Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. will not stage an in-person 2020 annual meeting because of concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic – another blow to Milwaukee area hotels, restaurants and attractions. The virtual meeting, with agents and their families remaining at home, will replace the traditional meeting format, the company announced Monday. That means around 12,000 people – and their money – will not be traveling to Milwaukee for the city’s largest annual event. The 2019 gathering had an estimated economic impact of $13.2 million for the local economy, with participants filling hotel rooms, restaurants and tourist attractions during their visit. Canceling the in-person format was a difficult decision, said Betsy Hoylman, senior director of corporate communication. Advertisement But the company’s highest priority has been to protect the health of its workforce and people in surrounding communities, she said. “Although the threat of COVID-19 may improve over the summer, it’s necessary for us to make our decision with currently available public health data,” a company statement said. “We feel it’s best for our employees, our financial advisors who travel here from all over the U.S., and for the Milwaukee community that we meet online,” according to the...

State insurance regulators might be preoccupied with the COVID-19 pandemic, but efforts to tighten up regulation of indexed universal life illustrations is ongoing. A comment period closed Thursday on draft changes to Actuarial Guideline 49 proposed by the American Council for Life Insurers. The Life Actuarial Task Force is scheduled to discuss the draft and comments during a May 14 conference call. In a letter sent Friday, Birny Birnbaum, executive director of the Center for Economic Justice and an NAIC consumer advocate, said the ACLI draft will not solve any of the issues with unrealistic IUL illustrations. “The ACLI proposal is a complex extension of an already complex set of AG 49 calculations that will move illustrations further away from the core purposes of an illustration — to demonstrate how a product operates and to provide realistic expectations,” Birnbaum wrote. The IUL Illustration Subgroup has a mandate to clamp down on multipliers and bonuses that critics say enable insurers to get around AG 49, approved in 2015. Advertisement In late October, the Life Actuarial Task Force voted to add language firming up AG 49, leaving the details to the subgroup. The key wording is this: multipliers or other enhancements should not...

Staff | May 4, 2020 Blue Cross and SSQ Life Insurance Co. Inc. are the latest insurers to join as sponsors of MindBeacon Group’s Stronger Minds, a free digital program available for all Canadians during the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to guidance from Beacon’s team of clinical psychologists, the platform offers resources focused on resilience building, videos and quick reads from mental-health experts. Unlike one-to-one therapy, no clinical assessment is required to participate. Read: MindBeacon launches digital mental-health programs to help Canadians with coronavirus-related stress “With our team of clinical psychologists, along with trusted national health and wellness advocates, our organization is dedicated to helping people strengthen their resiliency and manage through unique emotional challenges stirred by the pandemic crisis,” said Sam Duboc, chair and chief executive officer of MindBeacon Group, in a press release. “Canada is in this together, and we’re wholeheartedly committed to helping Canadians protect their mental well-being so they can successfully face every day as it comes.” SSQ is currently offering MindBeacon Group’s digital cognitive behavioural therapy services through its group benefits plans. “And now SSQ Insurance has decided to join forces with the Stronger Minds program and contribute to the development of this innovative tool, which meets a real need in...

P&C represents about one-third of premiums in the insurance industry—yet it has been losing relevance for years. Six market-shaping forces are the key to its reinvention. By Sylvain Johansson, Andy Luo, Erwann Michel-Kerjan, and Leda Zaharieva → Read the whole report Chicago, IL (Apr. 29, 2020) – The insurance industry is often perceived as complicated and slow moving. Yet insurance is one of the largest global industries, generating more than $5 trillion in annual revenue. It plays a critical role in today’s economies, offering financial protection and risk mitigation to individuals, small businesses, large corporations, nonprofit organizations, and even governments. As a whole, property and casualty (P&C) insurance represents $1.6 trillion in premiums (about one-third of the insurance industry) and remains one of the few industries that has yet to be disrupted. The three Rs: Resilience, relevance, and reinvention As a notable achievement in the financial-services world, the insurance industry has grown economically stronger in the past two decades after sustaining $45 billion (2020 prices) in insured losses from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001—then the costliest event in the history of insurance globally. And in the past few years, natural disasters have led insurers and reinsurers to pay...

EIS Group and PwC collaborate to develop ecosystem built for the future of insurance London, UK (Apr. 28, 2020) – EIS Group is pleased to announce the launch of an intelligent digital insurance ecosystem initiative, in collaboration with PwC. The new ecosystem will combine agility with insights to enable market differentiation and deliver best-in-class customer experience. This will allow insurance companies taking a greenfield approach to get closer to their customers and better understand their needs as people, rather than policy numbers. In recent years, insurers have struggled to adapt to the changing demands of consumers. Their ability to make the move from analogue to digital is being held back by their legacy estates that are slow to change, difficult to integrate, complex to draw insight from, and lack the agility to deliver innovative services. This is why 75% of insurers are now proactively taking steps to move legacy technology landscapes to more dynamic and flexible ‘as a service’ models.[1] The intelligent digital ecosystem will allow insurers to take a more radical approach to transformation, offering a greenfield platform for transitioning away from legacy technology.  This new ecosystem will serve as an accelerator asset that shows insurers that moving away...

Toronto, ON (Mar. 10, 2020) – Spring overland flooding has already caused extensive damage in Northern Alberta, in what is likely only the first significant flood event in Canada this season. Under normal circumstances, damage caused by floodwater can be devastating and tragic, but the current COVID-19 pandemic poses many additional challenges. Ecclesiastical Insurance have published COVID-19: Mitigating Flood Damage During a Pandemic, a risk control bulletin and checklist that outlines pre- and post-flood protocols to mitigate the property damage caused by flooding, and to protect on-site responders from the hazards of doing so during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bulletin advises anyone visiting a premises to assist in flood mitigation measures, to consider their personal safety of paramount importance and strongly recommends that they adhere to all provincial and municipal COVID-19 travel restrictions and remember to practice safe social distancing techniques when in close proximity to others who may also be assisting. “The risk control bulletin summarizes a number of steps and actions that a property owner should consider before, during and after a flood event, and provides some advice on how these may be accomplished while staying safe during the COVID-19 outbreak,” stated Colin Robertson, Vice President, Risk Control...

Washington, DC (Apr. 30, 2019) – Collision avoidance systems are eliminating more crashes as the technology improves, according to a new study of insurance claims data from various BMW models. However, the impact of partially automated driving remains murky. In its latest study, the Highway Loss Data Institute compared insurance claims data from BMW vehicles for model years 2013-17. The analysis showed that the combination of improvements in front crash prevention and the addition of adaptive cruise control resulted in large reductions in the frequency of property damage liability and bodily injury liability claims. However, the further addition of lane centering as part of the company’s partially automated driving package had little impact. “The crash claim frequency reductions for BMW’s Driving Assistance package are the largest we’ve seen from advanced driver assistance systems, which suggests crash avoidance may be delivering bigger benefits as the technology improves,” says Matt Moore, senior vice president of HLDI. “The lane centering that comes in the ‘plus’ package doesn’t seem to augment these benefits. That may be because the system is only intended for use on freeways, which are comparatively safer than other roads, and only works when the driver switches it on.” For this...

Canada’s leading geospatial and location data company comes together with the leader in household insurance data to provide improved solutions to the insurance industry Montreal, QC (Apr. 30, 2020) – EQ Inc., North America’s leader in location behaviour data and intelligence, and Opta Information Intelligence Inc., Canada’s largest property location intelligence provider, are pleased to announce their partnership to deliver improved target marketing and performance capabilities for the insurance industry and other verticals. This data and technology partnership will create unique target marketing and performance products including specialized predictive models and improved segmentation tools. By combining Canada’s richest device graph (EQ) and the largest residential and business data set (Opta), the partnership is a game changer for the Insurance and Financial Services industry. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Opta,” said Geoffrey Rotstein, President and CEO of EQ Works. “In a data driven economy, the ability to provide predictive models that show companies where to focus is a huge advantage. Our combined solution will provide information to insurance companies, financial institutions and auto brands to better understand where to focus to improve lead scoring, acquisition capabilities and overall performance for all of their data-driven marketing work.” EQ is well...

Business Wire American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) today announced the launch of Lloyd’s Syndicate 2019. This landmark Syndicate, the largest ever to be launched through Lloyd’s, will exclusively reinsure risks from AIG’s Private Client Group (PCG). PCG is an industry-recognized brand with a leading market position in the High Net Worth segment. Significant capital support has been received from high-quality investors and capacity providers, which is a testament to the quality and growth potential of the PCG franchise. In combination with its existing Lloyd’s operations, AIG will now operate the ninth largest managing agency in the Lloyd’s market, in terms of capacity. For Lloyd’s and the third-party investors and capital providers, Syndicate 2019 represents a compelling opportunity to access the highly attractive High Net Worth segment. Clients will continue to benefit from PCG’s excellent value proposition, which will be further enhanced by additional products and holistic risk management solutions provided through the Lloyd’s market. “Syndicate 2019 is a unique and industry-defining structure between AIG and the oldest insurance market in the world. Our partnership with Lloyd’s will materially benefit PCG’s clients and enable our High Net Worth business to further capitalize on its pre-eminent market position,” said Peter Zaffino,...

Montreal, QC (Apr. 30, 2020) – Apollo Insurance Solutions is pleased to announce that Apollo has been named a finalist in the Company of the Year – Startup Success category of the 2020 Technology Impact Awards. The awards, which are B.C.’s largest and longest-running tech awards program, celebrate the province’s vibrant tech ecosystem. Finalists were announced live via Zoom by Jill Tipping, BC Tech President and CEO, joined by Riaz Meghji, Founder of Every Conversation Counts. “The Apollo team has worked hard over the past year, and it’s great to see some of that work recognized by our community,” said Jeff McCann, Apollo President and CEO. “Some industries will go back to the same way they’ve always done business, but insurance will never look the same post-COVID-19. Our team is prepared to accelerate through this phase.” Apollo was one of three finalists named in the category. A total of 38 finalists were named across 11 categories. “Seeing the community come together to support one another during these challenging times has given new meaning to our annual celebration of the change makers, the up-and-comers, the innovators and the bold,” said Tipping. “It is incredibly rewarding to see such grit, kindness and...