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Alberta rate board to look at unbundling auto rate factors


November 6, 2008   by Canadian Underwriter


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The Alberta Automobile Insurance Rate Board (AIRB) has been asked by the Alberta Department of Finance to look at ways to unbundle insurers’ auto insurance rating factors, but the board’s work has been hijacked by the provincial court case concerning the auto injury cap.
AIRB chair Alfred Savage gave an update on possible changes to the province’s auto insurance regulation in a presentation to the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s eighth annual regulatory affairs symposium.
Savage didn’t discuss in detail the progress of the board’s work in the area of unbundling, but he did mention it is one of many possible regulatory changes currently under review.
“Unbundling is before us and unbundling is a concern to both our Department of Finance and others,” Savage said at the end of his presentation. “We don’t want to get into a social, stratified
“We’ve been challenged to come up with some regulations that allow unbundling, but limit the areas that can be covered. Again we’re working with the industry on that.”
Savage said the rate board was also working on the question of the competitiveness of Alberta’s auto market, in which four insurers ING Canada, Wawanesa, TD Meloche-Monnex and The Co-operators write just over 51% of the province’s auto insurance premium.
“We do want to do something about competition, and I can tell you right here we have no idea what to do about competition,” Savage said.
Most proposals for regulatory change have taken a back seat, pending resolution of the province’s challenge to the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench decision to eliminate the province’s Cdn$4,000 cap on minor injuries, he observed.
“There would have been a lot of change in the regulation [of Alberta’s auto insurance industry] by now but for that court case,” he said.


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