Moves & Views (April 01, 2010)

1 ISO has teamed up with MSA Research Inc. to launch Property Claims Services (PCS), an industry- wide loss calculator, in Canada. PCS-Canada service will enable insurers, reinsurers, brokers and other industry stakeholders to receive industry-wide data about Canadian catastrophes, including man-made and extreme weather events. The service is being launched with the support of the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR), and with the endorsement of the Reinsurance Research Council (RRC). PCS-Canada will enable insurance companies to benchmark their respective claims against industry averages and assist with the purchase of reinsurance. The service is based on a similar system that ISO manages in the United States. Companies volunteering their data will have access to the resultant reports, said Joel Baker [1], president of MSA Research Inc.

2 Policy Works has entered into an agreement with SGI Canada to deliver a commercial lines data exchange solution. The agreement integrates Policy Works’ commercial managepertise ment system (CMS) and SGI’s underwriting system. The integration between SGI’s underwriting system and the Policy Works desktop solution is the first straight-through processing of commercial data using the CSIO XML standards, Policy Works said in a release. This solution offers pure no-touch processing, enabling brokers to send submissions and receive quotations electronically without a Web portal, meaning brokers will not have to learn a new portal or system. Integration is expected to be complete by this summer.

3 Custom Software Solutions Inc. (CSSI)’s Windows-based broker management system, The Broker’s Workstation (TBW), and its standalone rating and underwriting tool, Intelliquote (IQ), will integrate in real time through The Economical Insurance Group’s TEIG Rogo. TEIG Rogo provides real-time billing, policy and claims inquiry for both commercial and personal lines of business in an easy-to-read PDF, according to a joint release. The integration between CSSI and TEIG allows brokers to initiate auto and property inquiries and receive the response within their Broker Management System. Brokers gain the added bene- fit of spending more time within the systems they have invested in and use daily, the release said. CSSI also announced a similar integration with Portage Mutual’s new business upload Web service using CSIO XML 4.3. The Portage integration will include both personal lines, auto and residential.

4 Chesterfield Canada Inc. announced two new appointments to their Toronto Branch: Paul Clarke [4a] and Tyson Peel [4b]. Clarke has been appointed senior property casualty underwriter and Peel has been appointed property casualty underwriter. Both will provide underwriting ex- to retailers in Ontario requiring specialist coverage. Chesterfield’s Toronto team focuses on hard-to-place property and casualty classes, builders’ risks and renewable energy power production classes of insurance.

5 Catlin Canada has added four new senior staff to its Toronto office. Varma Singh [5a] has accepted the role of vice president of claims. Singh was most recently with Travelers Canada as assistant vice president of claims for the company’s central region. Terence Hennessy [5b] is the new product manager of professional liability. He was most recently at Zurich.

Graeme Finnell [5c] is the new senior underwriter of property. He was most recently at GCAN. Michael Varley [5d] is the new territory manager for southwestern Ontario. Most recently he was at Insurance Central Ltd.

6 SCM Insurance Services has announced the acquisition of Axis Adjusters Europe Ltd. (Axis). Axis, a specialty adjusting firm in the United Kingdom, will be the London- based European division of ClaimsPro, SCM’s claims management and adjusting business division. The move also partnered SCM with Axis International’s operating branches across the globe. “The acquisition of this Londonbased firm will serve as a springboard for SCM’s strategic plan for long-term growth and expansion into the United Kingdom and international markets,” the company said in a release. The acquisition is a strategic move that allows SCM to further enhance services to clients doing business with Lloyd’s of London, according to Larry Shumka, president and CEO of SCM Insurance Services.

7 Roland Paxton, Crawford & Company’s assistant vice-president of global marine services for Canada, will assume direct responsibility for marine operations throughout the Americas. Paxton, who has been with Crawford for 10 years, has nearly 35 years of experience as a naval architect and expert. His consulting work included pilotage, litigation, project management and ship design. He has handled a wide variety of marine claims, including those involving damage and loss to goods, valuation of goods and environmental and pollution-related losses.

8 FirstOnSite Restoration has selected the Women in Insurance Cancer Crusade (WICC) as its chosen charity for national sponsorship. FirstOn- Site is WICC’s newest national sponsor at the platinum level, representing a commitment of Cdn$45,000 over three years. “As an organization we wanted to financially support an established and proven charitable movement,” said Ken Zardo, vice president of national sales and marketing at FirstOnSite. “I began supporting WICC in 2003 with fundraising and have received a WICC Gold Flame Award in recognition for these efforts. Little did I suspect that in 2004, my own wife Rhonda would contract breast cancer,” Zardo said. “Over the next four-and-one-half years, our family did what most families do — sought to bear the burden of our personal experience and keep it hidden from those we encountered during that painful time. Rhonda fought this personal struggle with profound grace and valour but succumbed in the summer of 2008.”

9 Carstar Automotive Canada Inc. has added three new locations to its network: Coquitlam, B.C., Scarborough North East, Ontario, and Welland, Ontario. Darko Zukina is the owner and operator of Carstar Coquitlam. Zukina has been in the collision repair industry for nearly 40 years, since he was an apprentice at age 17 in Croatia. He has operated his own business since 1993. Frank Blandizzi is the owner and operator of Carstar Scarborough North East. Blandizzi has a family history in the collision repair industry: his father and brother opened a collision centre in Toronto in the late 1960s. James Richardson sits at the helm of Carstar Welland. Richardson has nearly four decades of experience in the collision repair industry.