Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Leader in automotive and insurance solutions and services will deliver first globally available intelligent AI-based solution enabling end-to-end automation of the claims workflow Westlake, TX (June 30, 2020) – Solera Holdings, Inc., a global leader in risk and asset management data and software solutions for the insurance and automotive industries, today introduced the next generation of Qapter, the company’s innovative automotive claims workflow solution driven by artificial intelligence (AI). Solera’s patent pending AI-based technology will provide the industry’s only globally available end-to-end solution for full digitalization of the modern claims workflow. Solera has made strategic investment into core machine-learning capabilities that will radically transform the claims workflow process. The company’s AI has the capability to detect damaged parts, determine the type and severity of damage, define appropriate vehicle manufacturer repair operations and create an estimate based on these pre-defined repair operations. Automation tools improve the process of triage claims workflow, speed up reviews of damage photos, rapidly improve identification of total loss vehicles, and support identification of the next best action for repairable vehicles. These capabilities all save time, speed up the claims process and shorten the lifecycle of a claim for insurers, body repair centers, assessors and vehicle owners....

New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — No one will mistake 2020 for just another year. The turmoil caused by the pandemic, lockdowns, and social unrest is unlike any other year. Businesses, individuals, and governments have all been forced to make dramatic changes and adapt to new realities. The P&C insurance industry has responded admirably amid the chaos and continues to adapt to the evolving environment. As insurers develop strategies and plans for 2021, the logical question is where to start. The traditional planning processes may need to be supplemented with new approaches, given the great uncertainty brought about by the events of 2020. One approach to consider is utilizing scenario planning to inform the future strategy. Scenario planning is most valuable when there are considerable uncertainties regarding the future. By definition, strategic planning always has to deal with an uncertain future. However, a new set of variables is now layered on to the traditional factors that influence strategic decisions. In a new research report, SMA has evaluated a wide range of variables and has developed four scenarios for the future for P&C insurers. P&C Insurance Post-COVID-19: Four Scenarios for the Future, looks at the implications...

Staff | July 6, 2020 New draft regulations from the federal government would allow registered pension plans to borrow money and extend the deadline to retroactively credit pensionable service under a defined benefit plan in a bid to help plan sponsors maintain their pensions through the coronavirus pandemic. As part of the government’s coronavirus economic response plan, the regulations would apply to employers sponsoring a registered pension plan or a salary deferral leave plan, aiming to provide temporary relief from registration rules and conditions under the Income Tax Regulations. The draft regulations would also extend the deadline to make catch-up contributions to defined contribution plans and permit plan sponsors to make catch-up contributions in 2021 if they were reduced in 2020. Read: An overview of Canadian DB pension relief measures during coronavirus The regulations would also set aside the 36-month employment condition in the definition of eligible period of reduced pay for the purpose of using prescribed compensation to determine benefit or contribution levels. And they’d allow wage rollback periods during 2020 to qualify as an eligible period of reduced pay for prescribed compensation purposes. Under the draft regulations, plan sponsors would also be allowed to add temporary stop-the-clock rules to the conditions applicable to salary deferral leave plans between March...

La Capitale and SSQ Insurance have officially combined to form the largest mutual insurance company in Canada. The new company, whose name will be announced in the fall, has a footprint of over 3.5 million members and clients. The integration process will be a gradual one, with all agreements being maintained and no changes as of now for current members, clients, and business partners. With 4,700 employees, total premiums of $5 billion, and assets under management exceeding $20 billion, the company will remain based in Quebec City. Aside from being the top group insurer and fourth-largest personal insurer in Quebec, it occupies the number 4 spot among group insurers and number 6 among personal insurers in Canada. “We are very proud to make this merger of equals official today,” Jean-François Chalifoux, former CEO of SSQ Insurance and president and CEO of the new company, said in a statement. “Our new company has given itself the means to grow and make its mark in a fast-changing industry. We are now a major player across the country.” Jean St-Gelais, former chairman of the Board and CEO of La Capitale, has been appointed as chairman of the new company’s board of directors and...

Staff  | July 3, 2020 The Emerging Markets Private Equity Association is appointing Suyi Kim, head of Asia Pacific at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, to its board of directors. “Emerging markets are core to CPP Investments’ long-term strategy,” she said in a press release. “We have been investing in emerging markets for over a decade and currently have over 20 per cent of our total assets invested in these markets, with the majority in Asian emerging markets. I am pleased to join EMPEA’s efforts to promote transparency and sustainable investing, which are critical at a time of global market uncertainty and turbulence.” Read: Ontario Teachers’ appointing Karen Frank as senior managing director of equities Kim joined the CPPIB in 2007 as managing director and head of private equity for Asia and established its Hong Kong office in 2008. Previous roles include portfolio manager in the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plans’ private capital group, senior associate at the Carlyle Group and business analyst at McKinsey & Co. “Suyi Kim brings a unique Asian sensibility to our board and a breadth of experience across all types of private investing on behalf of one of the world’s truly great institutions, CPP Investments,” said Nicolas Rohatyn, board...

Kelsey Rolfe | July 3, 2020 The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that where one provision of a termination clause doesn’t meet minimum statutory requirements, it renders the entire clause unenforceable. In Waksdale v. Segon North America Inc., the court reversed a Superior Court of Justice ruling in favour of plaintiff Benjamin Waksdale’s former employer Segon. Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan found that while the company’s termination of Waksdale with cause provision violated the Ontario Employment Standards Act, he was terminated under the without-cause provision, which was compliant with the law, and those two provisions should be considered separately. In their decision, Court of Appeal Justices Sarah Pepall, C. William Hourigan, and Lois Roberts ruled the termination provisions must be read together. Read: Court decision in IBM case clarifies enforcement of termination clauses “Recognizing the power imbalance between employees and employers, as well as the remedial protections offered by the ESA, courts should focus on whether the employer has, in restricting an employee’s common-law rights on termination, violated the employee’s ESA rights,” wrote the justices. “While courts will permit an employer to enforce a rights-restricting contract, they will not enforce termination provisions that are in whole or in part illegal.” While Segon asserted that its severability clause should apply...

Cassandra Williamson-Hopp | July 3, 2020 Health and productivity is affected by a lack of access to care, according to Dr. Hanif Jamal, Canadian medical director at Teledoc Health, during a webinar hosted by Benefits Canada.  Referring to a recent survey by the Canadian Medical Association, he noted 73 per cent of Canadians said they believe virtual care will improve access, followed by more timely treatments (71 per cent), more convenience than in-person doctor visits (67 per cent) and improved overall health care (63 per cent). “Between pressures impeding access to care and Canadians’ readiness to give virtual care a try, the time is now for employers to figure out how to make telemedicine available as an employee benefit,” he said. Read: Canadians cite 91% satisfaction rate with virtual health care Employers are aligning themselves with virtual-care providers, said Dave Angus, president of Johnston Group, also speaking during the webinar. He noted this move has been positive for the benefits industry in terms of quick access to health care and what that means for employee health outcomes. “Oftentimes, when you introduce new products, it takes a while for the market to catch up, but the coronavirus has accelerated the impact and adoption.” Telemedicine has a triaging benefit,...

Staff | July 3, 2020 Employers are increasingly interested in seeing more support for chronic disease and chronic pain management in their benefits plans, according to the 2020 Sanofi Canada health-care survey. The vast majority (88 per cent) of plan sponsors said they want their health benefits plan to do more to support plan members living with chronic diseases, up from 82 per cent in 2019 and 79 per cent in 2018. The same number (88 per cent) said they want their insurer to make products and services related to chronic disease management available in their health benefits plan, so they don’t have to make special requests to opt into a new benefit. Plan members living with chronic conditions or pain also expressed interest in more support from their health benefits plan, with 41 per cent saying they’d like higher levels of coverage for existing products or services and 23 per cent wanting coverage for new products or services. Read: What are the top chronic diseases in the workplace? More than half (58 per cent) of plan members reported having at least one chronic condition, which increases to 70 per cent among those aged 55 and older and 93 per cent among plan members who describe themselves...

Staff  | July 3, 2020 In the second quarter of 2020, the funded positions of defined benefit plans recovered almost half of the losses incurred during the coronavirus crash of the first quarter, according to Mercer’s pension health index. The index, which represents the solvency ratio of a hypothetical DB pension plan, increased to 101 per cent at the end of June, from 93 per cent at the end of March. While back to full funding, the index is still significantly lower than its level of 112 per cent at the end of 2019. “While the last few months have been painful, most defined benefit plans have emerged from the depths of the crisis in reasonably strong shape,” said Manuel Monteiro, partner and leader of Mercer Canada’s financial strategy group, in a press release. “Measured across the backdrop of the 20-plus years since Jan. 1, 2000, funded positions have been higher than they are today less than 30 per cent of the time.” Read: Canadian DB plan solvency drops off coronavirus scare: reports On a similarly positive note, Aon reported that its median solvency ratio rose to 95.4 per cent, up from 89.1 per cent at the end of the first quarter, according to its median solvency ratio...

Foresters Financial is embarking on a new chapter of its existence as it finally exits the variable life and annuity business. The company has completed its previously announced sale of Foresters Financial Holding Company and Foresters Life Insurance and Annuity Company (FLIAC), the New York-based variable life and annuity business it acquired through its 2011 purchase of First Investors, to Nassau Financial Group. With the sale of FLIAC, Foresters has completed divested itself of the First Investors businesses, following its sale of the asset manager and broker dealer arms to Macquarie Group and Cetera Financial Group, respectively. It also marks the culmination of Foresters strategy to concentrate on fixed life insurance in the US and Canada. “Our strategy focuses on optimizing our strengths as a modern fraternal life insurance carrier,” Foresters Financial President and CEO Jim Boyle said in a statement. “With the divestitures over the past year, our energies are fully devoted to driving the growth of our fixed life insurance business and taking advantage of being a purpose-driven fraternal organization.” The firm said its fraternal life business has been growing as it expands its suite of innovative term life, universal life, and whole life insurance products in the...