Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Martha Porado  | May 6, 2020 Real estate companies, just like many other businesses, are in a bizarre holding pattern, waiting for some of the measures necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic to ease. “You do have a certain amount of time you can hold your breath and the video technology and so forth has enabled us to hold our breath longer, but at the end of the day, you can’t really build, run and operate a business 2D. You need to be live,” said Jon Love, founder and chief executive officer of KingSett Capital Inc., during a webinar hosted by the Empire Club of Canada on Tuesday. Read: Why pension funds should have boots on the ground globally For institutional investors with a global presence, certain parts of the transition haven’t been quite as burdensome, according to Michael Turner, president of Oxford Properties, the real estate arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. “To some extent, that footprint we have set me up to be able to manage this way because I’m accustomed to calling people in the morning in Asia and at night in the Americas and Europe in between. The leaders of our business are distributed among different continents, so...

Equitable Life’s newest sales option for its line-up of segregated funds represents a better option for advisors seeking to avoid a significant conflict of interest with their clients, according to one independent advisor. Last week, the financial-services firm added a No Load Chargeback (NL-CB) option to its Pivotal Select segregated funds lineup, complementing its existing Low Load (LL), No Load (NL), and Deferred Sales Charge (DSC) options. Aside from the different sales charge options, advisors and clients who avail of the Pivotal Select contract can choose among three distinct guarantee classes — Investment Class (75/75), Estate Class (75/100) and Protection Class (100/100) — as well as a host of different investment funds to meet their needs. “Advisor-client relationships are constantly being redefined by the idea of choice,” said Judy Williams, the company’s vice president for Savings and Retirement, in a statement announcing the move. “Introducing this new sales charge option broadens that choice for advisors and clients choosing Equitable Life.” Sean Harrell, partner and senior advisor at Howe Harrell and Associates in Manitoba, said that the new option represents a step forward for the company, particularly when compared to DSC options. “First and foremost, it’s harmless to the client, which...

To mark Mental Health Week in Canada, Blue Cross has announced its investment in a free digital program available for all Canadians. Through its new sponsorship of Stronger Minds by BEACON, Blue Cross is providing a resource to supplement the suite of health and wellness offerings provided under each of its plans, including their associated employee assistance programs. “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 CEO of MindBeacon Group. Alongside guidance from the clinical psychologists at the BEACON team, Stronger Minds features personal perspectives from well-known sports personalities such as Canadian Olympic rower and mental health advocate Silken Laumann and TSN commentator Michael Landsberg. The program also offers guidance on physical activity from GoodLife Fitness. Users may also access resources on topics such as resilience building, as well as videos and quick reads from mental health experts. “Canada is in this together, and we’re wholeheartedly committed to helping Canadians protect their mental wellbeing so they can successfully face every day as it comes,” Duboc said. Read the...

Staff | May 5, 2020 League Inc. is offering a free three-month trial of its Health Benefits Experience platform in a bid to alleviate the health-care and administrative overloads that human resources teams are experiencing during the coronavirus crisis. “This is an incredibly challenging time in our communities, for individuals, families and businesses,” said Mike Serbinis, founder and chief executive officer of League, in a press release. “HR leaders in particular are facing unprecedented pressure to provide critical information and resources to their organization and ensure their employees are feeling supported during this tumultuous time. The League platform will help address these very real challenges so HR leaders can be the voice of calm in a sea of uncertainty.” Read: League adds six partners to digital benefits platform The platform includes a mobile-first communications channel for employers, health concierge services that provide employees with access to health professionals and to virtual preliminary screening for the coronavirus. It also provides a centralized access point for information on the pandemic and relevant resources. Further, the platform provides employees with a personalized health profile that gives them data-driven recommendations and nudges regarding healthy behaviour, as well as a digital wallet that holds employee assistance program information and...

Staff | May 5, 2020 The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is expanding its strategic relationship with Wellington Management Co. to better integrate climate science research into its investments. Ontario Teachers’ and Wellington are collaborating with the Woods Hole Research Center, a climate-change think tank, with the goal of applying research findings when executing the pension fund’s investment strategies and providing insights to investment teams on the medium- and long-term financial implications of physical climate-related risks. Read: UTAM joins institutional investors calling on aviation sector to address climate change “Our investments, particularly those in real assets, require careful consideration of the physical risks posed by climate change,” said Ziad Hindo, chief investment officer at Ontario Teachers’, in a press release. “With access to top quality climate science data, we can build on our own expertise in this area and use the research provided to develop deeper insights. “The world will not be the same after COVID-19, but our commitment to responsible investing will not change. Strong, mutually beneficial relationships — such as ours with Wellington and Woods Hole — will continue to be a key component of delivering on our commitment.” Read: Canadian actuaries calling for mandatory financial reporting around climate change Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

Staff | May 5, 2020 More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of Canadian employers said they don’t intend to make changes to their benefits plan during the coronavirus crisis, according to a new survey by the Conference Board of Canada. The survey, which polled 333 organizations, found just 32 per cent said they’ve made changes to their benefits offering or are in the process of considering changes. With that group, 46 per cent increased their paid sick leave. Utility companies (46 per cent) and retail trade employers (44 per cent) were most likely to have said they’ve made changes to their benefits plan and almost all were looking to increase coverage rather than decrease it. Some 22 per cent of survey respondents said they’ve added virtual health-care services and a further 15 per cent are considering adding the offering. Fifteen per cent of employers said they’ve added virtual psychological care, with a further 12 per cent thinking about it. Read: 5 benefits predictions for the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic The majority of employers said they’re continuing to offer benefits to employees on layoffs. Almost seven in 10 (68 per cent) said they’re covering all employees, nine per cent said they’re covering most and 12 per cent said...

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...