News

The top priority for information technology leaders at insurance companies is keeping the clients they have, Gartner Inc. said in a recent report. In a survey of IT professionals from five Canadian and 57 U.S. property and casualty insurers, 81%…

An upward surge in interest rates could spell trouble for U.S. property and casualty insurer investments, Moody’s rating agency said in a recent report. Insurers are facing increased interest rate risk due to their large fixed income holdings, which account…

Insurers have tried to recoup some of their catastrophe-related losses in 2011 by upping global property insurance rates in the first quarter of this year, according to a report from Marsh. It found property rates in the United States generally…

Intact Insurance is the first private insurer to provide its brokers with enhanced commercial data exchange tools through improved portfolio download management. Working with Policy Works, the company now gives brokers the ability to process their entire commercial lines portfolio…

The Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Jones v. Tsige, which found a right to a civil action for breach of privacy, may be a “game-changer” for insurance defence counsel. “We have this [data breach] case out there, and it…

‘Hacktivists’ randomly exposing millions of dollars worth of personal and corporate information may grab media headlines, but more common — and equally disturbing — forms of data breaches relate to everyday carelessness with non-encrypted work data, according to a panel…

The total insurance costs of the fire that halted production at the Horizon oil sands project in Alberta last year has been finalized at $726 million. Canadian Natural Resources (CNR) Limited indicated in a release of fourth-quarter and year-end 2011…

A rash of tornadoes in the United States and an earthquake in Mexico were the main sources for a heavy natural disaster toll in March 2012, according to Aon Benfield. At least 65 tornado touchdowns were reported in the United…

As the insurance industry deals with climate change, satellite observation may become an integral part of improving existing risk assessment processes in the future. “But the use of satellite observations is still in the early stages of being adopted by…

Swiss Re Capital Markets placed $240 million in insurance-linked securities to a subsidiary of Allianz SE to cover earthquake risks in the United States and Canada, as well as potential losses from North Atlantic hurricanes. The transaction issued two classes…

Fireman’s Fund has partnered with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, an Allianz affiliate company in Canada, to expand its global entertainment division into Canada. Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty will handle all aspects of Canadian entertainment business through appointed entertainment…

Insurance software company Applied Systems is planning to open a Canadian data center in 2012 Q3. The data centre would provides additional data storage for the growing number of insurance brokers who choose online broker management systems and request data…