Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) _ CNA Financial Corp. (CNA) on Monday reported second-quarter earnings of $278 million. On a per-share basis, the Chicago-based company said it had profit of $1.02. Earnings, adjusted for investment costs, came to $1.08 per share. The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.01 per share. The insurance holding company posted revenue of $2.61 billion in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $2.34 billion. CNA Financial shares have risen nearly 7% since the beginning of the year. The stock has risen almost 2% in the last 12 months. This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CNA at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CNA Read the original article at insurancenewsnet.com

iA Financial Group reported higher net income attributable to common shareholders as well as higher earnings per common share for the second quarter. “Our strong second-quarter results speak to the success of our sustainable growth strategy,” said Denis Ricard, president and CEO of iA Financial Group. “The 17% increase in earnings per share over 12 months illustrates our solid performance and our profit-generating capacity. These factors, combined with others such as our financial strength and the diversification of our operations, led Standard & Poor’s to raise our credit ratings in July.” Q2 EPS higher than year ago Specifically, iA Financial reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $181.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, compared with $159.1 million the same time last year.  Earnings per common share stood at $1.69 for Q2, compared with $1.44 a year earlier. “We’re also happy with our business growth particularly in the United States,” said Ricard. “Our two U.S. divisions continue to show good momentum, which solidifies our desire to grow that market. We’re also continuing to see good results for segregated fund sales in Canada, where we’re still ranked number one in net sales. At the same time, our retail insurance sales are improving, and are slightly higher...

Empire Life Insurance Company has reported lower earnings in the second quarter of this year, with common shareholders’ net income of $20 million compared to $57 million the same time last year. Year-to-date common shareholders’ net income was $63 million compared to $96 million in 2018, the company reported August 1. Lower earnings stemmed primarily from the Individual Insurance, Wealth Management and Employee Benefits product lines, partially offset by higher income from Capital & Surplus, the company said in a statement. “The continuing low level of interest rates in the second quarter proved to be a significant challenge for our Individual Insurance product line,” said Empire Life president and CEO Mark Sylvia. LICAT position remains strong “Our other product lines maintained profitability and we experienced net premium and fee revenue growth in the quarter. Our capital position, as measured by LICAT, continues to be very strong—above both supervisory and internal targets.” The expected profit on in-force business for the second quarter decreased 12 per cent and 5 per cent on a year-to-date basis. This was driven mainly by lower profit on in-force business in the Individual Insurance product line and, to a lesser extent, by reduced margins on a lower asset...

$18.3 Billion Invested Across 470 Deals: KPMG Report The second half of this year could see record-breaking highs propelled by large M&A closings Toronto, ON (July 31, 2019) – Following a record year in deal volume and value, overall FinTech investment in the U.S. remained strong but dipped during H1 2019, reaching $18.3 billion across 470 deals, powered, in large part, by a strong first quarter of the year, according to KPMG’s H1 2019 Pulse of FinTech report. The $6.9 billion buyout of business analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet by a consortium of investors was the top FinTech deal in the U.S. and globally during the first half of the year. M&A activity was particularly strong in the first half of 2019, accounting for five of the top deals in the U.S. (i.e. Investment Technology Group: $1 billion; CSI Enterprises: $600 million; PIEtech: $500 million; IQMS: $425 million; and Viteos Fund Services: $330 million). “U.S. FinTech investment is strong this year, and with several large M&A deals announced, it’s only going to grow,” said Robert Ruark, Financial Services Strategy and FinTech leader, KPMG LLP. “The payments space continues to be hot, demonstrating there’s plenty of long-term growth potential in the...

Chicago, IL (July 24, 2019) – Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement, and health solutions, and Bunker, the leading instant business insurance and compliance platform for independent workers and enterprises, have announced that they have entered into a commercial agreement to serve the growing on-demand, sharing economy. The partnership provides Aon and their clients access to Bunker’s compliance platform and Live Certificate of Insurance, ensuring an organization’s contractors, independent workers, and vendors are compliant with insurance standards in real-time. Bunker will be able to expand their reach through Aon’s enterprise network, risk management expertise, and global capabilities. “Working with Bunker provides Aon with capabilities to serve Digital Economy players,” said Jillian Slyfield, Aon’s Head of the Digital practice for its US Commercial Risk team. “The growth of the on-demand economy is changing the way many people work, and we are excited to partner with Bunker to better serve this growing segment of workers.” The on-demand economy is growing quickly, and it is critical to ensure that the independent workforce is compliant. The Freelancers Union and Upwork 2018 annual survey found that 56.7 million Americans— about 35% of the U.S. workforce— work...

Toronto, ON (July 31, 2019) — Zensurance, Canada’s breakthrough business insurance platform, has been named one of the country’s Top 50 FinTech Companies of 2019 by the Digital Finance Institute for their continued contribution to Canada’s growing FinTech sector. The Digital Finance Institute, a think tank for financial innovation conducted extensive market research with key stakeholders to establish a criterion for excellence within the FinTech industry. Determining factors included product innovation, disruption of a service, scalability, growth and external adoption. Zensurance is ranked among the companies representing the growing industry’s wide array of sub-sectors, such as Blockchain, RegTech, and Capital Markets. “We are proud to be recognized as one of Canada’s top 50 FinTech companies,” says Danish Yusuf, Zensurance Co-Founder and CEO. “This recognition will drive us to continue transforming the way Canadian business owners experience the insurance industry.” Over its three-year lifespan, Zensurance has received many awards and accolades highlighting the company’s unprecedented success in both the insurance and FinTech industry. Recognized by the Canadian Innovation Exchange as one of the top 20 innovative technology companies and winner of the Bank of Montreal’s Next Big Idea in FinTech event, this most recent accolade further cements Zensurance’s spot as a...

All but 10 Canadian insurance companies filed their Annual Statement of Market Conduct by the May 1 deadline, an increase of 10 per cent in the compliance rate compared to previous filings, according to the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR). A spokesman for the CCIR said the 10 insurers that filed late received either a letter of education or a letter of warning. Five insurers that filed late for the first time received letters of education informing them that failure to submit the Annual Statement on Market Conduct by the deadline in the future may subject them to regulatory action. Some insurers received warning letters The remaining five insurers had a second contravention and received letters of warning reminding them that an annual statement that is late or not filed may be subject to further, unspecified regulatory action.  About 315 insurers were required to complete the Annual Statement on Market Conduct and provide information on their governance, policies and processes regarding the fair treatment of consumers. Some of the questions asked to the insurers dealt with providing an overview of the development and enforcement of policies and practices related to fair treatment of consumers, whether there was a documented...

Arlington, VA (July 30, 2019) – Willis Towers Watson, a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company, announced today that following the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and receipt of regulatory approval, it has completed its acquisition of TRANZACT, a direct-to-consumer health care organization that links individuals to U.S. insurance carriers. TRANZACT will operate as an integral part of Willis Towers Watson’s Benefits Delivery and Administration (BDA) business, which focuses on the development and delivery of administrative solutions for employers, employees and retirees. The company will continue to use the TRANZACT brand in the market. “We are happy to announce that Willis Towers Watson has closed its acquisition of TRANZACT,” said Gene Wickes, head of Willis Towers Watson’s BDA segment. “We are excited to welcome the TRANZACT team into Willis Towers Watson and work together to further their capabilities and proven success in the direct-to-consumer U.S. health care market — a significant growth opportunity for us going forward.” TRANZACT markets a wide breadth of products, including Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement and Prescription Drug Plan, as well as an array of ancillary products, including dental, vision, life and indemnity. TRANZACT employs approximately 1,300 individuals, including 850 licensed agents. About Willis Towers...

Sales reps must help customers make sense of the buying journey Stamford, CT (July 29, 2019) – Providing prospects with high-quality information and “thought leadership” is no longer a differentiator for sales organizations to succeed today, according to Gartner, Inc. Sales leaders must help customers make sense of the massive amount of quality information they encounter as part of a purchase and proactively guide them through the buying journey. A Gartner survey of more than 1,000 B2B customers shows 89% of respondents found the information they encountered during their purchase process to be of high quality. However, this abundance of quality information is hindering customer decisions, as they report not only being overwhelmed by the amount of trustworthy information, but often contradictory information among suppliers as well. “In today’s world, which is overloaded with information, customers are struggling mightily to make informed decisions about who and what to believe,” said Brent Adamson, distinguished vice president in the Gartner Sales practice. “Customers are reaching an information saturation point, where each new idea reduces the value derived from information and turns sound decision making into ‘best guesses’ or ‘gut feeling’ choices.” In fact, when customers experience too much high-quality information, information that...

Three in four say building wealth is more difficult now than in previous generations Toronto, ON (July 31, 2019) – Despite higher salaries, almost half (48%) of Canadians in high-income households[1] say they are not as wealthy as they expected to be at this stage of their life. When asked what net worth[2] they would need to feel wealthy where they live, the average figure was CAD $1.3 million with Ontario residents citing the highest figure at $1.5 million and those in the Atlantic and Quebec regions citing the lowest figures at $898,731 and $925,738 respectively. These insights are from a new Ipsos survey[3] sponsored by RBC Wealth Management. “Regardless of income, many Canadians find themselves behind on their wealth goals as many of the traditional ways we build wealth have changed over the generations,” says Tony Maiorino, Head, RBC Wealth Management Services. “With the added backdrop of market uncertainty, clients are voicing their concerns and looking for support using non-traditional methods of meeting their wealth goals.” Building wealth is more difficult than in previous generations Three quarters of survey respondents agree building wealth is more difficult than in previous generations, with respondents in Ontario (81%) and Alberta (80%) most...