Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

It’s now iA Financial Group‘s turn to be hit by a cyber breach. Three representatives from the insurer’s Quebec distribution network were victims of a phishing scheme. Unlike the incident at Desjardins Group, the intrusions came from outside the organization. In all, 2,864 of the insurer’s clients were affected. The client information that may have been accessed includes: names, products purchased from iA and for some customers, date of birth, or bank details as well. In 129 cases, social insurance numbers were among the mix. “At this time, there is no indication that our clients’ information was used for malicious purposes or sold to third parties,” Pierre Picard, spokesperson for iA Financial Group told Insurance Journal. Three separate incidents The insurer stated that the events occurred on June 20, July 8 and July 11. “They are separate incidents and are not related. With each incident, a person outside the organization succeeded in taking control of these advisors’ email account, giving him or her access to all the advisors’ emails. Although our clients’ personal information was not necessarily targeted, the perpetrators of the phishing scheme may have had access to some of our clients’ information, most of whom are located in...

PR Newswire Are you like the majority of Americans who don’t have life insurance, but also know that you should? Life insurance is probably something you’re uncomfortable talking about, but it’s far too important to put off. September is life insurance awareness month, making now a good time to reconsider what is really holding you back. Erie Insurance provides perspective on the six most common reasons people delay buying life insurance:  It’s too expensive. Cost is the number one reason people don’t have life insurance. A study from Life Happens and the financial and insurance organization LIMRA, shows that consumers tend to overestimate the price of life insurance. For instance, when asked how much a $250,000 term life insurance policy would be for a healthy 30-year-old, the median estimate was $500 annually—more than three times the actual cost. Life insurance is probably more affordable than you think—and there are lots of ways to bring the price into your comfort zone.  I have a health condition. The good news is that having a health condition doesn’t automatically disqualify you from getting life insurance. If you overcame a serious condition in the past or if you are managing a condition with the help of a medical...

Staff | September 12, 2019 The market value of assets held by Canadian trusteed pension plans hit $1.97 trillion in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of five per cent from the last quarter of 2018, according to new data from Statistics Canada. Year over year, the market value of assets rose 3.6 per cent. The total includes assets of pension plans under a trust agreement, held by a pension corporation or fund society, those administered under federal or provincial legislation and those held by an insurance company purely for investment management. Read: Discount rates for DB pensions rising at Canadian public companies: survey The survey found short-term investments, including short-term corporate bonds, banker’s acceptances, treasury bills and commercial paper, showed the strongest growth, increasing 10.2 per cent, to $82.4 billion, compared to the previous quarter. Mortgage investments increased 6.3 per cent from the previous quarter to $23.6 billion. Investments in bonds grew six per cent, to reach $631.4 billion. Domestic holdings, which totalled more than $1.2 trillion, were up 6.4 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2018, with every type of Canadian asset seeing an increase. Canadian bond investments were up 7.6 per cent, stocks were up 4.4 per cent,...

Staff | September 12, 2019 While 80 per cent of employees said they want some type of financial education in the workplace, just 58 per cent of employers said they offer it and 25 per cent said they plan to offer it in the next two years, according to a new survey by Eckler Ltd. More than half (54 per cent) of employee respondents said they feel some degree of stress about their finances and 32 per cent said they’d describe it as a high degree of stress. However, a significant percentage of employer respondents said they aren’t convinced a financial education program could be effective at increasing employee productivity (40 per cent) or commitment to the company (37 per cent). Read: Financial wellness programs must go beyond education: survey “As employers continue to look to financial wellness programs as the prescription for mitigating both the personal and workplace impacts of financial stress, designing a program that fits the symptoms and is offered with the right treatment plan is the key to success,” noted the survey. In terms of the reason for offering financial education, 46 per cent of employer respondents cited helping employees understand the value of their benefits. However, among employee respondents,...

Latest release of the world’s most widely-used management system further enhances automation and customer experience University Park, IL (Sept. 10, 2019) – Applied Systems has announced the general global release of Applied Epic 2019. The latest release of Applied Epic drives greater efficiency and value for brokerages worldwide through more automated workflows, integrated customer communications and advanced insurer connectivity at each stage of the insurance lifecycle. Applied Epic 2019 enables brokerages to enhance customer experience through expanded eSignature and email capabilities; retain business with automated renewal processes; and increase efficiencies with greater workflow management. Key enhancements in the latest release of Applied Epic include: Email integration: Expands email integration with a Microsoft Outlook Add-In that enables brokerages to work directly in Microsoft Outlook to access Applied Epic contacts and attachments, with added ability to automatically attach sent messages into Applied Epic. Gain greater visibility into undeliverable emails from a marketing campaign sent to multiple groups and recipients. Direct bill commissions: Streamlines the recording of direct bill commissions during high volume processing times with added ability to select search filter criteria and then directly record commissions from that filtered list. eSignature partner support: Delivers round-trip eSignature integration with DocuSign, enabling signed...

Scott Mann on stage this morning at NAIFA’s 2019 annual conference. (Photo courtesy of NAIFA) ORLANDO — Scott Mann was one of a U.S. Army Special Forces Unit, popularly known as the Green Berets, who were helping defend an Afghan village against the Taliban when they found themselves surrounded by the enemy. In the midst of the fighting, Mann noticed a lone farmer standing on his roof, determined to defend his own home. Mann kept this image of the lone farmer as he taught lessons he learned from 18 years serving as a Green Beret in places from Ecuador to Afghanistan. He gave a lesson in Rooftop Leadership at today’s NAIFA Performance + Purpose conference. Advisors are fighting their own battles with the rapid pace of change, disengagement among their team members, and a churn of conflict keeping their message from reaching their prospects and clients, Mann said. Humans are “meaning, seeking, emotional, social creatures,” he said, but too often, advisors take the wrong approach to relate to those they serve. Advisors spend a great deal of time being reactionary and transactional, with a go it alone mentality, instead of finding ways to relate to people on a deeper level....

Value raised by InsurTech firms on track to reach $6bn this year Telematics, drones, IoT and mobile-first technology set to further transform the insurance sector London, UK (Sept. 11, 2019) – The InsurTech M&A Market Report from international technology mergers and acquisitions advisors Hampleton Partners reveals that 2019 global fundraising for InsurTech neared $3 billion in 1H 2019* and is on track to reach $6 billion by the end of the year. Last year, InsurTech fundraises increased 27 per cent, with 257 deals closed in 2018 vs 202 deals in 2017. Hampleton Partners also noted that nearly one third of InsurTech investments targeted European companies, with Europe’s global investment share growing from 23 per cent to 31 per cent. This trend is spearheaded by InsurTech hubs in Germany, the UK and France – with half of the ten largest InsurTech investments in 2018 flowing into companies based in Berlin. Meanwhile, there have been 132 M&A transactions since 2016, with 18 acquirers having made more than one acquisition in the last three years. These include the likes of Verisk, iPipeline, Solera, Applied Systems and TIA Technology. Financial buyers remain active, as the proportion of private equity acquisitions came in at 15...

Back in the mid-1970s, I accepted a job at the Red Cross as a disaster manager, which included planning, executing, responding, and mitigating results to help people recover after natural catastrophes. Each event had its own nuances, and most recoveries involved specific responses, some smaller, some larger. I moved away to other jobs, but as I look at ‘climate change’ today, the new challenges are substantially larger than they were in the past. However, some things stay the same … We’ll return to the history, but let’s look at the current moment. Dorian – the Category 5 hurricane on the Atlantic shore – is the most recent … This month, we are seeing multiple countries and jurisdictions facing various aspects of disaster: Danger to people, pets & animals, across a huge geographical swath through the Bahamas, the Atlantic coast of United States, and Canada’s eastern provinces; Likewise endangered are homes and property assets ranging from simple bamboo shacks on ‘free’ locations up to extremely large areas built and managed by multi-billionaires; Thefts and looting, and secondary injuries and crimes – even murders – in the wake of Dorian, after the hurricane had already visited its own devastation with powerful winds...

“Prepare for the expected” as cyber risk takes centre stage: Aon C-suite series report Toronto, ON (Sept. 12, 2019) – The cyber threat is producing some alarming statistics: The cost of global cyber losses is predicted to reach $6 trillion annually by 2021.[1] Cyber security spending will exceed $1 trillion from 2017 to 2021.[2] Barely a week passes without the fallout of a cyber-attack on a major corporation hitting the headlines. In July 2019, the data breach at Capital One exposed the records of almost 106 million people in the US and Canada.[3] In Europe, Norsk Hydro was forced to halt production following a cyber-attack in March 2019, which is expected to cost the firm up to $51 million.[4] Organizations are starting to see the significant financial impact of non-compliance with data privacy and the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”). The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued a notification of intention to impose a £183 million fine on British Airways in July 2019.[5] In the same month, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a $5 billion civil penalty against Facebook for violations of an earlier FTC order. The fine has been described as both “record-breaking and history-making”.[6]...

What is Critical Illness Insurance and why do you need it? Find out the details and what this insurance covers.