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News BrokersInsuranceMarkets / Coverages

Brokers concerned about blanket approach to binding authority restrictions

May 31, 2019 by Jason Contant

With wildfires raging in northern Alberta and Ontario, brokers are reporting some funky outcomes associated with insurers’ binding authority restrictions. Under the restrictions, brokers cannot bind coverage in areas under civil authority, forest fire alerts, flood alerts and certain earthquake

News InsuranceLegislation / RegulationTechnology

Competitive insurance industry urged to collaborate more often

May 31, 2019 by Adam Malik

To get the best out of your collaboration efforts, get outside of your comfort zone. The best companies understand the value of collaboration, said Sven Roehl, co-founder of Cookhouse Lab, an insurtech innovation firm. But they also understand they need

News BrokersInsuranceMergers and Aqcuisitions

BrokerLink makes third acquisition in May

May 31, 2019 by Jason Contant

BrokerLink has made its third acquisition in May with the purchase of Alberta independent insurance brokerage Thomson Schindle Green Insurance & Financial Services Ltd. (TSG). With branches in Medicine Hat, Calgary, Brooks, Bassano and Edmonton, TSG has been providing insurance

News Insurance

Guess who’s in the flood prevention business now

May 30, 2019 by David Gambrill

We’ve seen forensic engineering firms apply remediation methods to commercial and residential properties that were affected by flood damage. But now, as flooding has become more severe, they are in the vanguard of building comprehensive and tailored flood prevention and

News InsuranceTechnology

One way to cut time and effort from handling paper forms

May 30, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

Do your workers spend hours typing information from paper forms into the computer? There are ways of automating this. “Nowadays, you probably have documents coming in and you put them on the scanner. When you are going to put them

News CatastrophesClaims

Wildfires force more people out of their homes in northern Alberta

May 30, 2019 THE CANADIAN PRESS

More people are being forced from their homes as several wildfires rage out-of-control in northern Alberta and blanket areas to the south in an acrid haze. The Alberta government issued an emergency alert early this morning for Chipewyan Lake Village,

News ConstructionInsuranceMarkets / Coverages

How Ontario got it right on surety

May 30, 2019 by Jason Contant

The federal government should follow Ontario’s lead in addressing contractor insolvency before the federal budget bill becomes law, says the Surety Association of Canada (SAC). The federal budget bill, Bill C-97, was tabled in March and passed second reading on

News Technology

Don’t count on self-driving cars being just around the corner

May 29, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

If you are led to believe most of your clients will get around in self-driving cars within a decade, you might want to think again. “Autonomous vehicles will likely not be on our roads for at least another 25-30 years,

News InsuranceTechnology

Why cyber insurers can expect to make more (and bigger) claims payments

May 29, 2019 by Jason Contant

Not only is the frequency of ransomware attacks skyrocketing, attackers are targeting larger organizations and demanding higher ransom payments. Specialist insurer Beazley released its Beazley Breach Insights report for May last week, finding that ransomware attack notifications against clients increased

News Insurance

You don’t always have to be first in innovation

May 29, 2019 by Adam Malik

If you ain’t first, you’re last. That’s the mantra Ricky Bobby lives by in the movie Talladega Nights as a race car driver. But when it comes to innovation, if you ain’t first, you’re probably better off. It can be

News InsuranceLegislation / Regulation

Pressure builds to end auto insurance monopoly

May 28, 2019 by Adam Malik

Calls to end a provincial stranglehold on auto insurance are growing as business groups, municipalities and the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) have taken up the cause. ICBC, on the other hand, is saying the high claims costs the public

News ClaimsLegalLegislation / Regulation

Why off-road vehicles could get more mileage in Ontario

May 27, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

If you insure off-road vehicles in Ontario, some of those machines could soon be driven more frequently on the road. Bill 107, which would ease restrictions on driving off-road vehicles on municipal roads, passed second reading and was referred Tuesday