Alberta regulator’s decision on UBI coming by end of year

The Office of the Superintendent of Insurance in Alberta will make its decision on the approval of usage based auto insurance in that province by the end of this year, but is stressing that privacy must be top of mind for insurers who want to launch programs.

 The office has received several applications for UBI programs and is in talks with insurers and other telematics stakeholders, Laurie Balfour, acting deputy superintendent of insurance in Alberta said in a presentation during the Insurance Telematics Canada conference in Toronto Wednesday.

The regulator is deciding which rating factors – such as speed, acceleration, braking, turning, time of day, location (GPS), distance driven and mileage – will be approved and which will be prohibited for UBI.

“We don’t think of UBI as a rating factor, we think of it as a bundle of separate rating factors that will be pulled together to form the UBI program,” Balfour said.

When conducting its analysis, the superintendent’s office will be using Alberta’s auto insurance rating factors framework, published last year.

Balfour also stressed several times that Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act will apply to insurers and the third party providers they work with for their telematics programs.

The superintendent’s office will also expect insurers to work with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner to ensure privacy legislation is respected.

For example, it will require insurers to work with the privacy commissioner by submitting a privacy impact statement, addressing questions and concerns they may have, prior to implementing their UBI program.

Insurers also may be expected to have informed consent documentation reviewed and approved by the privacy commissioner before launching their telematics programs. The superintendent’s office is currently researching best practices for informed consent and what that would mean in the UBI context, Balfour noted.

Overall, the office is also continuing to look at UBI in Ontario, Quebec, the United States and Europe for best practices and is expecting to make a decision by the end of the year.