Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

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...

Martha Porado | May 20, 2020 With some jurisdictions gently reducing coronavirus-imposed restrictions, institutional investors are beginning to lay out possible scenarios for economic recovery. The terms V- and U-shaped recovery, along with arguments over which is more likely, have swirled throughout the past few months as economies around the world shut down huge swathes of their normal activities. Alessio de Longis, senior portfolio manager on Invesco’s investment solutions team, isn’t thinking in terms of shapes, but if he were, his firm’s base case scenario would look more like a ‘W.’ “It’s reasonable in our minds to accept phases of, let’s say, a three to six month period where it will look like a recovery and then you get another setback, whether driven by market sentiment or driven by actual developments in the economy, such as renewed shutdowns, renewed quarantine,” he says. Read: Dividend opportunities for institutional investors amid coronavirus crisis Preferring to delineate scenarios as base, bull and bear, he notes that how markets fare will depend significantly on progress in the medical world — a very unpredictable situation investors aren’t used to analyzing. “We’re used to developing scenarios based on economic developments. In this case this is what the challenge is, because we’re...

As people’s demand for life and health insurance products has increased, agency-building companies aren’t letting the COVID-19 pandemic hamper their recruitment efforts, according to a new poll from LIMRA. The poll, which covers both U.S. and Canadian companies, included questions regarding agency recruitment efforts during the COVID-19 crisis, the challenges they’ve encountered, and the strategies they’ve adopted. According to Margaret Honan, assistant research director at LIMRA, companies on both sides of the border submitted nearly identical responses to all questions. “Both countries said that they’re recruiting as they’ve always done except in recent weeks it’s being done virtually,” Honan told Life and Health Professional. Most companies are engaging with candidates through virtual platforms such as Zoom in light of social-distancing guidelines. Training and sourcing of candidates, the poll revealed, is happening through both traditional methods, such as Zip Recruiter and LinkedIn, as well as new means including virtual conferencing, telephone interviews, and virtual classrooms. Frequent check-ins, virtual meetings, and phone calls have become part of an established process to keep candidates involved in lieu of face-to-face meetings, according to the poll. Many companies are also eyeing increased use of digital signatures for submissions of business. And while some states have...

Moody’s estimates that the COVID-19 pandemic could cause death benefit claims to rise significantly for U.S. life insurers, but not enough to materially impact their capital reserves. In a new industry report, the ratings agency said that while it does not expect a widespread coronavirus infection rate with relatively high mortality for the insured population, such a scenario would result in significant growth of death benefit claims for U.S. life insurers, particularly those that carry a large amount of mortality risk. In its industry analysis, the agency assumed three infection scenarios: a low-end base case of 2% infection rate within the insured population, a high-end base case of 10%, and a stress scenario with a 40% infection rate. Across all infection-rate cases, it assumed a 1% fatality rate. Assuming the total number of deaths remain within the base-case range of estimates, the agency said the resulting rise in death benefits should lead to a marginal decline in capital of less than 5% for most of the direct writers it rates. Bur if the ultimate number of deaths tops its current base-case projections and comes closer to the tail scenario, the overall impact will be below 20%, with some insurers seeing...

Staff | May 19, 2020 Even before the coronavirus began affecting capital markets, fixed income investors were becoming more risk averse, according to Invesco’s latest survey. Close to half (43 per cent) of investors surveyed in late 2019 said they felt the then economic cycle had a year or less left to run and were adapting their portfolios accordingly. In some cases, this change in positioning may have been a boon to investors hit with a sudden market crisis. “Concerns were focused on credit spreads and liquidity, areas that have been significantly tested across the market by the COVID-19 crisis,” said the report. “Widening spreads were the biggest macro concern, and this has come to the fore quickly, with sectors exposed to the pandemic such as consumer goods, autos and oil and gas experiencing widening spreads and steepening curves.” Read: Canadian DB plans return negative 7.1% in first quarter With the coronavirus pandemic compounding an already fairly gloomy mood, intentions for duration also reflected increased pessimism, with investors showing a bias towards lengthening. Indeed, 29 per cent said their expected change in duration over the next 12 months would be longer, up from 21 per cent in 2019’s report, while just 10 per cent said it would be shorter,...