News

ING Insurance and ING Novex are reimbursing approximately 51,000 policyholders as a result of an error that prevented some of its Ontario customers from receiving their Claims Free Renewal (CFR) discount to which they were entitled.The company rewards the discount…

Natural and man-mad catastrophes triggered total economic losses worldwide of approximately US$40 billion and cost property insurers US$15 billion in 2006, according to Swiss Re.The 2006 figure compares favourably to the 2005 amount of US$78 billion for insured loses.Earthquake, cold…

The U.S. property and casualty industry’s loss reserve position has improved considerably in the last four years, according to Fitch Ratings.“Reserves for recent hard market accident years were set at more prudent levels, while reserves established during the last soft…

Peace Hills General Insurance Company’s financial strength received a B+ rating from A.M. Best Co. The positive rating is due to the Alberta firm’s “excellent risk-adjusted capitalization, strong liquid balance sheet, steady organic surplus growth from better than average profitability,…

Insured losses from the Pacific Northwest winter storm in the United States could exceed US$500 million, according to estimates by catastrophe risk modeling company AIR Worldwide Corporation.In Canada, similar winter storms in the area of Vancouver, B.C. have resulted in…

The Women in Insurance Cancer Crusade (WICC) Ontario chapter is launching a fundraiser with the aim to turn loose change into cancer research.The “Change for Change” initiative kicks off on January 1, and will run through March 31. The concept…

Gore Mutual Insurance Company is offering more than 50,000 free taxi rides this New Year’s Eve to their auto policyholders, the company recently announced.“Community and road safety is a shared responsibility, and the taxi offer program is an excellent safety…

Hub International Limited (NYSE:HBG)(TSX:HBG) plans to accelerate its penetration of the transportation insurance market by acquiring Vermont-based Coburn Insurance Agency, Inc. Coburn, a broker earning US$9 million in revenue, has entered into a letter of intent with Hub International Transportation…

The Canadian government has petitioned the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to allow Canadian trucking insurers to underwrite Canadian carriers operating south of the border without having to link with an American counterpart, according to a report by…

U.S. brokers “have largely put the issues from recent regulatory investigations behind them,” according to Fitch Ratings, which assigned a stable outlook to the U.S. insurance broker industry.In a recent industry outlook, Fitch noted that: “although near-term profitability [in the…

The General Insurance OmbudService (GIO) has announced the appointments of Brigid Murphy and Charles Reid to the organization’s board of directors. Murphy is currently senior vp with the Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company in Toronto, Ontario and brings more…

SAS has ranked first in the “core risk technology” category and second overall in Chartis Research’s RiskTech 100 report. The report is an overall assessment of the risk technology vendors. It examines each vendor’s functionality, core technology, organization strength, customer…