What’s New: In Brief (June 13, 2007)

Travelers has enhanced its SelectOne liability policy for investment advisors and funds in Canada, by protecting Independent Review Committee (IRC) members.
National Instrument 81-107 requires the creation of an Independent Review Committee for each investment fund that is a reporting issuer. The Instrument prescribes the functions of the IRC and requires that fund managers submit conflict of interest matters arising out of fund management to the IRC for review.
IRC members make recommendations to the fund manager as to how these conflicts may be resolved.
IRC members may face liability for breaches of their obligations under National Instrument 81-107, as well as potential for negligence, negligent misrepresentation and/or breach of fiduciary duty, said Phil Baker, vice president of Travelers Financial and Professional Services in Canada.
Traditional Management Liability Insurance will not adequately protect the unique needs of the IRC members. Travelers created this policy to protect the personal assets of the IRC members by providing the comprehensive dedicated coverage.

PPG has announced a new, anti-settling toner technology that is intended to help collision repair shops make the move to waterborne basecoat painting systems.
The new technology is designed to do away with mechanical mixing machines and thereby eliminate a major source of colour mismatches.
One of the primary causes of a mismatch is that toners are often not properly agitated on a mixing machine, said Gareth Hughes, PPG director of technology and global platform marketing. As a result, the toners pigments are not properly distributed throughout the resin; this, in turn, creates an inaccurate match.
In comparison, the anti-settling toners used in our Aquabase Plus and Envirobase High Performance (HP) basecoat systems do not require mechanical agitation. A simple shake by hand is all thats required to ensure all the pigments are dispersed evenly and ready to pour.