Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Yaelle Gang | September 12, 2019 Since Telus Communication Inc.’s journey from defined benefit pension plans to defined contribution  began in 1996, it’s come a long way, but it’s far from over. During a session at the Association of Canadian Pension Management’s annual conference on Wednesday, Carol Craig, Telus’s director of benefits and pensions, and Dave Lawson, vice-president of investment management, noted the DC option was introduced in 1996. Its contribution structure mirrored the DB plan’s design, added Craig, with the company match increasing with service.  Read: Coca-Cola wins big for successfully communicating complex pension transition “Team members could choose to go over to the defined contribution pension plan,” she said. “New team members to Telus also had the option. They could choose either defined contribution or defined benefit. If they didn’t make a choice, they were defaulted into the defined benefit pension plan because they always had a choice afterwards to move to DC if they wanted to. We didn’t want to default them into an option that they couldn’t have any more choices left.” In 2007, the company closed its DB plans to management employees. Before the plan closure, Telus put together a team of employees from across Canada to look at the current...

Eighty per cent of employees want some type of financial education to be offered at work, found Eckler’s recent national survey on financial wellness in the workplace. The study also asked respondents about their degree of financial stress. Fifty four per cent said they feel some degree of stress about their finances, and close to one-third described it as a high degree of stress. Providing financial education can empower employees to gain control of their finances, says Eckler. Amount of stress is unprecedented “The amount of stress Canadians face today is unprecedented. Lack of focus at work, increasing amounts of time spent managing personal finances and increased use of employee benefit plans to manage stress-related illnesses is now commonplace,” said Janice Holman, Principal, Eckler Ltd. in a statement Sept. 11. “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 critical to improving outcomes.” Regarding who should deliver the financial education, 84% of employers and 90% of employees want their third-party educator to be unbiased, and 85% of companies and 84%...

Staff | September 11, 2019 One in four (28 per cent) Canadian men fear their job could be at risk if they discussed their mental health at work, according to new research by Movember Canada. The survey, which polled 1,000 Canadian men aged between 18 and 75, also found a third of respondents said they’d be reluctant to open up about their problems in case it had a negative impact on their career. As well, 42 per cent said they’d be worried about colleagues making negative comments behind their backs if they discussed mental-health issues at work. Read: Mindful benefits plan design should consider mental health A further 33 per cent of survey respondents thought they could be held back from a promotion if they mentioned a problem they were finding difficult to cope with. And just over half (54 per cent) said they’d be able to take time off work if they were struggling with their mental health or other personal issues. “Although we’ve made great progress in starting to talk openly about how we are feeling, there are many men worried that a personal mental-health challenge might be revealed, especially in the workplace,” said Brendan Maher, Movember’s global mental health and suicide prevention director,...

Staff | September 11, 2019 Blue Pier Administration Corp. is appointing Brian Mills to the board of trustees of its retirement plan. “Brian brings to the board a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise in pension governance and administration,” said Lesley Gallinger, board chair, in a press release. “We are delighted to welcome Brian and look forward to working with him to make pension plan membership available to more workers in Ontario and across Canada.” Read: Brian Gibson appointed new chair of IMCO board From October 2014 to June 2019, Mills was chief executive officer of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario and superintendent of financial services for Ontario. Across his 40-year career, he was also a policy advisor with several Ontario government ministries, vice-president of pension administration at the Ontario Pension Board and a managing partner at Towers Perrin before it became Willis Towers Watson. “One thing I’ve learned over my career is that pension coverage and good governance matter,” said Mills. “Workers who participate in well-governed plans that operate in their interests retire better and with less worry. Today, most workers don’t get the opportunity to join a pension plan. I’m very much looking forward to working with my fellow board members to...

The Potential for “Humane” Automation; Current Economic Trends Affecting Collision Repairs; and the Impact of Workflow Technology San Diego, CA (Sept. 10, 2019) – Mitchell International, a leading provider of technology, connectivity and information solutions to the Property & Casualty (P&C) Claims and Collision Repair industries, has released its Industry Trends Report (ITR) for the third quarter of 2019. In this quarter’s report, Mitchell executives share insights on leveraging emerging claims technology to improve strategic decision-making. The report also looks at how current positive economic trends coupled with the growing cost and value of cars are increasing the frequency and cost of claims for repairing damage. Mitchell experts also identify key areas of the claims process where workflow technology has the potential to significantly improve performance. How Humane Automation Leverages Claims Technology for Better Outcomes In his latest article on humane automation, “How (Humane) Claims Automation Leverages Technology for Better Outcomes,” Mitchell CEO Alex Sun notes that insurance automation today can “free workers from rote tasks, providing them with more time to focus on human-centered work and complex decision making.” He notes that automation of the claims process using artificial intelligence, business rules engines and predictive analytics can vastly increase...

PR Newswire The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Life Insurance Policy Locator continues to connect consumers with lost life insurance. Each year, millions of dollars in life insurance benefits go unclaimed by beneficiaries who can’t find their deceased loved ones’ policies or in some cases may not even know the policies exist. That’s where the Life Insurance Policy Locator comes in. This free online tool, maintained by the NAIC, has received 145,432 requests which has led to 46,665 matches of lost or misplaced life insurance policies or annuities with claim amounts of $650,520,451 million being reported by companies through July 31, 2019 since its November 2016 launch. “Losing a loved one is often a painful, chaotic time. Beneficiaries who don’t know where policy paperwork is located may struggle to find it while taking care of their loved ones’ estate,” says Eric A. Cioppa, NAIC President and Maine Insurance Superintendent. “The NAIC’s Life Insurance Policy Locator gives consumers a way to easily search for policies and annuities.” The policy locator requests are secure, confidential and free. Any matches found by participating insurers are reported to state insurance agencies through the NAIC Life Policy Locator. The companies then are responsible for contacting...

Employees of small- to mid-size companies to have faster access to medical care Montréal, QC (Sept. 10, 2019) – Teladoc Health, the global leader in virtual care, is pleased to announce its partnership with Johnston Group, which will see more than 30,000 small to medium-size businesses be the first in Canada to access Teladoc Telemedicine Services. Businesses who are members of the Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance Plan, the number one employee benefits plan for small- to mid-size companies in the country and managed by Johnston Group, will offer their employees in Canada this valuable service, providing 24×7 access to convenient, high-quality medical care regardless of their location across Canada or the U.S. Small businesses often struggle to compete with the health benefit plans of larger companies. A 2016 Canada health survey found that 77 per cent of respondents said they wouldn’t move to a job that didn’t include health benefits.[1] This new service helps address these barriers by allowing plan members to provide their employees the same digital health benefits as larger companies. In addition, this service will help small businesses manage employee costs related to absenteeism for general medical conditions, which are confidentially diagnosed via a virtual care...

Tech-savvy insurance carrier embraces Breathe Life enterprise commerce platform to drive, capture and convert leads Montréal, QC (Sept. 10, 2019) – Breathe Life and Viaction Assurance have announced that Viaction, a Montreal-based online life insurance carrier, has implemented the Breathe Life platform to help the company deliver a great consumer experience from first contact to conversion to a new client. Breathe Life, a rapidly growing InsurTech, offers a flexible, modular enterprise commerce platform for the insurance industry to modernize the way personal insurance is bought and sold. An early-adopter of selling insurance products online, Viaction turned to Breathe Life to help it keep pace with rapid changes in consumer buying habits and preferences. With the Breathe Life platform, Viaction gains a flexible, white-label solution to help develop and test new markets, capture new customers, and sell more products online. “Our goal at Viaction Assurance is to provide financial security for everyone, and providing a great consumer experience is key to our success,” said Pierre-Paul Cournoyer, General Manager at Viaction Assurance Inc. “We wanted to maximize our online sales, however, we needed advanced tools and analytics to more effectively target, capture, convert, and retain customers – this is exactly what the...

Trucks with SAE Level 4 intent technology being tested on public roads in Virginia, following extensive testing and safety validation on closed loop track Blacksburg, VA (Sept. 9, 2019) – Daimler Trucks and Torc Robotics are actively developing and testing automated trucks with SAE Level 4 intent technology on public roads. The initial routes are on highways in southwest Virginia, where Torc Robotics is headquartered. All automated runs require both an engineer overseeing the system and a highly trained safety driver certified by Daimler Trucks and Torc Robotics. All safety drivers hold a commercial driver’s license and are specially trained in vehicle dynamics and automated systems. The deployment on public roads takes place after months of extensive testing and safety validation on a closed loop track. As part of the comprehensive safety process by Daimler Trucks and Torc Robotics, both test track and on-road validation play an integral role in establishing the essential building blocks for successfully advancing automated technology. Martin Daum, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Trucks & Buses: “Torc Robotics is a leader in automated driving technology. Daimler Trucks is the market leader in trucks and we understand the needs of the...

Kelsey Rolfe | September 11, 2019 Manulife Financial Corp. is rolling out its Vitality health and wellness app to all its group benefits plan members after initially launching it with its own employees. The Vitality program, which connects with wearable devices, including smartwatches, fitness bracelets and smartphones, is designed to encourage users to make healthy choices and rewards them with gift cards when they hit milestones. “There’s powerful stats in the employer space that show changes in small habits like exercising more regularly can have a very positive impact on things like disability, on people’s absenteeism, so this could have a really powerful impact on your workforces as it’s going to have on ours,” said Mike Doughty, Manulife Canada’s president and chief executive officer, during a launch event this week in Toronto. “What’s good for employees is very good for business.” Read: Manulife partners with Vitality to reward healthy living To use the app, a user completes a review that covers all major health risks and then receives an “age” based on their lifestyle. Users can take nutritional assessments, as well as mental well-being assessments that cover mental stressors and psychological and social well-being. Every Monday, the app sets a weekly goal for users to work towards,...