Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

COVID-19 “accelerated the inevitable shift” toward using digital tools in the life insurance industry, said Susan Neely, CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers. Neely spoke during the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors’ Advocacy In Action Day on Wednesday. The pandemic is forcing everyone to take stock of what needs to change and what needs to stay the same, Neely said. As for the life insurance industry, the biggest change coming from COVID-19 will be a more sophisticated use of technology. “The world was headed toward pervasive e-signatures, e-notaries, online exams and CE,” she said. ACLI is advocating to make these temporary technological advances permanent, describing the current period as “a modernization phase of our regulatory environment.” These advances “will bring more products to more people,” Neely said. Despite the technological shift in an industry that was known for being slow to change, Neely said some things about the life insurance industry won’t change in the COVID-19 world. Advertisement “We will still be a people business,” she said. “And the battles will continue – we need to tell our story to policymakers to keep negative and onerous things from being laid on our industry.” Families and individuals...

Staff | May 20, 2020 The vast majority (96 per cent) of institutional investors feel they have an important role to play in addressing the world’s most pressing challenges, including climate change, social and economic inequality and the need for infrastructure development, according to a new survey by Natixis Investment Managers. About half (48 per cent) of survey respondents said institutional investors should put capital to work to address environmental, social and governance issues. The same amount said they should champion corporate governance including enhanced diversity and inclusion policies and practices, while slightly more (49 per cent) said they should use their investment clout to influence the companies in which they invest. Read: Coronavirus casting light on different ESG issues Two-thirds (65 per cent) of institutional investors said they believe ESG analysis has a valid place alongside fundamental investment analysis and 54 per cent said ESG is a method for discovering alpha. Some 70 per cent said they expect that using ESG will be standard practice in the investment industry within the next five years. Even so, 71 per cent said it remains difficult to evaluate which ESG data is material to investment analysis. Looking to asset classes, three-quarters (78 per cent) of survey respondents said they’re invested...

Staff | May 20, 2020 Competitive total rewards programs are a critical component of Canadian organizations’ human resources and corporate strategy, according to a new survey by WorldatWork. The survey, which polled 150 Canadian employers in February, found 96 per cent offer drug, dental, life insurance/accidental death and dismemberment, long-term disability and employee assistance programs. Additionally, 93 per cent of survey respondents offer vision benefits and 92 per cent offer short-term disability. While the survey found only five per cent of organizations offered unlimited paid-time-off programs, it’s likely this is because of government-mandated paid-time-off regulations, noted the survey. The law differs in each jurisdiction, but Canadian employees are generally entitled to sick and personal leave. And sick and personal leave beyond what’s required by law is the most popular paid-time-off policy, with 87 per cent of companies offering paid sick and personal leave pay. Read: A refresher on Canada’s leave policies as coronavirus escalates Performance-based merit systems are very common in Canada, as 90 per cent of companies have one in place. Additionally, 75 per cent of survey respondents said they offer individual performance-based incentives (cash bonuses). Only 10 per cent offer cash profit-sharing and only about half of companies offer long-term incentives with...

Staff | May 20, 2020 The Investment Management Corp. of Ontario is committing US$250 million to Apollo Global Management Inc.’s new Accord Fund III series B. The fund is focused on acquiring credits that have traded down due to liquidity-driven selling and non-economic reasons. “This is an example of IMCO adapting to market conditions and exploiting our liquidity very quickly so that clients have access to dislocated opportunities as they arise,” said Jennifer Hartviksen, managing director of global credit at the IMCO, in a press release. Read: IMCO reaches more than $70 billion AUM in 2019 Notably, the IMCO recently launched a global credit program with the aim of achieving higher risk-adjusted returns than traditional fixed income, as well as further diversification benefits. “As our program scales, we are initially relying on experienced strategic partners,” said Christian Hensley, senior managing director of private equities and credit at the IMCO, in the release. “The investment in this fund is an example of the types of opportunities we’re pursuing — investments with sponsors that we believe have deep expertise, delivering diversifying and differentiating exposures, who are transparent, opportunistic and value-oriented.” The IMCO’s global credit team closed the commitment with Apollo in April. Read: IMCO focusing on liquidity, cost-efficiency amid coronavirus crisis Read the...

New partnership fuses artificial intelligence with top-tier building science to protect Americans against severe weather and climate catastrophes Zesty.ai will merge the research of IBHS with artificial intelligence and collaborate on tools that help policyholders and the public identify, reduce, and manage risk. By marrying cutting-edge building science from the lab with data science in the cloud, the collaboration will push the accuracy of next generation climate risk models even higher. Research by IBHS into the resilience of construction materials like roof shingles, vents, solar panels, decking materials, and landscaping to wind, hail, fire, and other climate-driven damages is crucial in developing a more comprehensive understanding of climate risk. Richburg, SC (May 14, 2020) – Zesty.ai, a leading AI technology company, has joined the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) to further translate science into action through the combination of practical research, extensive historical loss data, and machine learning. This alliance will allow building science testing from IBHS’s cutting-edge research center to be scaled across millions of homes and businesses using the power of artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Severe weather and climate catastrophes disrupt lives, displace families, and drive financial loss. By collaborating, the organizations expect to...

The partnership between the insurer and the InsurTech aims at developing new parametric insurance solutions to actively respond to an evolving risk landscape It brings together GC&C’s technical capabilities in the corporate sector and local markets knowledge in over 160 countries with Descartes’ unmatched technological solutions Paris, France (May 18, 2020) – Generali Global Corporate & Commercial and Descartes Underwriting are pleased to announce a strategic partnership to offer parametric insurance products to respond to an evolving risk landscape. Generali’s P&C unit Global Corporate & Commercial (GC&C) enhances its offer and existing capabilities by partnering with Descartes Underwriting, an innovative InsurTech company – specialized in weather risk modelling and data-driven risk transfers – acting as a risk advisor and backed by BlackFin Capital Partners, an independent private equity firm. This collaboration represents a mutually beneficial partnership combining GC&C’s technical capabilities in the corporate sector and local markets knowledge in over 160 countries with Descartes’ unmatched technological solutions. Linked by shared values of client-centricity, innovation and trust, this alliance ultimately aims at empowering businesses to become more resilient by ensuring the provision of best-in-class insurance solutions. With an exponentially increasing number of data sources and ever-increasing data-quality, insurers have to seize the opportunity to define concrete measures to close the growing protection gap, e.g. by...

First on-demand gig economy insurance solution to launch in Canada Toronto, ON (May 14, 2020) – Duuo, an on-demand insurance brand of The Co-operators, is announcing the launch of its new gig insurance product with partner, HeyBryan. The first of its kind in Canada, Duuo Gig Insurance will be available to HeyBryan Experts starting May 14. Recognizing a gap in the market, Duuo, alongside InsurTech partner Slice Labs, worked to design a “gig insurance” product that could begin to meet the needs of the almost 1.7 million Canadians participating in the gig economy. After finding that annual insurance policies were often not a fit for gig workers, Duuo and Slice worked to create a solution that provided affordable, on-demand coverage that could be purchased in minutes. Bryan Baeumler, HGTV star and one of Canada’s most recognizable contractors, is the face of the HeyBryan app which connects home maintenance Experts with homeowners searching for assistance with small tasks around the house. Already taking meticulous steps to ensure all Experts joining the app are properly vetted, the partnership with Duuo enables HeyBryan to provide even more security and comfort to its users. “We’re thrilled to be the first home maintenance mobile marketplace...

ISB’s first Ready for Guidewire accelerator is now available in the Guidewire Marketplace to help Canadian insurers streamline claims processing to improve customer experience Toronto, ON (May 18, 2020) – Guidewire Software, Inc., provider of the industry platform Property and Casualty (P&C) insurers rely upon, is pleased to announce that ISB Global Services (ISB), an industry leader in insurance document sourcing  and background screening, has joined Guidewire PartnerConnect as a Solution partner. The companies also announced that ISB’s new Ready for Guidewire validated accelerator is now available to Canadian insurers in the Guidewire Marketplace. ISB Global Services has been providing the Property and Casualty insurance industry with accelerated access to insurance documents, claims support, and a wide array of underwriting information for over 25 years. The company leverages its value-added insurtech solutions to simplify its customers’ access to accurate, timely, and cost-effective business intelligence. When processing claims, speed and efficiency are of topmost importance. Ninety-five percent of policyholders cite speed of settlement as important or very important to satisfaction with the claims experience.[1] ISB Global Services’ Ready for Guidewire accelerator for Guidewire ClaimCenter users helps insurers leverage the benefits of ISB’s claims adjuster support services technology. The ISB solution helps...

Agents look for insurers with strong digital experiences to support new commercial business, communicate value to prospects, and retain clients at a time of loss or renewal: Novarica Boston, MA (May 19, 2020) – An insurer’s ability to assist an agent in communicating the value of products and services to prospects is a key ingredient in the success of a portal for an advisor. Agents are looking to partner with insurers that have strong digital experiences which support both placing new business and retaining clients at a time of loss or renewal. In a new report, Agent Portals: Key Capabilities for Small Commercial, research and advisory firm Novarica provides insights from discussions with members of 400 Under 40, a community of high-performing insurance producers under the age of 40. “Small commercial lines business is becoming more competitive,” said Kevin Rall, Vice President of Research and Consulting and author of Novarica’s new report. “Insurers that offer a comprehensive set of capabilities and orchestrated portal experience for the agent and policyholder will have the greatest potential of success.” Among the key findings of the report are: Agents expect a comprehensive set of digital experience capabilities. Insurers that provide capabilities to assist agents...

By Simon Staadegaard, Customer Success Manager, FRISS — The COVID-19 Coronavirus is causing fear, uncertainty and doubt in the form of lockdowns, runs on toilet paper, hospital capacities and many other areas including businesses. Many believe it will lead to an economic recession, the scale of which is still unknown. As with any major catastrophe, fraudsters are looking for new ways to cash in. Insurers must be prepared for the inevitable increase in fraud that occurs during times of crisis. Detecting fraud is not an easy task and requires thorough knowledge about the nature of fraud, how it can be committed and how it’s concealed. People don’t just wake up one day and plan to commit fraud – there are motives behind it. In regular times and in times of crisis, it helps to consider the three elements required to commit fraud. The Fraud Triangle A criminologist by the name Donald Cressey created the Fraud Triangle in the 1950’s, suggesting there are three elements to committing fraud: Rationalization: The individual determines that it is okay to commit fraud. Pressure: This can come from financial distress, a drug or gambling addiction, or the desire to maintain a lavish lifestyle. Opportunity: This...