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Inside the merger of Highcourt and Breckles

April 15, 2021 by Greg Meckbach

Search engine optimization (SEO), electronic transactions, and contracts with carriers insuring small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) are among the capabilities that made the Breckles Group of Companies attractive to Highcourt Partners. The merger of those two Canadian brokerages, resulting in

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What’s missing in a purely remote work environment

April 13, 2021 by Adam Malik

The insurance industry has shown that it can operate successfully in a work-from-home environment, but for any company that wants to see growth, being in the office on a regular basis is essential, P&C insurance executives said during the virtual

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The quaint ‘killer app’ that helps brokers talk to underwriters remotely

April 13, 2021 by Greg Meckbach

Not all meetings during a pandemic need to be structured around a videoconference call, commercial insurance experts said during a recent webinar. “I think we all have to be cautious about just loading up our entire agenda with Zoom calls

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Etiquette for asking if your employees are vaccinated

April 9, 2021 by Greg Meckbach

Asking your workers whether or not they got their COVID-19 vaccine shot is not necessarily a good idea. “If you are going to require employees to disclose their vaccination status, you need to consider the nature of the workplace,” said

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Canadian Museum of History CEO resigns after probe into alleged workplace harassment

April 9, 2021 by Teresa Wright - THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA – The head of the Canadian Museum of History has resigned following reported allegations of workplace harassment at the national institution. Museum CEO Mark O’Neill has been on a medical leave since last summer, when an independent investigation was

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Former Zurich Canada CEO to head up university reciprocal exchange

April 8, 2021 by Greg Meckbach

Patrick Lundy is about to take the reins of Burlington, Ont.-based Canadian University Reciprocal Insurance Exchange (CURIE). Lundy, CEO of Zurich Canada from 2012-17, will be CEO of CURIE effective Apr. 19, 2021. Until recently, Lundy was senior vice president

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Why the new hybrid office model may have less flexibility than you think

April 1, 2021 by Adam Malik

Those pining for the freedom to pick and choose when they’ll work from home and when they’ll go to the office may be in for a surprise, panellists of a recent insurance webinar warned. On one hand, it’s unlikely that

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Go small? Why insurers need a new M&A approach

April 1, 2021 by Jason Contant

Large mega-mergers and acquisition deals may be enticing, but smaller deals actually create more value for insurers, according to a recent report by global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. The primary goal of six out of 10 transactions (representing

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Fewer brokers in 10 years, insurance exec predicts

March 24, 2021 by Adam Malik

Brokers may not disappear over the next 10 years but their ranks will definitely thin out, an insurance brokerage executive predicted during a recent webinar. Commoditization of the insurance industry will cut out transactional procedures that many brokers find themselves

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How vaccine rollout impacts commercial risk management

March 22, 2021 by Greg Meckbach

If your commercial clients are bringing more workers back into the office, risk managers might be curious as to whether returning workers have received any of their COVID-19 vaccine shots. But before your clients ask their employees about their vaccine

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Economical sets date for final policyholder vote on demutualization

March 17, 2021 by Greg Meckbach

A key step in Economical Insurance’s demutualization process, the third and final policyholder vote, is scheduled May 20, the Waterloo, Ont.-based insurer announced this week. If a client had a policy – either mutual or non-mutual – with Economical in

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How to hire during a pandemic

March 15, 2021 by Adam Malik

During the pandemic, in the absence of being able to meet job candidates face-to-face during the hiring phase, it’s best to arrange multiple meetings to get a better sense of what your new recruits are like, and whether they are