Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Updates include a chatbot that enables real-time updates, ensuring consumer safety while empowering carriers with a touchless claims service to improve customer retention Los Angeles, CA (Apr. 7, 2020) – HONK Technologies, the platform connecting drivers, towing professionals and insurers, has updated its touchless claims mobile roadside assistance app with artificial intelligence (AI) to increase ease-of-use and speed-of-response. New capabilities include a chatbot that keeps customers informed throughout a service interaction while increasing intelligence over time. This enables insurance carriers to receive real-time updates on changes to driver arrival time or consumer location, maximizing transparency and enabling them to optimize the customer experience. The leading on-demand roadside assistance platform, HONK’s network of more than 75,000 towing and roadside assistance service vehicles is used by insurers such as Farmers and Clearcover, along with fleet managers, manufacturers, and consumers for quick, safe dispatch. A proprietary algorithm finds and sends the best-positioned service provider partner available for each job, keeping most response times to 30 minutes or less. As a result, the HONK Partner Network has set a new quality standard for customer satisfaction and performance, averaging 50% faster than AAA and traditional motor clubs. The latest updates make it even easier and...

A LIMRA survey found changes in life insurance application methods. Consumers are turning to online life insurance applications as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a new LIMRA survey found. A third of companies reported a decline in face-to-face applications while a quarter reported an increase in online applications in March. LIMRA surveyed 47 U.S. life insurers and 12 Canadian life insurers to learn what, if any, changes they were making due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the federal and state social distancing guidelines. Based on the survey results, the most common response was that there was no significant change in overall applications in March. That said, there was a shift in how consumers applied for life insurance. Twenty-four percent of U.S. companies that accept online/mobile applications experienced an increase, while half saw no change. The majority of companies saw no change in call center/mail applications during the month of March. Advertisement In Canada for the same month, the majority of life insurers reported a decline in face-to-face applications. Five in 10 companies that accept online/mobile applications experienced no change; 3 in 10 experienced increases. Of the 1 in 4 Canadian companies accepting applications through call centers/mail, none saw...

Jennifer Paterson | April 13, 2020 With the coronavirus pandemic affecting many businesses, employers are considering their options for shifting their benefits plan spend. Usage rates for benefits such as dental and paramedical services, which generally have high uptake among plan members, are currently in decline, since non-essential business are shuttered for the foreseeable future and Canadians are staying at home. “Specifically in the short term, I think there are a lot of aspects of benefits spend that aren’t being utilized today — probably no one has gone to the dentist in March and probably won’t in April or May,” says Nigel Branker, executive vice-president and president of health and productivity solutions at Morneau Shepell Ltd. Read: 81% of Canadians say coronavirus is negatively affecting their mental health: survey “So there are dollars in benefits plans that would represent savings, but I think the question for plan sponsors is, how much do they recognize those savings given what’s going on in other parts of their business, versus how much do they reinvest a sliver of it to provide more virtual care and mental-health support to their people?” Indeed, virtual options for accessing health care are of paramount importance right now, as Canadians deal with the anxiety...

Martha Porado  | April 13, 2020 While a flurry of capital accumulation plan member activity might indicate their anxiety amid an economic crisis, not many are choosing to make changes to their investments right now. In meeting with record keepers, Rosalind Gilbert, associate partner in the retirement and investment consulting group at Aon, says plan sponsors are more eager than usual for data on CAP member behaviour. “Given that it’s a particularly crazy time, we asked the record keepers to bring more information — Are members phoning the call centre way more? What are they asking about? Where are they going on the member portal and what kind of things are they doing?”  Over the past few years, CAP members have tended to favour online portals as a source of information on their retirement benefits. However, during the coronavirus crisis, record keepers have been inundated with phone calls and don’t have the capacity to handle that massive influx, although the industry quickly hired additional staff to return wait times to their regular levels. “Recently, it’s the call centre volume that’s gone up and the numbers are ridiculous, like 3,000 per cent,” says Gilbert. Read: Will coronavirus push changes to CAP landscape forward? By and large, she says plan members aren’t...

Kelsey Rolfe | April 13, 2020 Summers are big business for the Butlers. Samantha and her husband John are partners in a small photography and videography business, with the bulk of their work taking place during the summer wedding season. But this year will be different. “We’re facing about $30,000 of lost income,” she says. “And we’ve only lost weddings up until mid-July — we’re not even looking at August, September and October.” The Butlers both received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and will also receive increases to the Canada child benefit for their three children, as well as provincial support for parents whose children are home from school during the virus. Read: Coronavirus emergency response benefit doesn’t go far enough, say gig workers While Butler says she’s grateful the support will cover their expenses for the next few months, she’s concerned about what happens after the CERB coverage ends. The Butlers usually support themselves all winter on the income they make during wedding season. “Following October, we don’t really have weddings that come in,” she says. “Say we start earning income in September . . . . We would be really grateful for that, but the issue becomes, ‘What do we do in the winter?’ We’ve lost our whole...

By Gary Shaw Deloitte & Touche Insurers are responding to the widening COVID-19 outbreak on multiple fronts — as claims payers, employers and capital managers. Each has its own distinct challenges, not just for the insurance industry, but for the economy and society at large. However, the most immediate concern for insurers is protecting the health and safety of employees and their distribution partners in the agent/broker community as they strive to maintain business continuity. Like the policyholders they serve, insurers are being challenged to review and update their crisis management plans and take steps to continue operations with a minimum of disruption to clients. If they haven’t already done so, insurers should consider establishing cross-functional, emergency decision-making teams to coordinate the organization’s response, set new safety protocols and assure quicker action as conditions continue to evolve. A comprehensive communications system should also be in place to keep employees, distributors and clients fully informed about the status of business continuity plans and instructions on how to remain personally safe. One of the biggest challenges could be enabling alternative work arrangements for insurance company employees if needed to protect staff and adapt to possible office access restrictions, all while assuring business...

Business Wire Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with KB Financial Group Inc. (KB), a Korean financial services provider, to sell The Prudential Life Insurance Company of Korea, Ltd. Under the terms of the agreement, Prudential Financial will sell 100% of its life insurance business in Korea for cash consideration of approximately 2.3 trillion Korean Won, or US $1.9 billion.1 Established in 1989, Prudential of Korea is a leading provider of life insurance and other protection products through its signature Life Planner business and growing general agency channel. This transaction is consistent with Prudential Financial’s strategic focus internationally on Japan and higher-growth emerging markets around the world. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to occur by the end of 2020. Proceeds of the transaction are expected to be used for general corporate purposes. About Prudential Financial, Inc. Prudential Financial, Inc.(NYSE: PRU), a financial wellness leader and premier active global investment manager with more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2019, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees help...

By Alysha D’Souza, Director of Content, Finaeo — In a few short weeks, the insurance industry has been overturned by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Insurers have been racing to mobilize solutions as fast as possible to minimize the disruption to business and service to their clients. On one end, this pandemic has caused customers to think about mortality and financial security in a different, more immediate, way. We’ve seen an increase in Life insurance applications specifically. On the other end, there are significant bottlenecks in the industry that delay or even prevent customers from accessing the coverage they need in these trying times. Several in-person medical services are being suspended across Canada to prevent overloading the system, reduce the spread and implications of the virus, and ensure the appropriate care is available to patients in need. This suspension also includes paramedical services, collecting fluids, ECG’s etc, that are often a required step in completing life and health applications. Typically, paramedical and underwriting requirements need to be completed within a 90-day window in order to get a client’s application approved. If the requirements are not met within 90 days, the policy cancels and premiums are refunded to the client. As such,...

PR Newswire Haven Life, the digital life insurance agency backed and wholly owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), is today launching new initiatives that help more life insurance applicants obtain the coverage they need. By working with MassMutual to introduce new medical data sets to underwriting algorithms and expanding data-powered human review, more Haven Life customers will be able to get coverage without a medical exam. “In these uncertain times, we’re seeing a surge of individuals seeking financial protection for their families,” said Yaron Ben-Zvi, Haven Life’s CEO. “Due to limitations in medical exam availability and a desire to protect the health of customers and medical examiners, it quickly became apparent that we needed to fast-track new initiatives to offer instant coverage. These new data sets will help us provide more customers with peace of mind, instantly.” The aim has always been to provide Haven Term applicants with instant coverage whenever possible. However, there are cases where AI-powered underwriting algorithms need more data, like a medical exam, to make a decision. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there could be medical exam delays, which led Haven Life and MassMutual to roll out the following initiatives to help expand the...

Martha Porado | April 9, 2020 With a few days under their belts to digest the federal government’s proposed wage subsidy benefits, some Canadian employers are starting to rehire workers who were put on furlough or laid off entirely. In a press release on Monday, Air Canada said it’s rehiring about 16,500 employees who will receive the 75 per cent wage subsidy, which aims to provide businesses with some relief amid the coronavirus pandemic. The airline said it won’t be topped up that amount. “While our seat capacity and operations have decreased by more than 90 per cent overnight, we are trying to keep as many of our employees as possible during the crisis and this measure will certainly help,” said Calin Rovinescu, president and chief executive officer at Air Canada, in the release. Read: Feds introduce 75% wage subsidy to help employers keep staff during coronavirus Through the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, many employees will receive higher pay than if they applied for employment insurance, and will also be able to maintain their health insurance and other benefits. For companies following in Air Canada’s footsteps, bringing people back can be an emotional process, says Paula Allen, senior vice-president of research, analytics and innovation at Morneau Shepell Ltd. Rehires are going to be...