Topic
Catastrophes
Progress report: Canada-wide flood mapping is well underway
June 16, 2021 by Greg MeckbachA nationwide estimate of coastal, pluvial, and fluvial flood hazard is one part of the ongoing effort to come up with a national approach to insuring or re-locating homes at high risk of flood, a federal government official suggests. Flood…
Where Canada sits with national low-cost residential flood insurance
June 10, 2021 by Greg MeckbachSix possible flood insurance models for homes at high risk of flood are about to go through an actuarial review, a federal government official suggests. The Task Force on Flood Insurance and Relocation is going to hand off those possible…
Why IBAC foresees a national flood insurance program
April 28, 2021 by Greg MeckbachThe recently-released federal budget gives brokers reason to be optimistic that Canada will eventually have a national flood insurance program for homeowners, the head of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada suggests. “The commitment from the federal government is clear…
How the feds’ budget benefits the P&C industry
April 20, 2021 by Greg MeckbachInsurers are hoping it will be easier for homeowners to borrow money to raise their structures in areas at risk of flood or to replace roofs in wildfire-prone regions as a result of the federal budget announced Monday. In her…
Pandemic will cost the global P&C industry more than $250 billion: Lloyd’s
April 7, 2021 by Greg MeckbachThe pandemic will cost the global insurance industry at least US$200 billion, Lloyd’s predicts. “We estimate that the global insurance industry will pay around US$203 billion in claims and due to a reduction in asset values as a result of…
Pandemic distraction: Is Canada ready for the next big disaster?
March 30, 2021 by David GambrillFocused narrowly on responding to the COVID-19 global pandemic — and preparing for the next one — Canada may be losing sight of preparing for other, potentially more likely disaster scenarios, P&C insurance industry executives commented at the Swiss Re…
Why home insurance was so profitable for Intact in 2020
March 11, 2021 by Greg MeckbachThe hard market in home insurance is helping Canada’s largest P&C insurer make a healthy profit. But insurers need to maintain pricing discipline in personal property because weather catastrophe costs are increasing over time, suggests the chief financial officer at…
Advice from the U.S.: Canada needs exit strategy from national flood
March 4, 2021 by Greg MeckbachCanada needs to proceed with caution if it wants to establish a taxpayer-supported program to write flood insurance for high-risk homes, an American speaker warned the Canadian P&C industry during CatIQ Connect. “Be very careful with a federal flood insurance…
What’s making it harder to estimate property Cat claims
February 17, 2021 by Greg MeckbachRecent price increases in building materials means it is harder than normal to predict the cost of repairing property damage, restoration experts say. Restoration contractor Peak Services handled several thousand claims after the June 13, 2020, record hail storm in…
How COVID-19 has affected repair of vehicles from hail
February 12, 2021 by Greg MeckbachThe COVID-19 pandemic has created some barriers to repairing vehicle and property damage – including a shortage of auto body parts, and a labour shortage impacted by Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) recipients who are reluctant to return to work,…
ICLR’s Paul Kovacs honoured with lifetime achievement award
February 8, 2021 by David GambrillPaul Kovacs, executive director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR), has received the Joseph Scanlon Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Risk and Hazards Network (CRHNet). CRHNet is a not-for-profit organization established in 2003 to share hazards research…
Where Canada sits with high-risk flood insurance pool
February 3, 2021 by Greg MeckbachIndustry experts are trying to calculate how much it would cost to set up an insurance pool for homes at high risk of overland flood, an Insurance Bureau of Canada official suggests. Canada’s Task Force on Flood Insurance and Relocation…