Topic Catastrophes
Wildfires: Where there’s smoke, there’s damage
July 18, 2023 by David GambrillAs smoke from almost 900 of Canada’s wildfires descends upon the United States, resurrecting media reports about air quality, Canadian property and casualty insurers have an eye on a different type of exposure — property damage claims due to wildfire…
Montreal-Barrhaven storm declared a Cat
July 18, 2023 by Alyssa DiSabatinoThe storm that hit Montreal on Thursday, downing trees and power lines and causing localized flooding, has been declared a catastrophe, Laura Twidle, president and CEO of Catastrophe Indices & Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) told Canadian Underwriter. A ‘catastrophe’ is an…
How much Intact paid in second quarter Cat losses
July 13, 2023 by Alyssa DiSabatinoIntact Financial Corporation saw an estimated $335 million in catastrophe losses in Canada for the second quarter of 2023, the insurer revealed in a release. Comparatively, the company handled over a million claims and paid out over $10 billion globally in…
OSFI calls for detailed reporting of insurers’ climate risks
July 12, 2023 by David GambrillCanada’s solvency regulator has published its draft Climate Risk Returns for federally regulated P&C insurance companies, proposing in detail how insurers should be calculating any real and potential climate risks on their books. The forms were created in partnership between…
Record-breaking wildfire season will continue to burn hot for months: officials
July 6, 2023 by The Canadian PressOTTAWA – Natural Resources Canada says the country’s record-breaking wildfire season will continue to be abnormally intense throughout July and into August. The projections are based on anticipated high temperatures, dry conditions and historical comparisons. The risk is expected to…
What the Nova Scotia wildfire cost the P&C industry
July 5, 2023 by David GambrillNova Scotia’s Tantallon wildfire is estimated to have caused more than $165 million in insured damage, according to initial estimates from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ). Nearly 90% of all claims related to the Nova Scotia wildfire were personal…
Brokers, insurers differ on the value of numerous flood products for home owners
July 4, 2023 by Alyssa DiSabatinoCanada’s property and casualty insurance brokers have long maintained the need for a unified flood map, but insurers want to compete on their proprietary flood maps, and the ongoing differences between brokers and their insurance partners on this point became…
Despite easing inflation, P&C insurers face challenges
June 27, 2023 by Philip PoradoCanada’s May inflation rate slipped to an annualized 3.4%, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. That’s the lowest rate in two years and solidly below the 4.4% annual rate posted in April. It’s also in line with the Bank of Canada’s efforts…
Reserve uncertainty could sustain hard market: Swiss Re
June 26, 2023 by David GambrillOngoing reserve uncertainty may reduce insurers’ risk appetite, thereby sustaining hard market conditions, according to a new report by Swiss Re. “Direct non-life insurers in advanced markets have on average released prior-year loss reserves, although the pace has been slowing…
How brokers can do a much better job of servicing clients
June 23, 2023 by Alyssa DiSabatinoCanada’s property and casualty insurance industry is doing a better job of client education generally, but organizations of all sizes can do a “much better job” of putting the client first, said one expert during the Young Brokers Conference in…
Here’s what adjuster capacity is like for Canada’s wildfires
June 12, 2023 by Alyssa DiSabatinoFirefighters and other first responders have been stretched thin while battling an unprecedented wildfire season in Canada, and such may be the case for claims adjuster capacity as well. Across the industry, it’s a mixed bag of how quickly adjusters…
Feds looking to create national emergency response agency
June 9, 2023 by Sarah Ritchie - THE CANADIAN PRESSOTTAWA – The federal government is looking at creating some kind of national disaster response agency in the face of an unusually intense and destructive start to the wildfire season across the country. At the moment, federal departments including Emergency…