Canadian Underwriter

Keyword
commercial property

Construction site accident
News CatastrophesClaimsInsurance

Who’s responsible when construction projects go wrong

March 13, 2024 By Dr. Yasser Korany, KSI Engineering

Construction project delays can expose commercial insurers to significant claims costs. Canada’s property and casualty insurance market collected more than $748 million in direct written premiums for surety bonds in 2022, per Canada’s solvency regulator, the Office of the Superintendent

Icicle hangs from edge of building
News ClaimsConstructionEngineeringLegal

Roof collapses feared if freezing rain follows heavy snowfall

January 16, 2024 by David Gambrill

Fearing a wave of roof collapses could occur in the short term, Toitures Hogue, a large Quebec roofer, is urging owners of commercial, industrial and/or institutional buildings to be cautious and proactive in advance of a freezing rain forecast over

Office building for rent
News BrokersInsuranceMarkets / Coverages

How COVID-19’s wane could change commercial real estate coverage

December 13, 2023 Philip Porado

Real estate pundits, including panellists at a Columbia University School of Business discussion early this year, are sounding the alarm about North America’s downtown cores. They’re predicting employees will shun return-to-office mandates, sparking tenancy death spirals for commercial lessors that

Person entering data into system
News BrokersCommercial LinesConstructionInsuranceMarkets / CoveragesProductsTechnology

Why most of your commercial clients are underinsured by at least 30%

December 12, 2023 by Jason Contant

Accurate valuation and occupancy data points remain top challenges for commercial broker submissions, according to Greg McCutcheon, president of Canada’s largest property data provider, Opta Information Intelligence.  In this inflationary environment, keeping up with valuations and ensuring commercial property brokers

High angle view of female agent standing with prospective buyer in lobby of modern office building and pointing to windows surrounding second floor.
News BrokersClaimsCommercial LinesInsuranceMarkets / CoveragesRisk

How Cat modelling can help your real estate clients

December 8, 2023 by David Gambrill

With so many NatCats affecting the real estate property insurance sector, catastrophe (Cat) modelling is becoming a fixture for clients seeking coverage in a tightening market, a Hub International report states. “Catastrophe (CAT) modeling is…becoming essential in real estate resiliency,”

Beautiful sturdy wood Architecture.
News AdjustersClaimsInsuranceLegalMarkets / Coverages

Policy exclusion? Watch your exceptions in multiple-cause losses

October 18, 2023 by David Gambrill

Underwriters must pay close attention to the policy wording they use in their exceptions to exclusions, lest insurers find themselves on the hook for covering losses with two or more suspected causes. That’s a key takeaway from Brock Stock Farm

High end, ultra-modern manufacturing facility
News BrokersClaimsInsuranceTechnology

Tips for insuring properties worth more than $500 million

October 2, 2023 Philip Porado

Coverage for high-value real estate, defined as sites worth $500 million or more, is often based as much on how those sites are used as on the physical assets themselves. Multi-use sites, where activities like manufacturing, distribution, logistics and management

Commercial real estate for lease or sale
News BrokersCatastrophesClaimsClaims CanadaClimate ChangeCommercial LinesInsuranceMarkets / CoveragesReinsurance

What’s driving challenges in commercial property?

September 19, 2023 by Jason Contant

Challenges in the Canadian commercial property insurance market continue to be a focal point throughout 2023, primarily driven by NatCat concerns and reinsurance costs, Aon said in its Fall 2023 Insurance Market Update Canada report. “The property market continues to

Firefighters extinguishing an industrial fire at the fire station holding on to the hose spraying the fire at a storage tank.
News CatastrophesClaimsCommercial LinesInsuranceLegal

Insurer successfully defends city’s appeal over fire response times

April 28, 2023 by David Gambrill

Canada’s top court Thursday refused to hear an appeal in a case in which a Quebec municipality was found 25% liable for a fire that destroyed a commercial building when not enough firefighters were present after 10 minutes to fight

Hand holding magnifying glass and looking at house model with row of coin money, house selection, real estate concept.
News BrokersClaimsCommercial LinesInsurance

Intact policyholder conflates ACV with replacement cost value

April 4, 2023 by David Gambrill

Intact recently won an appraisal dispute with an insured who originally claimed more than four times the market value of his business property after a fire, prompting the court to find the insured was conflating actual cash value (ACV) of

Picture of a business man smiling underwater, his business flooded
News ClaimsClimate ChangeCommercial LinesInsuranceLegalRisk

Extension covering “influx of water” trumps broad form flood exclusion

February 6, 2023 by David Gambrill

A commercial property policy extension granting coverage for an “influx of water derived from natural sources” trumps a policy’s broad form flood exclusion, Alberta’s Appeal Court has found in a 2-1 split decision. A bowling alley in Fort McMurray, Alta.,

Bar graph displaying economic recovery
News AnnouncementsBrokersInsuranceMarkets / Coverages

How Canada’s P&C market shifted in 2022

November 1, 2022 by Alyssa DiSabatino

Market conditions remain complex but are stabilizing as the industry approaches its last quarter this year, Aon’s 2022 Canadian Insurance Market Report found. Increased competition, along with positive underwriting results and loss activity, marks a transition from significantly challenged market