-term investor.” Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

Staff | July 15, 2020 Brink’s Canada Ltd. is the latest employer to join the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan’s DBplus offering. Represented by Unifor, 582 full- and part-time workers from Ontario and 175 from British Columbia officially became part of the plan on July 1, 2020. “We are delighted to welcome Brink’s and its employees from Ontario and British Columbia,” said Derek Dobson, chief executive officer and plan manager of the CAAT pension plan, in a press release. “The popular DBplus, which delivers the promise of a lifetime pension for employees with cost certainty for employers, proved to be the right solution for Brink’s and Unifor.” Read: Saint John Airport staff latest to join CAAT’s DBplus Notably, Brink’s part-time staff weren’t previously eligible for the company’s pension arrangement but are now eligible to join DBplus along with their full-time colleagues. DBplus opened to all types of Canadian workplaces in 2019 and now has more than 15,000 members across more than 30 employers. Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

New research reveals the key digital steps customer service and support leaders can take to better respond to high-volume and reduced staffing Stamford, CT (July 15, 2020) – During times of crisis, such as COVID-19, there are 10 digital and self-service tactics customer service and support leaders can implement to quickly lower operating costs, improve effectiveness and reduce contact volume and expenses, according to Gartner, Inc. “In a normal operating environment, organizations develop strategies that are executed over time and consistent with organizational goals,” said Philip Jenkins, senior director analyst in the Gartner Customer Service and Support Practice. “However, in times of crisis, the guiding principle of achieving a balance between expense reduction and customer experience may need to be shifted temporarily.” To do this, Gartner recommends that service and support leaders consider the following actions: Proactive outbound messaging: Identify top contact reasons and implement proactive outbound messages using all existing organizational messaging channels such as text, email and app notifications. Provide consistent messaging: Ensure all channels for internal and external communications are consistent in tone and content. Prioritize voice of customer (VoC) analytics: Use speech and text analytics to adjust actions near real-time to improve outcomes such as calls...

Waterloo, ON (July 15, 2020) – IMS (Insurance & Mobility Solutions) is providing the telematics technology solution behind the ‘Fahr + Spar’ usage-based insurance program launched by ADAC Autoversicherung AG, the car insurance brand of Germany’s leading motoring organization ADAC. The program, ADAC Fahr + Spar, is a telematics-enabled insurance product where policyholders are rewarded with a 10% discount on their premium after app activation and transferring the initial 100 recorded kilometres (approximately 60 miles); and the ability to earn up to 30% of their premium in cashback, depending on their driving behavior. ADAC Fahr + Spar is powered by a combination of IMS’ smartphone app running in parallel with IMS’ recently announced Wedge beacon (all rebranded by ADAC as DriveDot) – both designed and delivered by IMS to provide high-quality, real time data that provide an indication of the driving style across braking, acceleration and speed. Bob Skerrett, CEO of the Insurance Solutions division of IMS, said: “The low-cost connectivity afforded by telematics via smartphone apps is driving the continued growth of usage-based insurance, and the addition of the DriveDot beacon ensures that the data harvested is more accurate and reliable than a mobile-only approach.” As well as providing...

Cambridge, ON (July 15, 2020) – After being announced as Gore Mutual Insurance Company’s next Chief Executive Officer in early March, Andy Taylor officially started his new role leading the company at the beginning of July. Taylor has been with Gore Mutual for 15 years and was previously the organization’s Chief Financial Officer. Following extensive research that looked deep into the future macroeconomic and societal landscape of both Canada and the world, Gore Mutual launched its Next Horizon strategy earlier this year with an ambitious plan to grow the company into a purpose-driven, digitally-led national insurer. To help steer this transformation, in March Gore Mutual established an entirely new senior executive team to work alongside Taylor and is recruiting new talent at all levels of the organization. “Our new strategy is bold and will radically transform our business at a magnitude and scale that this company has never experienced before,” said Taylor. “Ultimately, our transformation journey will take Gore Mutual from a mid-size, regional carrier to a national scale insurer underpinned by world class technology and operations in just a few short years.” According to Taylor, over the next two years Gore Mutual is aspiring to create best-in-class digital broker...