Topic Operations
Has the pandemic dampened brokers’ enthusiasm for referrals, new business?
April 13, 2021 by David GambrillBrokers don’t appear to be as enthusiastic about generating new business through referrals as they were before the pandemic, according to Canadian Underwriter’s 2021 National Broker Survey. In fact, brokers’ support for almost all traditional means to generate new business…
The quaint ‘killer app’ that helps brokers talk to underwriters remotely
April 13, 2021 by Greg MeckbachNot 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…
Etiquette for asking if your employees are vaccinated
April 9, 2021 by Greg MeckbachAsking 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…
Three large Canadian brokerages announce separate M&A deals
April 8, 2021 by Jason ContantThree large Canadian brokerages have announced recent acquisitions of other brokerages. On Thursday, Westland Insurance reported it closed its acquisition of MBS Insurance Brokers, effective Apr. 1. Navacord Corp. added LL Renaissance Insurance Brokerage Canada Limited to its ranks, while…
Why the new hybrid office model may have less flexibility than you think
April 1, 2021 by Adam MalikThose 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…
Go small? Why insurers need a new M&A approach
April 1, 2021 by Jason ContantLarge 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…
Explain how AI leads to underwriting decisions, report urges
March 31, 2021 by Greg MeckbachInsurers who use big data and artificial intelligence to make underwriting decisions must be prepared to explain to clients and regulators exactly how they arrived at those decisions, an Insurance Institute of Canada researcher suggests. “A challenge in the application…
3 pieces of advice before selling your brokerage
March 29, 2021 by Jason ContantHighlighting which areas of your brokerage can run without you is a crucial exercise for any broker principals who want the sale of their brokerage to be a happy and fulfilling event, according to information adapted from a recent Harvard…
What would a hybrid workplace even look like?
March 26, 2021 by David GambrillCanadian property and casualty insurance professionals would like a more flexible, hybrid workplace, a recent survey shows, but the question for employers now is what such an arrangement might look like. About 87% of the more than 1,150 P&C insurance…
OSFI results: The good, the bad, and the ugly for Canada’s P&C industry
March 25, 2021 by David GambrillCOVID-19 last year might have been the end of the world as we know it, to riff on a song by R.E.M., but Canada’s P&C insurance industry is doing fine — financially, at least. After a full year of the…
Fewer brokers in 10 years, insurance exec predicts
March 24, 2021 by Adam MalikBrokers 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…
Hardest-hit businesses call for extension of federal wage, rent
March 24, 2021 by Jordan Press and Joan Bryden - THE CANADIAN PRESSOTTAWA – The federal Liberals are facing calls from some of the hardest-hit businesses in the pandemic to use the coming budget to extend emergency relief programs beyond June, saying many will still need help even as the economy picks…