Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Staff | April 29, 2020 Many employers expect to maintain the flexible and remote-working policies they’ve recently put in place once the coronavirus pandemic is over, according to a new survey by Willis Towers Watson. The survey, which polled 200 U.S. employers, found 59 per cent said they expect their work-from-home policies will remain in effect after the pandemic, while 49 per cent said the same of flexible-working arrangements. Employers also said they expect certain issues to linger once the pandemic ends, with 64 per cent anticipating higher levels of employee stress and anxiety over the next three to six months and 60 per cent expecting to have to deal with maintaining employee resiliency. During the crisis, employers have ramped up communications with staff. The majority said they’ve boosted communications on health and safety tips (88 per cent) and provided tips on working from home (84 per cent) and managing remote workforces (76 per cent). Read: 5 benefits predictions for the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic “It’s important that employers lay the groundwork now for greater stability in the workplace,” said John Jones, North America head of talent at Willis Towers Watson, in a press release. “Initiatives such as work from home, virtual meetings...

Staff | April 29, 2020 Canadian defined benefit plans saw a median return of negative 7.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2020, after enduring a historic period of market volatility and economic turmoil resulting from the global pandemic crisis, according to both the Northern Trust Canada universe and the RBC Investor and Treasury Services universe. Northern Trust Canada noted central banks and policy-makers the world over have responded to the crisis with unprecedented monetary policy measures and spending in an effort to curb the economic and financial damage as the pandemic runs its course.  Read: The impact of coronavirus on DB pension funding status, asset mix “Canadian pension plans demonstrated resiliency during a period of extreme market stress, with the median plan in the Northern Trust Canada universe posting a return of negative 7.1 per cent for the first quarter — a modest decline in light of the unprecedented conditions,” said Katie Pries, president and chief executive officer of Northern Trust Canada, in a press release. “In a volatile market riddled with fear, uncertainty and unpredictability, Canadian pension plan sponsors navigated through uncharted territory, seeking a path to safety for the health of their employees, as well as the preservation of their...

U.S. life insurance death benefit claims from COVID-19 could range anywhere from $8 billion to $160 billion, Moody’s Investors Service said in a new report. However, if the total number of deaths remains within the credit rating agency’s projections, the uptick should represent a modest decline in capital from death benefits. Moody’s base case scenario looks at deaths from infection rates with 2% at the low end and 40% as an extreme stress scenario, while 10% is the high end base case. A 1% infection fatality rate is assumed, except for group policies, which tend to have exposure to working age individuals and therefore have lower mortality rates. While life reinsurers are the most exposed to increased death benefits, the impact to capital levels from COVID-19-related deaths should be modest for direct writers rated by Moody’s. Direct writers estimated pretax losses do not exceed 10% in capital even in the high end base case scenario and do not exceed 40% of capital in the severe scenario. Based on the current success with social distancing, Moody’s noted it is possible that death claims come in below their low base case scenario. “For the U.S. life insurance industry we are projecting $8...

BAE tools go well beyond the capabilities of BAS and allow organizations to conduct near-continuous penetration testing: Aite Group Boston, MA (Apr. 29, 2020) – Penetration testing is a widely accepted industry practice to complement vulnerability scanning and evaluate the effectiveness of cyber defenses. But penetration testing is labor-intensive and dependent on highly qualified cyber professionals—and expensive. Fortunately, a new breed of tools—breach and attack emulation—is emerging that can automate penetration testing processes and increase testing cycles at significantly reduced cost. This Impact Brief describes the differences between breach and attack simulation and BAE, and includes an example of how an organization is using a BAE product to lower its cyber risk. It is based on Aite Group’s telephone and in-person conversations with 15 security professionals, conducted from mid-December 2019 to mid-March 2020, as well as an extended interview with a cyber defense manager at a large financial services company that is using a new BAE tool to reduce the company’s overall cyber risk. Click here for the online summary or to download the table of contents. This report mentions Pcysys. About Aite Group Aite Group is a global research and advisory firm delivering comprehensive, actionable advice on business, technology,...

SGI to use Xactimate, XactAnalysis, and Benchmark to quicken workflows and improve decision making Regina, SK (Apr. 28, 2020) – Xactware is pleased to announce that Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) is switching to Xactware’s claims estimating, claims management, and weather analytics solutions. Xactware is a Verisk business. After a thorough survey of available products on the market, SGI chose to implement Xactware’s Xactimate®, XactAnalysis®, and Benchmark® solutions to help shorten cycle times and improve decision making through the use of powerful claims and weather analytics. SGI offers competitive insurance coverage through independent brokers throughout Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia and Ontario. “We’re excited to deepen our partnership with Xactware,” said Troy Kolish, Director Corporate Claims Partnerships. “The Xactware products offer our claims teams a seamless workflow that simplifies many day-to-day tasks and helps us focus on taking care of our policyholders.” Xactimate is Xactware’s property claims solution, empowering insurance and restoration professionals to estimate a wide range of losses, from minor damage to total losses. XactAnalysis is a powerful assignment network and analytical tool that empowers insurers to send and receive assignments, track the status of claims, and analyze company performance. Benchmark provides claims teams with natural hazard analysis reports...

CIOs rely on a range of foundational practices and capabilities to deliver business value: Novarica Boston, MA (Apr. 28, 2020) – The pandemic has demonstrated to insurers how central technology is to their ability to function, and the CIO’s role as become even more critical. In a new report, Insurer CIO Foundations: Leadership, Practices, and Technology, research and advisory firm Novarica provides an overview of key capabilities and areas CIOs rely on to deliver value for their enterprises. “The best technology can’t run itself,” said Deb Zawisza, Vice President of Research and Consulting, and lead author of Novarica’s new report. “The most talented IT organizations will be ineffective if they’re not well-led and well-aligned with organizational goals. CIOs should keep in mind that technologies, practices, and leadership techniques need to be in balance to create business value effectively.” Among the key findings of the report are: Alignment with business partners is crucial for CIOs to advance their agenda. Linking technology investments to business value is a crucial enabler for sustainable partnerships. Modern practices for delivery, operations, and architecture enable IT to pivot. Flexible capabilities and lightweight processes maintain forward momentum as business needs change. Cloud changes the game from defense...

Dartmouth, NS (Apr. 27, 2020) – Storm Insurance Group announces the launch of its Give Back fundraising campaign to help support local Canadian food banks amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Our local food banks are experiencing a significant increase in need at this time, matched by a decline in donations and volunteers due to social distancing measures. As a corporate partner of local food banks across the country, Storm wants to help. Storm Insurance Group has committed to matching donations made to local food banks in the areas it services through the Give Back campaign, up to $40,000. Storm Insurance Group CEO, Jamie Reid, has also committed to personally matching an additional donation of $40,000 in support of this initiative. “We have been incredibly fortunate over the past 40 years to build a successful business across the many communities we serve.” says Jamie Reid, “Personally and on behalf of our employees, I want to thank these communities, individuals and businesses for their continuous support. These donations are a small way of giving back in these challenging times.” Learn more: Give Back fundraising campaign. About Storm Insurance Group Storm Insurance Group is a multi-channel group of insurance organizations, committed to partnering with...

Staff | April 29, 2020 Lori Landry, chief marketing officer at Sun Life Global Investments, has retired, effective April 17. After nearly 20 years at Rogers Communications Inc. as a journalist, editor and publisher — including 17 years at Benefits Canada — Landry joined Sun Life Financial in 2003 as assistant vice-president of marketing and plan member education for group retirement services. During her 17-year tenure at Sun Life, she progressed to increasingly senior roles, including vice-president of national account sales, client relationships and marketing and chief marketing officer for Sun Life’s overall Canadian business. Read: Sun Life names Jacques Goulet president for Canada In 2010, Landry was chosen to lead marketing for SLGI, the newly formed asset management business, where she hired the team and created the brand and creative strategy. In addition to her role as chief marking officer, she also led SLGI’s institutional business, including sales, where she helped grow the business to more than $12 billion. Throughout her career, Landry has been passionate about advancing the influence of women in the financial industry and has led a national discussion on women and investing. She launched SLGI’s Women’s Investment Symposium and the Women’s Investment Community. Read: Sun Life appoints John Hallett as retirement strategist Read the...

The coronavirus crisis may be keeping large portions of the economy shut down, but that hasn’t stopped Canada Protection Plan from continuing on its mission to provide accessible and easy-to-apply-for life and critical illness insurance. Mere weeks after the company officially made its eApplication and ePolicy processes available for all its offerings, it has expanded its catalogue with four new critical illness insurance products. “As a known leader in no-medical and simplified issue medical insurance, we want to try to offer insurance to as many Canadians as possible, including those that have suffered from various illnesses,” said co-President Michael Aziz. Two big C’s As Aziz explains, many companies offer critical illness insurance that cover 20 to 25 conditions, but the vast majority of CI claims arise from just eight of those. That suggests an opportunity to maximize value to consumers by providing advisors with targeted solutions. “Why focus on occupational HIV infection, coma, deafness, or some of these other conditions that you’ve got a low probability of making a claim on?” he said. “We wanted to focus on the conditions that are really afflicting most Canadians.” That boils down to the two big C’s of CI: cardiovascular conditions and cancer....

Ontario Blue Cross has announced plans to reduce individual health insurance premiums for dental and health care benefits. The reduction, which corresponds to 50% of the cost of dental care and 20% of the cost of the extended health care insurance benefit, is set to apply automatically to clients’ accounts for three months, beginning on May 1. “The situation we’re in is exceptional, but it doesn’t change our commitment to continually support the people who trust us,” said Ontario Blue Cross President and CEO Sylvain Charbonneau. According to Charbonneau, the organization’s health insurance clients consist mainly of entrepreneurs, self-employed workers, small-business owners, and employees without access to group insurance. Retirees and members of associations also represent some of the firm’s client base for its health insurance products. “We are therefore taking exceptional measures to reduce their financial burden in this time of crisis,” he said. The newly announced targeted premium reduction augments other measures that have been introduced to help ease conditions for Ontario Blue Crossed insureds. The firm has expanded the coverage for such clients to include access to virtual consultations with healthcare professionals such as dietitians, nutritionists, speech therapists, and psychologists, depending on the provisions in each contract....