Canadian Underwriter

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Risk Management


Philomena Comerford
News Insurance

2024 Executive Outlook | Philomena Comerford, Baird MacGregor

December 19, 2023 Canadian Underwriter Staff

Philomena Comerford, president, CEO, Baird MacGregor Technology will continue to change the way we work, presenting both productivity opportunities and oversight challenges for our industry and our workforce. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to vastly improve our industry’s efficiency, allowing us

David Bowcroft
News BrokersInsurance

2024 Executive Outlook | David Bowcott, NFP

December 19, 2023 Canadian Underwriter Staff

David Bowcott, co-leader, NFP Construction & Infrastructure Group As we enter 2024, signs exist the Canadian P&C insurance hard market is abating. But clients are nevertheless putting in place measures they hope will sustain them through future hardening. We are beginning

Earthquake impact wave and seismic activity
News InsuranceRisk

Earthquakes Canada receives hundreds of reports in B.C. after 4.9 magnitude quake

December 18, 2023 The Canadian Press

VICTORIA – Earthquakes Canada says a 4.9 magnitude earthquake was recorded Sunday afternoon and public reports poured in from hundreds of kilometres away from the event’s epicentre. John Cassidy, a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, says people over a “very

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

Carjacker with gun
News BrokersClaimsInsuranceTechnology

How new vehicle tech is changing the auto theft equation

December 11, 2023 Philip Porado

There’s a small upside to Canada’s current auto theft wave, industry sources have told Canadian Underwriter. Thieves’ adoption of technologies that can capture vehicle key fob signals means criminals no longer need to resort to violent methods like carjacking to

Diversity in the office
News EmploymentInsuranceLegislation / RegulationProfessional DevelopmentRisk

Is your board looking at their own diversity?

December 5, 2023 by Jason Contant

It’s no longer sufficient for insurance industry board members to talk about diversity across the organization — boards need to actively look at their own diversity and address any gaps, KPMG suggested in a recent thought leadership piece.  “To build

Heavy equipment being moved as work continues on the Trans Mountain pipeline.
News Commercial LinesLegislation / RegulationMarkets / CoveragesRisk

Shipper costs to rise as regulator approves preliminary interim Trans Mountain tolls

December 1, 2023 Amanda Stephenson - THE CANADIAN PRESS

CALGARY – The Canada Energy Regulator has approved preliminary interim tolls that would see oil companies pay nearly twice as much to ship crude on the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline as what was estimated in 2017. In a decision issued

Kitchen fire
News ClaimsInsuranceLegal

Are short-term renters covered by condo insurance?

November 29, 2023 Philip Porado

An Airbnb renter can be considered an insured under a strata’s insurance policy but may not necessarily rely on other liability protections in a strata’s bylaws, a B.C. Supreme Court justice determined in Strata Plan VR 2213 v Schappert, 2023

Empty store shelves representing a labour shortage
News Insurance

Addressing a shortage of qualified commercial underwriters

November 28, 2023 Alyssa Di Sabatino

Nicholas Hudescu is a rarity in the insurance industry. The 23-year-old attended Wilfrid Laurier University, earning a Bachelor of Business Administration degree specializing in insurance and risk management. While there, he joined the student-run Laurier Insurance and Risk Association (LIRA)

New vehicles at an auto dealership holding lot
News BrokersClaimsInsurance

Can car dealerships manage insurance risks from vehicle thefts?

November 27, 2023 Philip Porado

Car thefts began rising across Canada in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and have been climbing ever since – fuelled by organized crime rings using new technologies to steal key fob codes and take vehicles while their owners are asleep.

Trois-Rivières, Quebec
News Commercial LinesInsuranceLegalLegislation / RegulationRisk

What worries Canadian businesses about Quebec’s language law

November 22, 2023 by Jason Contant

Quebec’s recently enacted French-language law is causing some Canadian businesses concerns about compliance and even fear of losing employees, a new business risk report from Beazley suggested. Bill 96, An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec,

A mall parking lot after flooding in Halifax in July.
News CatastrophesClaimsClaims CanadaClimate ChangeInsurance

After July floods took four lives, Nova Scotia plans flood plain mapping by 2026

November 17, 2023 Michael Tutton - THE CANADIAN PRESS

HALIFAX – A plan is now in place to create the kind of detailed flood plain maps that some of Nova Scotia’s emergency managers have said they lacked when torrential flooding occurred in July. Byron Rafuse, deputy minister of the