September 19, 2018 by Jason Contant
Canada’s two largest insurers have plans in place to provide policy documents to consumers in the event of a postal strike.
Workers at Canada Post may strike as early as Sept. 26 if their union cannot reach a new contract with the Crown corporation. In the event of a strike or lockout, all mail operations would come to a halt, including the delivery of insurance documents to consumers.
“This service disruption has the potential to severely impact the insurance industry, which has only recently become focused on digital transformation,” the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO) noted in a press release last week.
Canada’s largest carrier, Intact Financial Corporation, told Canadian Underwriter Tuesday it has a contingency plan ready to help minimize business interruption to brokers and their customers. Brokers and consumers can access personal lines’ policy documents via the Intact Insurance app, and the insurer will send documents via courier services if they are time-sensitive.
Brokers who are currently receiving their policy documents electronically will continue to do so uninterrupted. Brokers also have the option to access their customers’ policy documents online via Intact’s broker portal, said Intact’s manager of external communications, Hazel Tan.
For billing and making payment, methods include cheque, but also credit cards, Internet banking and electronic fund transfer.
Aviva Canada, the country’s second-largest insurance company, told Canadian Underwriter Tuesday it has digital delivery solutions available and has been promoting this to its broker partners over the past few months.
For personal lines, digital solutions available include:
Digital solutions available for commercial lines:
“With the potential Canada Post strike, we continue to encourage brokers to do business with us and with customers digitally, so that any potential impact from the strike can be mitigated,” said Priscilla Wong, external communications specialist with Aviva Canada.
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