A Manitoba broker is out of pocket $1,000 for failing to review with his client a $1.4-million change to a client’s commercial property insurance policy. On Dec. 12, 2011, an insurer requested renewal instructions from Manitoba broker Horace Smaczylo, as…
A big name in Manitoba’s independent brokerage community, Peter Leipsic, is making a return to the scene as a senior partner at a new brokerage called Dimensions Insurance Management Inc. He was executive vice president at Horizon Insurance (the province’s…
Seventeen years after selling its personal lines business to the insurer now known as Intact, Zurich Canada has ambitions to re-enter the “retail” space, but it remains to be seen how it would do that or what form it would…
The past few years have created a perfect storm leading to an increase in commercial insurance rates, Signature Risk Partners Inc. says in a white paper released last week, entitled Hard Commercial Insurance Market on the Way. One factor is…
As business risks become more global, interconnected and less tangible, brokers and insurers should expand their dialogue with clients about loss mitigation or loss prevention, the chief executive of CNA Canada says. “An insurance policy today isn’t really enough,” CNA…
Brokerage owners in some regions are struggling to find staff who know commercial lines. “There are very few people (in Saskatchewan) who understand commercial insurance deeply,” said David Reidy, president and CEO of Regina-based commercial brokerage Henderson Insurance Inc. To…
There is a lot of room to improve the current process for buying commercial insurance in Canada. In a brokerage, fully half of the 24 common touchpoints involved in processing a single new commercial policy could be removed through automation,…
Shopping around for the best deal for a business client may be getting more difficult as commercial lines prices start to uptick. Among commercial insurers, “it seems there is a little bit of tightening up on the risk appetite,” Raymond…
A $500 fine against a Manitoba broker illustrates the importance of documenting conversations with a client when advising on business interruption coverage in a commercial insurance policy. The broker, Edward Tetrault, provided a quote to his commercial business client on…
Navacord Inc., Canada’s fifth-largest insurance brokerage by premium volume, has entered into an agreement that will see a management-led buyout of its minority capital partner, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., with the support of Madison Dearborn Partners (MDP), a leading private…
Aviva Canada has launched a new commercial product that allows a company’s different business operations to be included on one policy. This consolidation is intended to make it easier for brokers to offer limits and extensions for different segments. In…
Toronto Insurance Conference (TIC), an association of Canadian commercial insurance brokers, is poised to launch a proof of concept leading towards real-time data integration — the “the holy grail” of commercial lines insurance. It’s a big step towards real-time data…