Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Q&A with Bob Johnson, VP Analyst, Gartner — Global enterprises are facing rapidly increasing electricity consumption driven by AI and generative AI (GenAI), which threatens to disrupt energy availability and lead to data center power shortages. Gartner predicts that power shortages will restrict 40% of AI data centers by 2027. Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) are emerging as a viable long-term solution to this looming power crisis. Gartner predicts the first SMR-powered data centers will become operational by 2030, using sustainable power fully independent of utility power distribution grids. We spoke with Bob Johnson, VP Analyst at Gartner, to understand the role that SMRs will play in addressing the power problem and what organizations can do now to get ahead of the game. What role will SMRs play in future energy generation to solve the power crisis? Current demand looks set to exceed the ability of utility providers to expand their capacity fast enough to support the exponential growth of GenAI. Nuclear energy, specifically SMRs, provides a viable answer to the question of “What to do when electricity demand exceeds supply?” Gartner estimates the power required for data centers to run incremental AI-optimized servers will reach 500 terawatt-hours (TWh) per...

New technology enables advisors to spend less time on note-taking, and more time helping Clients achieve lifetime financial security Toronto, ON (June 26, 2025) – Sun Life Canada is pleased to announce it has developed and launched a Notes Assistant tool powered by GenAI to efficiently and securely summarize Client meetings for advisors. This technology enables advisors to move with purpose and speed, spending less time on administrative operations and more quality time with clients on the conversations that matter. “This note-taking tool might be the best process upgrade delivered to advisors that I can recall in recent years,” said Chris Poole, President of CWP Financial Services Inc. and Certified Financial Planner, Sun Life. “Access to the tool is transforming how I spend my time with Clients, allowing me to focus my time and energy on the things that truly matter. The noticeable time saved is allowing our entire advisory team to level up even more on quality, speed and consistency which will continue to change the game for us and for the Clients we serve.” As an early adopter of GenAI, Sun Life first launched this note-taking tool as a pilot in 2024 with a subset of advisors. Some...

Raymond James Ltd enters into agreement with FNZ to accelerate its digital transformation Toronto, ON (June 25, 2025) — Raymond James Ltd., the largest independent financial services firm in Canada, is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with FNZ, a global wealth management platform provider, to deliver its next-generation wealth management platform. Under the agreement, Raymond James Ltd. will make a significant investment to accelerate the digital transformation of its wealth management infrastructure and elevate the advisor and client experience nationwide. The partnership will see Raymond James Ltd. leverage FNZ’s integrated, end-to-end wealth management platform—a deliberate and future-focused investment in modern infrastructure. Designed to deliver AI-powered capabilities, straight-through processing, and advanced digital capabilities, the FNZ platform will strengthen the Raymond James Ltd. unique value proposition. “As a client-first organization, we took the time to engage with our advisors, branch associates and clients to define the future of wealth management,” said Jamie Coulter CEO, Raymond James Ltd. “This isn’t just a technology upgrade—it’s a quantum leap in the support we provide our advisors in their delivery of exceptional client service. We’re listening, investing, and acting to deliver smarter, more connected experiences for our partners and clients.” The new platform is built...

New tool enables Coalition Re cedents to view real-time cyber risk exposures in their portfolios and manage them more effectively San Francisco, CA (June 24, 2025) — Coalition, the world’s first Active Insurance provider designed to help prevent digital risk before it strikes, today introduced Coalition Re’s Helios platform, a new tool that enables cedants of Coalition Re to view real-time cyber risk exposures in their portfolios and manage them more effectively with actionable insights. Existing Coalition Re cedants can access the platform at no additional cost now, and all new cedants will be able to access the platform starting on July 1, 2025. “Real-time data insights are crucial to managing a portfolio of cyber risks,” said Shawn Ram, Coalition’s Chief Revenue Officer. “With Coalition Re’s interactive Helios platform, we are setting the standard for data collection and information processing as the cyber market matures. The new Helios platform enables cedants to gain visibility into their own systemic risk, aggregation, and catastrophe load, as well as gather meaningful context around why these risks matter and what to do about them.” With Coalition Re’s Helios platform, information previously provided to cedents only via a summary document is now always accessible via...

Gothenburg, Sweden (June 21, 2025) – IoT analyst firm Berg Insight has released a market report, The Global ADAS and Autonomous Car Market – 1st Edition, which analyses the latest developments on the self-driving car market worldwide. This study provides you with 210 pages of unique business intelligence, including 5-year industry forecasts, expert commentary and real-life case studies on which to base your business decisions. A fully autonomous car can be defined as a car that is able to drive from an arbitrary point A to another arbitrary point B in the same environmental conditions as manageable by a human driver. This is the last step on a continuum of more or less autonomous cars. Many cars are today equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) features that partly enable autonomous driving. SAE International has developed a six level standard (0–5), which describes the different levels of automated driving. At Level 0 there is no autonomy at all. Level 1 introduces a single assistive feature, such as adaptive cruise control or lane keeping, but the driver must remain in control. At Level 2, the car can manage both steering and speed simultaneously under certain conditions, but the driver must stay...

Edmonton, AB (June 24, 2025) – Peace Hills General Insurance Company is proud to announce the implementation of the Guidewire Cloud Platform as part of a transformative effort to modernise its core insurance operations. This strategic decision follows a comprehensive procurement process back in 2022, followed by several years of dedicated planning and development by a team of both internal and external subject matter experts, including integration partners EY Canada, all while maintaining their commitment to personalized service. Peace Hills Insurance is deploying Guidewire InsuranceSuite, Guidewire ProducerEngage (branded by Peace Hills Insurance as “phiX+”), Guidewire DataHub, and Guidewire InfoCenter on Guidewire Cloud Platform, positioning the company to leverage the most advanced insurance technology available in the market. Another critical component is a customized reinsurance build-out, designed to meet complex reinsurance needs – an integral piece in ensuring a fully functional system that is aligned with business objectives. The implementation also features over 50 integrations with internal and third-party systems, including five Broker Management System (BMS) vendors and four comparative raters. These integrations will enable seamless connectivity and improved data flow across multiple platforms, fostering greater collaboration and service enhancements for Peace Hills Insurance’s partners and clients. “We are going live...

Highlighting SGI’s commitment to CSIO standards Toronto, ON (June 10, 2025) – CSIO is pleased to announce that SGI CANADA (SGI) has achieved CSIO’s eDocs and Application Programming Interface (API) Security Standards Certifications. This achievement demonstrates SGI’s commitment to adopting industry-leading standards for operational efficiency and data security best practices. SGI was awarded eDocs Certification by deploying CSIO’s updated eDocs codes and descriptions into production and confirming that they can send the updated eDocs to Broker Management Systems (BMS). As a result, brokers will receive clearly-labelled eDocs in their BMS, allowing them to reduce manual work and better serve their customers. By obtaining API Security Standards Certification, SGI has successfully implemented CSIO’s API Security Standards for safeguarding client information. This ensures that data exchanged between SGI’s system and a BMS via APIs remains protected by leading security protocols. Additionally, SGI’s accomplishments have improved their Standards Certification Rating to Silver for personal and commercial lines, reflecting their dedication to standards excellence and broker connectivity. The Standards Certification Ratings were established by CSIO’s Standards Governance Advisory Council to acknowledge organizations’ achievements in implementing Data Standards to benefit the P&C broker channel. “SGI is committed to maintaining the highest level of data accuracy...

As summer holidays approach, Allstate’s public education campaign encourages Canadians to ‘Travel Smart’ by delaying their trip photos to social media Markham, ON (June 23, 2025) – Almost one third (32 per cent) of Canadian respondents to a survey that say they are active on social media post about their plans before or while traveling, a figure that rises to 51 per cent among those aged 18 to 34. Posting that beach vacation selfie while away could be putting the safety of their property at risk for theft because it also shares that their home is empty. The survey was conducted by Léger on behalf of Allstate Insurance Company of Canada to explore how Canadians choose to share details about their vacation on social media before and during travel. Respondents to the survey reveal that 68 per cent of Canadian social media users plan to leave home for at least a few days this summer, with the highest rate among Gen Z and Millennials at 74 per cent and the lowest among those aged 55 and older. While 35 per cent of those staying within their province say they plan to post about their trip on social media, this proportion rises...