Moves (April 01, 2007)

Crawford Adjusters Canada Incorporated announced the change of its corporate name to Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc, effective immediately. The removal of the word ‘adjusters’ from Crawford’s name will allow all divisions of the company to be united under a single brand name. The new name will also keep Canadian operations in step with its parent company, Crawford & Company, in Atlanta, Georgia. “While our company name has changed, our customers and partners can be assured we will continue to deliver the same reliable service and support they’ve always received,” Crawford & Company (Canada) CEO John Sharoun said in a statement.

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ING Insurance Company of Canada and Policy Works Inc. have developed an integrated solution for exchanging commercial lines data, marking the first significant stride toward data exchange in the commercial realm, an ING release notes. ING’s proprietary online Web tool provides brokers with a single point of entry for commercial lines business. Policy Works automates the marketing of a broker’s commercial risks. Integrating the two systems enables brokers who do business with ING Insurance to upload commercial lines submissions directly into the ING Web tool, eliminating duplication and enhancing turn-around time.

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Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company president and CEO George Cooke was the keynote speaker at the Insurance Brokers of Toronto & Region (IBTR)’s luncheon on Feb. 27. Cooke’s speech covered off a wide variety of trends in catastrophes, claims, litigation and regulation.

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ACE INA Insurance and ACE INA Life Insurance, part of the ACE Group of Companies (NYSE: ACE), has appointed Karen Barkley as president and CEO of ACE Canada. She succeeds Daniel Courtemanche, who is now the president and CEO of GCAN Holdings Inc., part of the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund’s Ontario teachers Private Capital. Barkley was previously the chief operations officer for ACE INA Insurance. She will now be responsible for managing ACE’s operations in Canada. In her new role, she will report to John Lupica, president and CEO of ACE USA. “Karen is a proven leader within our organization and the Canadian market,” Lupica said in a press release. “I am confident in her ability to lead our Canadian operation and to maintain ACE Canada’s history of delivering results.” Barkley joined ACE in 1992 in the risk management unit. She has held several senior management positions within ACE Canada. Barkley earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Athabasca University. In addition, she has CIP and CRM designations. ACE INA Insurance and ACE INA Life Insurance provide commercial property and casualty and accident and health insurance products and services throughout Canada.

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After finishing last-minute preparations for the attendance of more than 2,000 insurance industry professionals at the Toronto Insurance Women’s Association (TIWA)’s annual Wine & Cheese event at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Feb. 15, the TIWA executive took a moment and paused for a photo together. Seated (left to right) are: Robin Darby and Cheryl Morton Standing (left to right) are: Cathy Ramsundar, Zina Tofano, Susan Wallis, Dalia Sabour, Nancy Carnahan, Bonita Kearns.

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Aviva Canada Inc. has announced a sponsorship of ThinkFirst Foundation of Canada. ThinkFirst and Aviva Insurance – Safety for Canada’s Kids is the “centrepiece” of Aviva’s commitment to corporate social responsibility, Igal Mayer, Aviva Canada’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Beyond the financial aid, the sponsorship will provide opportunities for Aviva employees and brokers to volunteer at special events and with local chapters, whose founders include neurosurgeons, neuroscience nurses and other healthcare professionals.” Jim Russell, ThinkFirst’s executive director, said: “Having Aviva as the lead sponsor of this organization makes sense because, like Aviva, ThinkFirst is in the business of protection.”

Added Russell: “We share the goal of protecting the future by preventing injury in Canada’s children. This generous sponsorship will help strengthen existing local ThinkFirst chapters and assist in the creation of new ones.” According to Mayer, Aviva adopted a signature charity to focus its giving and make a real impact in communities across Canada.

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RBC Insurance is the winner of the 2006 Large Institution Program of the Year Award, presented by the Bank Insurance and Securities Association (BISA). “RBC Insurance is proud to achieve this recognition, which is a testament to our bank insurance leadership and innovation,” Neil Skelding, the president and CEO of RBC Insurance, said in a press release. “We are focused on providing Canadians with greater choice in terms of where and how they can access insurance products and services, by opening new retail insurance branches, increasing our online and telephone options and offering general insurance advice through bank branches,” he added. “Due to Canadian Bank Act restrictions, RBC Insurance cannot distribute a full range of insurance products through the RBC bank branch network,” RBC Insurance said in its press release. “Instead, the company has utilized new distribution channels to offer clients greater access to insurance choices.”

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Paul Davis Systems (PDS), a contractor specializing in property restorations following fire, flood, wind and other perils, has announced the opening of a location in Etobicoke, Ontario. Russ Toering will head the operation, bringing with him 15 years of experience in the construction industry and more than six years at PDS.

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TorQuest Partners Inc., a Canadian-based manager of private equity funds, has acquired EW Disaster Kleenup Canada L.P., a newly formed entity that purchased the assets of Edenvale Restoration Specialists Ltd. and Woodhouse Contracting Ltd., both independent disaster restoration providers. The current shareholders and management team will be significant owners in this new partnership; they will continue to manage the business on a day-to-day basis. This transaction unites two large independent companies in the Canadian disaster restoration industry. Edenvale, with headquarters in Abbotsford, British Columbia, operates in the British Columbia Lower Mainland. Woodhouse, with headquarters in Kitchener, Ontario, operates in Southern Ontario. Both Edenvale and Woodhouse have been active members of Disaster KleenupInternational (Canada) Ltd. As part of the transaction, EW was successfully admitted as a new DKC member. “We are very pleased to welcome EW to the DKC network and look forward to the unique skill set that TorQuest has to offer”, says Matt Johnson, CEO of DKC. Lyle Kerr, the newly appointed CEO of EW Disaster Kleenup L.P., will complement Allen Booth and Ken Woodhouse, the divisional heads of Edenvale and Woodhouse respectively. Kerr was the CEO of CNC Global, a former portfolio company of TorQuest.

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Aviva Canada Inc. has lowered its rates for inexperienced drivers with no accidents or convictions. The “Clean Start Discount” is available to drivers licensed fewer than six years who do not had any convictions or accidents. The reduction will vary, depending on where the driver lives and their dr
iving experience, but ranges anywhere up to 70%. “The discount gives new drivers and their parents a significant reduction in their automotive insurance bill,” Jennifer Power, senior vice president of Aviva’s Atlantic Region, said in a statement. “The benefit is available to both new drivers with their own policy and to parents with children listed as occasional drivers.”

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Guy Carpenter & Company has launched SelectCat, an index-based product designed to provide reinsurers with capacity, flexibility and rational pricing for managing their property catastrophe risks. “This customized index approach adds value to the reinsurance supply chain by retaining the indemnity feature of insurance protection, engaging buyers in actively managing their portfolios and offering sellers more transparency of data and better control of exposures,” says a Guy Carpenter statement. These key features are designed to allow additional capacity and effective hedge to issuers, while giving retrocessional reinsurers and other capital providers a higher degree of comfort in assuming risks from reinsurers. “After Hurricane Katrina, we recognized the need for a more proactive approach to securing capacity in the property retro market and began to look at new, index-based approaches,” David Priebe, head of Guy Carpenter’s specialty operations, said in a statement. By utilizing a portfolio approach that incorporates a number of programs, SelectCat was designed to reduce the concentration and operational risk associated with writing a single catastrophe program.

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CanAm Special Risk Agency Limited (CanAm Insurance) has acquired the travel insurance book of business from PrimeLink Management Services Inc., Broker Advantage Inc. and the Pentius Group. The travel medical insurance products, marketed under the brand names PrimeLink, Travel Protect and TravelRite, are offered across Canada through well-established channels. The policies are administered by CanAm Insurance. Policies sold after Feb. 15, 2007 will be underwritten by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company. CanAm Insurance will service, offer top up, and provide extensions of coverage to consumers who purchased a policy prior to the acquisition. “The addition of PrimeLink complements CanAm’s offering to all facets of Canadian travelers,” said David Rivelis, vice president of CanAm Insurance. CanAm Insurance is an outsource facility for travel insurance services, assisting brokers, insurance companies, national associations and affinity program coordinators in securing business.

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King-Reed & Associates Inc., an investigation firm specializing in surveillance, litigation support, corporate intelligence and intellectual property matters, have announced an equity investment in Paul Ethier & Associates Investigations (PEIA), a francophone investigation firm in Eastern Ontario. Both companies will remain stand-alone operations operating their own distinctive practices while sharing common synergies, according to Brian D. King, CEO of King-Reed. Norman D. Lalonde, co-founder of PEIA, will remain as president of the organization. Shelley M. Taylor will continue to manage King-Reed’s offices in Ottawa, Kingston and Trenton alongside David Black, who has also assumed duties as vice president of King-Reed Corporate Risk Solutions.