Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Winnipeg, MB (Oct. 23, 2019) – The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company, Canada’s largest Property and Casualty Mutual insurer, has partnered with Capgemini to implement two industry-leading digital solutions across Ontario – Guidewire InsuranceSuite™ and BluePass. Together, these solutions will support Wawanesa and its Ontario broker community towards the goal of providing exceptional customer service to current and future policyholders across the province. InsuranceSuite is the core system supporting Wawanesa’s policy, claims and billing management. BluePass extends the platform’s capabilities to brokers, providing an easy-to-use path for real-time policy transactions. Brokers in Ontario can now instantly find information on policies and accounts, submit new business, change or cancel policies, update billing information, and process payments. The system is easily expandable, allowing for the addition of new products as they come online. “This partnership accelerates our commitment to delivering industry-leading tools to our Wawanesa employees and brokers in Ontario,” said Carol Jardine, President of Canadian P&C Operations. “It’s a major step in optimizing our insurance operations so we can offer brokers unparalleled service and set an even stronger foundation for innovation and growth – and, most importantly, provide an exceptional customer experience to policyholders served by our brokers.” Launching InsuranceSuite™ and BluePass...

Safety Services Nova Scotia launches annual School Bus Safety Awareness Campaign “STOP! Nothing you’re doing is more important than this!” Dartmouth, NS (Oct. 23, 2019) – Safety Services Nova Scotia has launched its annual School Bus Safety Awareness Campaign. This year’s campaign theme takes direct aim at the motoring public, particularly those who endanger the lives of our students by passing stopped school buses while red lights are flashing and the stop arm is extended. The annual School Bus Safety Awareness Campaign has been a project of Safety Services Nova Scotia for decades. The campaign occurs during National School Bus Safety Week and is widely recognized by school bus drivers, students, parents, teachers, regional education centres, enforcement and administrators, as well as the motoring public, who share a strong interest in the safety of the 72,877 students who ride the school bus daily in Nova Scotia. National School Bus Safety Week takes place in the third week of October each year. This year, it is observed October 21 to 25, 2019. This year’s campaign theme – “STOP! Nothing you’re doing is more important than this!” – speaks directly to drivers, demonstrating the tremendous risk imposed on students when a driver...

Cassandra Williamson-Hopp | October 24, 2019 With its flexible yet comprehensive approach to employee well-being, Franklin Templeton Investments took home the award for a health and wellness program with fewer than 1,000 employees at Benefits Canada’s 2019 Workplace Benefits Awards in Toronto on Oct. 17. “I think our holistic approach to health — in that it’s not just the physical components that make someone healthy — is why we were nominated for this award,” says Christyn Oda, the organization’s corporate wellness consultant. “The social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual elements also make up someone’s quality of life. And that’s what our focus is at FTI: making sure we hit each of those different dimensions.” Read: Who are the winners of the 2019 Workplace Benefits Awards? Inspired by the interests and ambitions of its workforce, Franklin Templeton’s wellness program is driven by feedback and employee buy-in, constantly evolving to accommodate the organization’s greatest asset: its employees. “Because it’s a small company, you get to know people pretty intimately and learn what they’re looking for or might like,” says Oda. “The employees were our main motivation [for implementing this program].” When it comes to participating in wellness events and initiatives, employees exercise full autonomy,  taking control of their personal wellness journeys rather than being...

Martha Porado | October 24, 2019 For intergenerational investors, such as foreign pension plans ramping up their exposure to alternative assets and leveraging patient capital, it’s worth paying attention to Indonesia’s potential. “If you follow the logic that the country’s going to be the fourth or fifth largest economy in the world . . . then, to me, it’s too big to ignore,” said Josef Pilger, global pension and retirement leader at EY, during the Canadian Investment Review’s podcast “Pension Passport.” But Indonesia’s growth story doesn’t come without risks. “The decent performance of the economy has met some large vulnerabilities and the main one of these is the big and expanding current and trade account deficit,” said Gareth Leather, senior Asia economist at Capital Economics, also speaking during the podcast. “And what that means is it makes the currency, the rupiah, quite vulnerable to sudden shifts in global risk appetite.” Read: Which emerging markets should investors be considering? As well, he notes the country has a high level of foreign currency debt. In the coming years, Indonesia needs to focus on infrastructure, said Leather. “It takes quite a long time to transport goods by sea, the roads are always clogged up and this is the big criticism that...

Naples Daily News (FL) Jimmy Ray Rodgers, one of three men accused in the 2015 bludgeoning death of Bonita Springs doctor Teresa Sievers, seemed to swallow especially hard Wednesday as he heard he was found guilty of second-degree murder. Rodgers faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced in front of Lee Circuit Judge Bruce Kyle at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 18. Rodgers, 29, no longer faces the death penalty but could be sentenced to life in prison. He was originally charged with first-degree murder, however the jury at the Lee County Justice Center convicted him of the lesser charge of second-degree murder. They also found him guilty of trespassing, a lesser charge of first-degree burglary while armed, and not guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. Teresa Sievers, 46, was found dead, face down on the kitchen floor of her family’s home at 27034 Jarvis Road on June 29, 2015. Investigators found a hammer next to her body. Rodgers, the victim’s husband Mark Sievers, 51, and her husband’s close friend Curtis Wayne Wright Jr., 51, were accused in the killing. A separate trial for Mark Sievers is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 12 at the Lee County...

PR Newswire Greg E. Lindberg announced today that he has retained Louis Freeh, former Federal Judge and FBI Director, and his firm Freeh, Sporkin & Sullivan to examine and render advice regarding financial aspects of Lindberg’s business entities. The review will cover, among other things, assertions made by the North Carolina Insurance Department, as well as those made in recent press accounts, pending  litigation, and regulatory matters relating to his insurance companies that are currently in rehabilitation. “Mr. Lindberg has asserted from the outset that the allegations about his insurance companies and him are false and is pleased that Mr. Freeh and his team to have agreed to take on this assignment,” a spokesperson for Mr. Lindberg stated. The North Carolina Insurance Department has taken over a group of companies owned by Lindberg, a wealthy political donor who is facing federal charges that he conspired to bribe the state insurance commissioner. A June court order directed the department to take control of four life insurance companies, which Lindberg acquired in recent years and then operated as Global Bankers Insurance Group. Lindberg, former N.C. Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes and two of Lindberg’s associates are accused of trying to bribe state insurance commissioner Mike Causey with $2 million in...

Benefits include improved time to market, increased efficiencies, and better customer experience: Novarica profiles 17 vendor solutions Boston, MA (Oct. 15, 2019) – Modern property and casualty billing solutions are maturing, giving carriers better options than ever before for a billing system modernization. As customers have grown to expect ease of use and self-service, billing platform providers have put considerable effort into improving the end-to-end billing process. In its latest Novarica Market Navigator, Property/Casualty Billing Systems, research and advisory firm Novarica provides an overview of the available stand-alone billing systems for US property/casualty insurers, as well as detailed profiles of 17 vendor solutions. “At least half of insurers now consider billing to be a customer service issue, rather than a purely financial issue,” said Martina Conlon, Executive Vice President of Research and Consulting and co-author of the report. “The customer service bar has been raised by the retail market through companies like Amazon, by banks such as Bank of America, and by insurance carriers like Progressive and GEICO. Online self-service is now a baseline expectation of a competent provider, and expectations for mobile self-service continue to increase, making billing a critical component of digital transformation.” A preview of the report...

With backing from industry heavyweights and rapid growth across North America, Breathe Life delivers a single view of the consumer to help accelerate carrier digital transformation Montréal, QC (Oct. 22, 2019) – Breathe Life, the only enterprise commerce platform for the individual insurance industry that is 100 percent focused on delivering new business, today announced a number of major milestones in the company’s rapid ascent to InsurTech leadership in 2019. Since launching at the beginning of 2018 and announcing a seed round earlier this year, Breathe Life has secured several new customer wins, successfully launched and deployed new AI-driven products, and doubled headcount to keep pace with growing demand for its platform and mission to protect families around the world. “The past year has been a whirlwind of activity and progress at Breathe Life, all fueled by an exponentially growing business opportunity as insurers look to meet consumer demand for a fast and seamless digital buying experience,” said Ian Jeffrey, Co-Founder and CEO at Breathe Life. “We’ve rolled out the Breathe Life Enterprise Commerce Platform which has been adopted by several innovative insurance carrier partners, officially embarking on our mission to bring financial peace of mind to families worldwide.” The...

Staff | October 23, 2019 In a letter to the tax branch of the Department of Finance, the Association of Canadian Pension Management said it would be reasonable for certain large defined contribution pension plans to be issuers of advanced life deferred annuities. According to the current Income Tax Act, only a licensed annuity provider can issue an ALDA. However, the ACPM said a number of large DC plans have successfully provided lifetime income solutions paid directly through the plan and suggested they could be suitable issuers of these annuity arrangements. The letter also recommended certain changes to the government’s proposed legislation on variable payment life annuities. The legislation proposes that the amount payable to each member or beneficiary of a VPLA must be adjusted yearly, at least if the annuity’s fund rate is materially different from the actuarial assumptions used to determine the VPLA benefits.  Since there are already several scenarios where DC plans offer lifetime income solutions to retirees, the ACPM suggested the government consider their strategies when finalizing the legislation. Read: Industry praises budget proposals to allow variable annuities for CAP members One option is a low-risk strategy with frequent adjustments is based on annuity rates and aims to provide a lifetime income with very low probability of reductions and infrequent increases....

Staff | October 23, 2019 The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan are partnering with Anurag Chandra, former chief executive officer of Prosperity Life Insurance Group, to launch Constellation Insurance Holding, a new platform focused on property and casualty and life insurer acquisitions and demutualizations. “Constellation plans to invest in stock and mutual insurers based in North America that are seeking growth capital, stronger ratings, scale efficiencies and equity incentives while maintaining their independent management structure, brand identity, operations and entrepreneurial culture,” said Chandra, who is now founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Constellation, in a press release. With the Caisse and the Ontario Teachers’ as founding investors, the venture has raised US$500 million in capital. “We believe this new partnership, which allies a unique combination of expertise to a flexible investment horizon, will provide a source of competitive advantage for Constellation,” said Stephane Etroy, executive vice-president and head of private equity at the Caisse. Read: Caisse putting $50 million towards Quebec seed funds Jane Rowe, executive managing director for equities at the Ontario Teachers’, also noted Chandra’s significant track record in the insurance sector. “We expect this partnership with Constellation and CDPQ to create significant value for our...