Workplace flexibility, one feature of a hybrid workplace, has proven to be a selling point to attract younger brokers. But the hybrid office makes it difficult to supervise newly recruited brokers to make sure they’re doing things correctly, broker E&O…
Senior broker retirements, a labour shortage that’s spurring firms to bring new, inexperienced employees into brokerages, and a hybrid office may be combining to increase a broker’s errors and omissions (E&O) exposure. “It’s very difficult to track [broker E&O] claims…
BrokerLink still sees plenty of M&A opportunities in provinces where it currently operates and doesn’t have any immediate plans to expand into new geographic areas, the brokerage’s president told Canadian Underwriter in an interview Tuesday. BrokerLink is focusing its resources…
Large Ontario brokerage McDougall Insurance Brokers Limited, a subsidiary of Definity Financial Corporation, has merged with another large provincial brokerage — McFarlan Rowlands Insurance Brokers Inc. The combination of McDougall and McFarlan Rowlands represents more than $700 million in annual…
Insurance Corporation of British Columbia’s (ICBC) board of directors has appointed David Wong as its new president and CEO, effective May 15. Wong, a chartered professional accountant, will join ICBC following years of experience at the province’s power utility, BC…
Beyond recruiting challenges, data from Canadian Underwriter’s 2023 National Broker Survey show retention will continue to be a major issue for property and casualty (P&C) insurance brokers this year. The survey, answered by more than 150 brokers nationwide, asked about…
While the hard market’s still a huge challenge for Canada’s broker distribution channel in 2023, finding qualified workers was also top concern for brokers. So said more than 150 nationwide respondents to Canadian Underwriter’s 2023 National Broker Survey. The survey,…
Mentoring up, or ‘reverse mentorship,’ in which managers learn as much from employees as employees learn from their managers, is fast becoming a topic of conversation in a P&C industry characterized by significant gaps in age and professional experience. “I’m…
Bringing new talent through the doors is a priority for brokerages nationwide, said 322 respondents to a recent Canadian Underwriter online survey. About two-thirds (71%) of brokers, reporting all levels of diversity within their senior leadership, have seen at least some…
A high percentage of today’s pool of risk managers has been working in the industry a long time, and the next largest group are fairly new to the business. Those in the younger group “are excited about what they’ve done…
Amid a shortage of P&C industry talent, brokerages should heed the fact there may be a subtle risk to failing to address diversity — employee attrition. Brokers working in organizations without diversity in senior leadership are three times more likely to…
Regardless of how far along Canadian brokerages are in their efforts to build diverse workplaces, they are in general agreement about the best ways to get there. And that’s the case even among firms that acknowledge they haven’t yet made…