Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Updated mobile app offers more features and faster response time Car-Net standard on most 2020 models with Remote Access services at no charge for five years 4G LTE WiFi capability is standard with a data plan subscription Herndon, VA (Sept. 18, 2019) – Since its debut for the 2014 model year, Volkswagen Car-Net has allowed Volkswagen owners to get connected to their vehicles. For model year 2020, Car-Net moves into the next generation of connectivity, with an updated mobile app, a long list of no-charge services for five years, and new subscription options. Car-Net Services will be offered in four areas: Remote Access, Safe & Secure, Hotspot, and Guide & Inform. Remote Access Car-Net Remote Access gives owners the ability to interact with their vehicle from miles away via the mobile app. It is offered at no additional charge for five years from the date of vehicle purchase. Features include remote start and stop (if equipped), remote door lock and unlock, remote honk and flash of lights, last parked location, and remote vehicle status display, which provides information on fuel level, mileage, and door and window status. Volkswagen owners with factory-installed navigation can send destinations or points of interest directly...

Kelsey Rolfe | September 20, 2019 The City of Mississauga’s newest employee, Ajax the two-year-old golden labrador retriever, is dogged in his pursuit of better mental health for emergency services personnel. Ajax, a facility dog from National Service Dogs, is available to Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services staff as part of the department’s wellness-fitness initiative. The goal of having Ajax on-site is to help employees open up about their mental health. Read: A look at Mars’ pet-friendly workplace policies “As part of our whole mental-health program and our [post-traumatic stress disorder] prevention plan . . . it’s all about the preventative work, removing the stigma of mental health [and] having the ability for people to talk more openly about occupational stress injuries, about those bad calls,” says Tim Beckett, Mississauga’s fire chief and director of emergency management. “Firefighters are going to attend those bad calls, but it’s about how we proactively deal with the people afterward to build resiliency and take away some of that stress.” Ajax has been trained to sense and approach people who are under stress and act as a companion to them. Earlier this year, the City of Mississauga held a health fair with the National Service Dogs taking part to showcase its...

Staff  | September 20, 2019 While the Pension Investment Association of Canada is generally supportive of British Columbia’s proposed solvency funding framework, when it comes to requirements around funding the provision for adverse deviations, the organization is suggesting B.C. takes a page from Ontario and Quebec. With many governments across Canada looking to make defined benefit plans more sustainable, the B.C. government launched a consultation on solvency funding reform in October 2018. And in August 2019, it released a report on the stakeholder committee process. Read: B.C. launches consultation on new options for pension solvency funding In the report, the provincial government highlighted its proposals, including requiring solvency funding levels of 85 per cent in addition to enhanced going-concern funding through the requirement of a funding cushion, known as a PfAD, which is intended to reduce contribution volatility. The proposal also included details about how plans can determine their PfAD funding requirements. For example, it suggested the PfAD size should be based on the long-term Government of Canada benchmark bond yield as of the plan’s valuation date. “A PfAD should be based on the main risk that most DB pension plans are exposed to but cannot control, which is interest rate risk,” the...

Martha Porado  | September 20, 2019 As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission moves to increase its oversight over proxy voting advisory firms, Horizons ETFs is evolving its proxy voting policies to take on a more socially responsible investing position. “We do have an obligation to our unit-holders to act in their best fiduciary interest, but we also have a socially responsible requirement as well, even as a passive investor,” said Steve Hawkins, the firm’s president and chief executive officer, at an event hosted by the Alternative Investment Management Association in Toronto this week. “So we take an active role in terms of voting those proxies.”  Read: Should proxy voting firms be more strictly regulated? Debates over the role that proxy advisory firms can and should play in capital markets have been contentious, as the rise of major exchange-traded fund providers has brought their influence into sharper focus. Any changes to how proxy advisory firms are allowed to operate will have some impact on their institutional investor clients, but what will that look like? The SEC’s new guidance, published in August, said proxy recommendations are solicitations because they’re inherently designed to influence a client’s voting decisions. As solicitations, the recommendations are prohibited from containing false or misleading statements regarding...

The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the regulatory and oversight body for Quebec’s financial sector, released its annual Summary of Oversight and Regulatory Activities detailing the regulator’s key initiatives undertaken in the 2018-2019 financial year. “Strengthening our role as a local regulator close to its markets is one of the pillars of our 2017-2020 Strategic Plan,” says AMF president and CEO Louis Morisset. “We are providing the industry, for a third consecutive year, with a comprehensive toll that specifies our continuous disclosure expectations and updates the status of our regulatory work.” The summary outlines the main regulatory and filing deficiencies observed by the AMF and recommends ways companies can correct these deficiencies. It also recaps pending and draft regulatory initiatives and staff notices relating to company financing and continuous disclosure requirements. Outside of this, the report also examines some key figures regarding the representation of women on boards and in executive officer positions, and reviews the efforts the AMF has undertaken to establish a framework for crypto-asset trading platforms. Finally, the report also discusses efforts underway to migrate the SEDAR, SEDI and NRD national electronic filing systems to an integrated and comprehensive system. The AMF currently oversees 1,957 reporting issuers in...

Global Cyber Risk Perception Survey by Marsh and Microsoft highlights gap between concern and approach to cyber threats New York, NY (Sept. 17, 2019) – Amid a wider range of issues to handle, a majority of board members and senior executives responsible for their organization’s cyber risk management had less than a day in the last year to spend focused on cyber risk issues. The findings form part of a new report published by Marsh, the world’s leading insurance broker and risk adviser, and Microsoft Corp., the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world. This lack of time for senior leaders to focus on cyber risk comes as concern over cyber threats hits an all-time high, and as confidence in an organization’s ability to manage cyber threats has declined, the 2019 Marsh Microsoft Global Cyber Risk Perception Survey found. The global survey of 1,500 organizations details the current state of cyber risk perceptions and risk management, building on a related survey conducted in 2017.[1] According to this year’s survey, nearly 80% of organizations now rank cyber risk as a top-five concern, compared to 62% in 2017. Only 11%, however, expressed a high degree of confidence in their...

More than half of middle market companies have experienced a cybersecurity failure despite a rise in spending on cybersecurity technology, and most are uninsured London, UK (Sept. 18, 2019) – Pricing, cost reduction, change management, market modernization, and competition are the top five risks facing Lloyd’s, according to Chief Risk Officers (CROs) within Lloyd’s managing agencies. These internal factors rank ahead of exogenous factors such as cyber risk and climate change, according to a survey of CROs released today by the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA). The overall view of risk identified by the survey reflects a shift in focus from specific macro issues towards fundamentals. The key risks identified are highly interconnected, according to the survey report, prepared by a subgroup of the LMA CRO committee, led by Vinay Mistry, in conjunction with  PwC, entitled The changing face of risk: breaking the vicious circle. A majority of respondents are concerned about delegation of underwriting authority. 85% agree that the relatively high level of delegated business in the market is unsustainable unless the risks from these channels are managed more effectively. Almost half of respondents state that the preponderance of corporate capital at Lloyd’s means that future product innovation will take...

More than half of middle market companies have experienced a cybersecurity failure despite a rise in spending on cybersecurity technology, and most are uninsured San Francicso, CA (Sept. 19, 2019) – Coalition, the leading cyber insurance company for small and midsize businesses, has announced it has expanded its cyber and technology errors and omissions coverage — previously only available to companies with less than $250 million in revenue — to include middle market companies with up to $1 billion in annual revenue. With cyber crime-related losses expected to exceed more than $6 trillion globally in the coming years, middle market companies now have access to Coalition’s cybersecurity tools as well as up to $15 million of comprehensive insurance coverage backed by Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and Lloyd’s of London. According to a recent report, more than half of middle market companies have experienced a data breach, with many reporting losses of $1 million to $2.5 million as a result of the incident.[1] Despite the rise in spending on cybersecurity technology, losses from data breaches and cyber crime continue to increase. Coalition’s cyber insurance policies for middle market businesses come with a suite of enterprise-grade cybersecurity tools—including 24/7 security monitoring, anti-ransomware,...

The funding will accelerate Insurmi’s global expansion Phoenix, AZ (Sept. 19, 2019) – Insurmi, a conversational-AI powered customer engagement platform for insurance carriers, has secured an additional $1 million in funding to accelerate market expansion and grow the team at its headquarters in Phoenix. The round was led by Coplex with participation from a group of prominent international angel investors and the Global Insurance Accelerator (GIA). After turning industry heads when it debuted in 2017, Insurmi validated its model by attracting a diverse array of customers from across the insurance sector, including two Fortune 500 insurance carriers. This injection of capital further validates the demand for technology-driven solutions in the insurance industry to meet the needs of up-and-coming generations. “Today’s carriers are challenged by engaging with a consumer base that is now largely skewing toward 20- and 30-somethings. The Insurmi platform empowers them to create meaningful experiences and interact on the customer’s terms,” said Sonny Patel, founder and CEO of Insurmi. “This new capital injection will accelerate our growth and strengthen our position as true allies to insurance carriers to help them transform how they communicate and engage with the next generation of the insured.” Patel founded the company in...

Survey reveals how CISOs are shifting priorities and security strategies to manage increasingly advanced threats with limited resources Sunnyvale, CA (Sept. 17, 2019) – Fortinet®, a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, has released a report it commissioned from Forbes Insights, titled Making Tough Choices: How CISOs Manage Escalating Threats and Limited Resources. The global survey polled Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) across various industries about the biggest challenges they’re facing and strategies they’re putting in place to address these obstacles. The survey found that 84 percent of CISOs believe the risks of cyber attacks will increase and almost a quarter believe the capabilities of attackers are outpacing their ability to defend their organization. This issue is compounded with limited resources, including lack of sufficient budget and skilled professionals as well as a threat attack surface that is quickly expanding and becoming more sophisticated. Because of this, security leaders understand it is critical to have the right strategies in place as they face an arms race between the capabilities of attackers and their own defense postures. “The Forbes Insights survey echoes the primary challenges we hear directly from Fortinet customers and prospects. Today’s CISOs are tasked with...