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OSFI praises Canadian P&C insurers for strengthening pricing in homeowners’ lines


September 20, 2010   by Canadian Underwriter


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Canada’s property and casualty industry has started to make much-needed, across-the-board price corrections in homeowners’ lines, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) observed at the National Insurance Conference of Canada (NICC) in Montreal on Sept. 20.
But the industry may still be relying too heavily on hoping the weather remains as mild as it was during the first quarter of 2010, OSFI director Bruce Thompson said in the conference’s opening presentation.
As far as the bottom line goes, when comparing the first half of 2010 to the first half in 2009, the industry showed a turnaround worth $500-million in homeowners’ lines.
“In the first half of 2010, we think about two-fifths of that is directly attributable to price strengthening,” Thompson said. “And maybe three-fifths was a reduction in losses, which we think was attributable to the good weather [in the early stages of 2010].”
That weather could easily turn, Thompson noted. He referenced three large storms in 2010 Q2, including tornadoes in Ontario and Saskatchewan and a record hailstorm in Calgary. OSFI pegged the total damages for these events at $400 million.
Joel Baker, chair of the NICC, said statistics from PCS Canada have updated this total to $600 million.


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