Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Ontario-based independent brokerage Hub’s latest acquisition Chicago, IL (Oct. 8, 2019) – Hub International Limited (Hub), a leading global insurance brokerage, announced today that it has acquired PDF Financial Group Inc. (PDF). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, PDF is an independent brokerage offering consulting and outsourcing services for employee benefit programs, human resources, and related financial advice. Peter Demangos, Founder and President of PDF, will join Hub International Ontario Limited (Hub Ontario). The move continues to reinforce Hub’s ongoing Canadian employee benefits growth and services strategy[1] to expand its best-in-class employee benefits and retirement solution to address the challenges clients are facing, including in benefits communication, health and wellness, and retirement. “What I found most compelling about Hub is their continued growth and strategy to provide the highest quality of employee benefits and pension solution to clients,” said Mr. Doyle. “We are excited to help in this effort as we will provide clients with greater support while building an enhanced service experience for them.” Notes 1. Hub International Reinforces Best-in-class Canadian Employee Benefits and Pension Platform Strategy With New Acquisition (Jan. 8, 2019). About Hub’s M&A Activities Hub International Limited is committed to...

Canadian general insurer to leverage Guidewire Core and Data products in the cloud to drive innovation and speed to market and increase business growth Lindsay, ON (Oct. 8, 2019) – The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group, an Ontario-based mutual insurer, and Guidewire Software, Inc., provider of the industry platform Property and Casualty (P&C) insurers rely upon, announced that The Commonwell successfully deployed Guidewire InsurancePlatform[1] Core and Data products. The Commonwell is modernizing its technology infrastructure to drive innovation and speed to market and increase business growth. Their Guidewire systems will run as a part of Deloitte’s InsurCloud, a cloud solution with implementation, ongoing services, and support from Deloitte, a Guidewire PartnerConnect™ Consulting Premier member. Guidewire’s core, reinsurance, and data products have been simultaneously deployed across all lines of business in Ontario, including automobile, farm, residential, and small commercial. Tim Shauf, president and chief executive officer, The Commonwell said, “We realized that our goal of significantly increasing our premium growth and membership, while maintaining our high standards of member value, broker experience, and employee engagement, required a fundamental shift in how our supporting technology was deployed. By deploying InsurCloud, The Commonwell has successfully delivered immediate member experience benefits as part of our...

CIOs and business leaders should work together to create right combination of modern technology, training, and verification processes: Novarica Boston, MA (Oct. 8, 2019) – Data governance is essential in efficiently using data to understand performance, generate insights, and remain in compliance with data privacy regulations. While the value of data governance can be challenging to quantify, successful projects have strong, committed leadership from the top of the organization and an educational campaign to evangelize and galvanize the organization into action. In its latest report, Data Governance in Insurance: Overview and Best Practices, research and advisory firm Novarica outlines the business drivers, best practices, and benefits of a data governance program, along with common challenges that insurers may face in their efforts. “Beyond basic awareness of data governance, selling the organization can be stymied by the negative profile governance has in general,” said Eric Weisburg, Vice President of Research and Consulting and co-author of Novarica’s new report. “Many stakeholders view governance as additional bureaucracy and fear that it will slow down the business. In fact, the opposite is true-well-designed governance should speed up business decision-making while increasing confidence in those decisions.” A preview of the report is available online. Summary...

Business Wire Securities America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, today announced that it has successfully recruited Knight Investments Group, Inc., an independent wealth management practice in Russellville, Ark. with approximately $160 million in total client assets, to its platform. The announcement further underscores Securities America’s position as a leading destination for successful practices and groups that are seeking strong technology and a friendly and collaborative culture. Gregg Johnson, Securities America’s executive vice president of branch office development and acquisitions, said, “Already a thriving practice for years, Knight Investments Group was searching for a stable, supportive partner with strong technology, outstanding practice management support and a culture that aligned with their own. Securities America is pleased to partner with them to help them reach the next stage in their growth through our open-door, collaborative culture and our family-oriented approach.” The head of Knight Investments Group, Nathan Knight, began his nearly two-decade career in the financial-services industry as an insurance agent. He continues to hold licenses to market property, casualty, life and health insurance, in addition to his securities licenses. The group’s other producing advisor, Jamie Taber, has spent 20 years in the industry, including 19 years as...

Julius Melnitzer | October 8, 2019 The Financial Services Regulatory Authority is giving late-filing pension plans a “one-time” opportunity to avoid administrative monetary penalties. The “safe harbour,” which applies to any outstanding filings under the Pension Benefits Act, expires on Oct. 31. “Rather than have people concerned about flagging non-compliance with late filings, the FSRA has offered this amnesty of sorts,” says Kathryn Bush, a partner and pension lawyer at Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP. In an email to Benefits Canada, the FSRA noted Ontario has a “highly compliant pension industry” in which only a “small number” of plans have outstanding filings. “The provision of additional time to come into compliance was seen as an additional motivator,” the FSRA wrote, adding its intent is to work closely with non-compliant plans to facilitate filing by the deadline. Read: Incoming monetary penalties for Ontario pensions put spotlight on plan governance “FSRA  has indicated that they’re going to go so far as to actually contact late filers,” says Bush. “There is no doubt they’re trying to be proactive and helpful.” The safe harbour is part of a principles-based regulatory approach the FSRA is adopting to fulfil its mandate to transform the regulatory environment in pensions. “In developing an approach...

Staff | October 7, 2019 Norway’s largest pension fund, Kommunal Landspensjonskasse, is divesting its holdings in five oil sands companies, four of which were Canadian. KLP’s stake in Canadian firms Cenovus Energy Inc., Husky Energy Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd., Suncor Energy Inc. and Russian company Tatneft PAO was a combined US$58 million, with US$33 million in equity and US$25 million in bonds. In addition to divesting from those companies, the fund said it’s fully divesting from the oil sands by excluding companies that derive more than five per cent of their revenue from oil sands-based companies. Read: Considerations for institutional investors around divestment “This full exit from oil sands is great news for KLP’s customers as we continue to reduce our exposure to companies involved in an activity that is not aligned with a two-degree Celsius temperature target,” said Sverre Thornes, KLP chief executive officer, in a press release. “By excluding these companies, KLP continues to align its investments so that they contribute to a movement towards a low-emissions society.” The announcement follows KLP’s May 2019 commitment to going coal-free. The fund sold about US$350 million in stocks and bonds in 46 coal companies, including BHP Group. “By going coal- and oil-sands free, we are sending a strong...

Protiviti survey finds finance leaders concerned about security, data and internal customers Menlo Park, CA (Oct. 3, 2019) – Global consulting firm Protiviti has released the findings of its annual Finance Trends Survey, which reveals the continuation of a significant shift in the priorities and activities of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and senior finance executives. Survey respondents rated different areas in the finance function to reflect their priorities and areas of concern for the next 12 months. Over 70% of CFOs and vice presidents of finance view ‘strategic planning’ as one of the highest priority areas in which they want to improve their knowledge and capabilities, highlighting the need for these finance leaders to focus on strategic matters as much as operational and day-to-day finance and transactional matters. “The data-driven nature of today’s finance function makes the CFO invaluable in setting and executing the company’s strategy, especially when it comes to forecasting trends or managing government and regulatory relationships,” said Chris Wright, a Protiviti managing director and global leader of the firm’s Business Performance Improvement practice. “These finance leaders are no longer siloed to financial and operational issues; rather they’re expected to deliver insights and analysis that help shape critical...

Staff | October 7, 2019 Scotiabank is providing its eligible Canadian employees with an additional two paid personal days to support their mental health. Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, the bank’s Canadian workforce will have a total of five personal days and the flexibility to take them as needed, in addition to existing sick and vacation days. “Our people are our most important asset and their well-being is a top priority for Scotiabank,” said Barbara Mason, chief human resources officer, in a press release. “We strongly believe that by offering employees greater flexibility to take time off to achieve greater work-life balance, our employee population will be healthier and happier, and therefore enabled to perform at their very best.” Read: 60% of Canadians with mental-health concerns not using workplace support tools Dominic Cole-Morgan, the bank’s senior vice-president of total rewards, also noted research has demonstrated that more flexibility and paid personal time contribute to reducing absenteeism and improving employee productivity and engagement. Scotiabank made the announcement a day ahead of World Mental Health Day, when it will host a wellness trade show for its Toronto employees and hold webinars on several mental-health topics. The bank currently offers $3,000 a year in mental-health coverage to employees...

The Canadian Press  | October 7, 2019 Women in their core working years earned on average 13.3 per cent less per hour than men in 2018, marking a 5.5 percentage point improvement over the past 20 years, according to a new report by Statistics Canada. The research paper released Monday said in 2018 female employees between the ages of 25 to 54 earned on average $26.92 per hour, $4.13 less than the $31.05 in hourly wages for male employees. That means that women earned roughly 87 cents for every dollar earned by men. Read: Women with PhDs reach pay equity with men, but big gaps remain for other grads It was a narrower gender wage gap than in 1998, when the agency’s data showed female employees earned $22.34 per hour, $5.17 or 18.8 per cent less per hour than males, or 81.2 cents for every dollar. “The gender wage gap has narrowed over time, both in Canada and elsewhere,” the researchers said. “However, given that women in Canada have surpassed men in educational attainment, diversified their fields of study at post-secondary institutions and increased their representation in higher-status occupations, the persistence of gender-based wage inequality warrants continued attention.” Changes in the distribution...

GlobeNewswire Foresters Financial is launching Advantage Plus II Participating Whole Life (“Advantage Plus II”), replacing its flagship Advantage Plus Whole Life product, with lower premiums. Anyone who is insured under a life insurance certificate from Foresters is a member and can receive exclusive complimentary member benefits1. As a fraternal insurer, Foresters is unique in the industry in that its certificates provide benefits to the insured the day it is received. These include competitive academic scholarships, Family Fun events, discounted legal services, financial counselling, emergency and disaster relief, grants to support local volunteer opportunities, and Orphan Scholarships and Orphan Benefits. While most life insurance policies are low involvement – the policyholder puts it in a drawer for a future event – Foresters life insurance certificates provide hard working families with the opportunity to spend more time together, as well as give back to their local communities. Foresters Financial Vice President, Product & Pricing Jeremy W. Ragsdale said, “We’re excited to offer a whole life product that can be tailored to meet individual needs, goals and values, at a more attractive cost. The rollout of Advantage Plus II and its features further supports our commitment to improving the well-being of our members,...