VICTORIA – The B.C. government has eased the eligibility requirements and extended the deadline for small and medium-sized businesses applying for funds under its $345-million pandemic recovery grant program. Businesses with up to 149 employees must now show a 30…
Intact Financial Corp. has now reserved $106 million for claims related to COVID-19, with $23 million of that booked during the last three months of 2020. Intact initially set aside $83 million in reserves for COVID-19 claims during the three…
Commercial insurers are taking a good look at their exposure to widespread cyber events and some are forming partnerships with tech vendors in the hopes of improving their clients’ cyber risk management. “The next pandemic – the exposure that looks…
An Ontario-based restaurant company whose sales dropped more than 50% during the pandemic may be taking legal action against its business interruption insurer. In a recent securities filing, SIR Royalty Income Fund said its business interruption claim from the COVID-19…
Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic may not have affected insurers’ balance sheets in the same way that weather-related disasters did in 2020, but the industry is now much more aware of the impact of multiple catastrophe scenarios unfolding at once, an…
The global COVID-19 pandemic has distinguished between cyber insurers who are serious about offering coverage, and those who were just hoping to ride the gravy train while times were profitable, according to one industry analyst. Cyberattacks have skyrocketed, in part…
Don’t expect a soft market for your commercial clients any time soon, executives with The Travelers Companies Inc. warn. Rates on renewal for business insurance were up 8.4% while rates in bond and specialty insurance increased by 12%, Travelers said…
Some homeowner clients could get in trouble if they try to replace water heaters themselves, by following do-it-yourself handyman advice they find somewhere on the Internet. Many home insurance policies specifically require that water heater installation be done by a…
COVID-19 can cause a commercial general liability claim if a commercial client is sued by the family member of a worker who has caught the disease at work and then infected family members, insurance law experts suggest. “Take-home COVID” is…
Installing video systems, keeping an eye out for obstructions on the property and asking claimants for all names they have used in the past are among the techniques your clients can use to protect themselves from fraudulent slip-and-fall claims. Slip…
Say your client has a policy covering business interruption if the government prevents access to the premises. A pandemic breaks out. Say that client is not completely prohibited from conducting business, but is still losing sales because the government is…
The appearance of the word “event” in a “disease radius” clause in business interruption insurance contract could be instrumental in determining whether the client is covered during a pandemic. In a ruling released Sept. 15, the High Court of England…