There is clearly great misunderstanding in the general public with regards to insurance overall, but specifically auto insurance. A recent furniture store advertisement depicting a couple gleefully defrauding an insurance company illustrates the opinion floating among some consumers. There is…
How bad can a 5% rate reduction really be? The first issue is leverage. Imagine a mythical commercial lines insurer operating with a 10% margin. For every $100 in premium, the combination of underwriting and investment income, net of operating…
While the so-called stock market rebound this year has “totally lacked conviction”, investors should still look forward to a rosier 2004, economist Dr. Lloyd Atkinson told a recent meeting of the Canadian Insurance Accountants Association (CIAA). Atkinson says that, despite…
Commercial insurance buyers report falling rates in property and general liability lines, signaling signs of a softening market, according to the first-quarter 2004 edition of the “Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS)/Advisen Benchmark Survey”. Property rates fell by 1.5%, RIMS…
Bob Fitzgerald, chairman of the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO), says that the realization of a single-entry, real-time technology solution in information exchange between brokers and insurers is critical to the future success of the property and casualty…
U.S. insurers will likely face an insured cost of US$963 million for the first quarter of this year with regard to catastrophe related property claims, according to preliminary data released by the New York-based Insurance Services Office Inc. (ISO). The…
The latest quarterly market index produced by the U.S.-based Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB) suggests that pricing of commercial business either declined or remained flat across the various size segments of the marketplace during the first quarter of…
Jean-Francois Blais will take over as CEO of AXA Canada with news of the retirement of Jean-Denis Talon. Blais has been with the company since 1988, most recently as president and COO. Talon will remain as chairman of the company…
When Norman Jardine published the first edition of Canadian Underwriter in 1934, “in the interests of fire and casualty insurance in Canada”, the world was a very different place. The population stood at about 10.5 million, the country was weathering…
Canada’s insurance “wholesale” market, which includes underwriting managers, managing general agencies (MGAs) and special risk facilities, has swollen to a considerable size after a turbulent three years. Some of the larger players are now on the same footing as standard carriers when it comes to premium volume. The main question emerging today is how much, and what kind of business will flow back to regular insurers as market conditions change?
Regulation of Quebec’s auto insurance system has a long history of controversy. Now, with private auto insurance in the other provinces of Canada seemingly having lost anchorage with runaway accident benefit claims costs, Quebec’s system has been held up as a shining example of a workable model. The question is, can this be maintained? Recent political pressures to restrict insured benefits of drivers convicted of a criminal offence and to allow innocent victims to sue such offenders could reopen the door to increased tort costs.
The specialty lines business. Fat premiums. The appearance of fast, easy money. When markets turn soft and growth sounds good, they can attract insurers like mice to cheese. But, those hungry insurers who venture uninformed and unprepared into the high-risk specialty areas of insurance are more often than not dealt a blow that leaves them reeling.