Burns & Wilcox to open Calgary office

Detroit area insurance firm Burns & Wilcox, which has expanded into Canada with the  acquisition of Chesterfield, is planning to open a Calgary office within six months.

 “Oil and energy is something we are very interested in pursuing, to the extent that we have opened an office in St. John’s, Newfoundland,” said Gary Hirst, executive director of Burns & Wilcox Canada, which is the brand used by the operation formerly known as Chesterfield. He attributed Newfoundland’s provincial budget surplus last year, in part, to the oil and gas industry.

Hirst, who spoke with Canadian Underwriter during the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) convention last week in Toronto, added his company plans to open a Calgary office within six months.

“We will be offering liability, because obviously liability is going to be an issue out there, not just liability to surrounding property or bodily injury, but pollution and the environmental liability,” he said. “We’re very interested in the actual equipment, drilling, we’re able to look at the accident benefits coverage for the crews that are out actually there drilling for the oil.”

Burns & Wilcox Canada was created as a result of the acquisition announced last January of London-based Chesterfield Group Ltd. by H.W. Kaufman Financial Group. Kaufman owns Burns & Wilcox, a Farmington Hills, Mich.-based wholesale broker and underwriting manager.

The firm’s president and CEO, Alan Kaufman, was also on hand at the IBAO convention.

Kaufman told Canadian Underwriter that in addition to energy insurance and property insurance for high-value homes, Burns & Wilcox also plans to offer professional liability insurance in Canada to medical professionals, architects, engineers and lawyers.