Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Toronto, ON (Apr. 17, 2025) – Long-term small business confidence gained 9.3 index points in April, reaching 34.8, up from the record low level of 25.0 points recorded in March, finds the latest Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)’s Monthly Business Barometer® survey. “The long-term outlook has slightly recovered, but it’s still at abysmal levels. In fact, it’s only reached the March 2020 level of optimism. So, while the business sentiment trended in the right direction this month, partly due to the elimination of the federal carbon tax, small businesses are still feeling worried and uncertain about the future,” said Andreea Bourgeois, CFIB’s director of economics. “We’ve only gone from an extremely pessimistic outlook to just pessimistic.” Business owners are forecasting price increases of an average of 3.5% and plan to raise wages by an average of 2.2% over the next few months. Weak demand continues to plague over half (55%) of small firms. While hiring intentions slightly improved in April, they are still below their historical averages for this time of year, with 14% of firms looking to hire and 17% planning to lay off in the next few months. All provinces maintained their very low optimism levels. Businesses in...

Natural hazards, equipment failure and supply chain strains weigh on energy providers, lenders and investors Johnston, RI (Apr. 16, 2025) – Renewable energy projects and the global transition to green power will hinge on resilience – the ability to protect against natural hazards, equipment failure and business interruption – according to new research from commercial property insurer FM. With global demand for electricity expected to double by 2050, much is riding on the energy sector’s ability to expand and transition to wholesale production of sustainable renewable energy. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts the world will add more than 5,500 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity between 2024 and 2030, almost three times the increase seen from 2017 to 2023. Yet this progress and the related climate benefits could be hindered by hail, fire, wind and engineering flaws that cause equipment to fail. As a result, renewable energy providers will need to demonstrate resilience in their projects to attract financing, secure insurance coverage against breakdowns and operate profitably, according to FM’s survey of 650 renewable energy executives and financiers. According to the survey: There’s a strong appetite to build and invest in renewable energy infrastructure. 97% of solar energy providers...

By Mark Breading, Senior Partner of Transformation Services, ReSource Pro — With the thousands of blogs, articles, and presentations on AI and P&C insurance saturating the market, you may be wondering, “What more can be brought to the table?” While this may seem like just another blog on the topic, our research at ReSource Pro goes deep into the current state of AI across the ecosystem – agents/brokers, MGAs, and carriers. It would be easy to share real and potential use cases, and I have been doing so in many forums and with many customers over the years. However, here, I want to address AI from a completely different angle – how AI will change the customers and risks of the industry. How is AI transforming insurance, and who does it impact? Most of the discussion on AI and insurance centers on operations… and there is certainly great potential to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness for all entities across the ecosystem. More efficient workflows and improved decisioning are always highly sought after, and AI solutions enable the industry to take those to new levels. But it is worth spending time thinking about the impact of AI on the external environment...