Irene bookends expensive cat quarter
November 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterHurricane Irene, which moved from the Caribbean into southwest Florida with winds gusting at 75 miles an hour, dumped more than 18 inches of rain and caused widespread flooding in mid-October. The damage inflicted by Irene to the U.S. eastern…
U.S. insurers hit by Floyd
October 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterU.S. property and casualty insurers will pay homeowners and businesses an estimated $1.3 billion for insured property damage caused by Hurricane Floyd, according to preliminary calculations by the Insurance Services Office Inc. Hurricane Floyd hit 16 states, from Florida to…
Balancing the books on Y2K LITIGATION
October 1, 1999 Steve Hammond, leader of commercial underwriting practices at RoDoes the next millennium begin officially on January 1, 2000 or January 1, 2001? That debate is better left to the academics. What is certain is that January 1, 2000 is the date computers must recognize. It is also the…
the drive for Safer Roads
September 1, 1999 Lowell ConnCanadian automobile insurers wrote a combined $9.3 billion in earned premiums in 1998 while incurring losses of $7.0 billion. This 77.45 loss ratio ranks second only to accident & sickness as the worst loss experience category among all property &…
Y2K: rollingthe dice
September 1, 1999 Sean van Zyl, EditorWith year 2000 reinsurance treaty negotiationscurrently in full swing, there is a desperate hope among the players that rates will return to moresensible levels. However, faced with increasedcompetition, both locally and globally, reinsurersanticipate a long road ahead before the soft…
LONDON calling
September 1, 1999 Glenn McGillivray, head of corporate communication at Swiss ReinSince reforms in the mid-1990s, more and more corporate capital is flowing into Lloyd’s of London — much of it from some of the world’s most noted reinsurers. Could this injection of new capital forge the rebirth of the world’s most unique insurance market?
Insurers offshore BOUND
August 1, 1999 Michael HlinkaSeveral months ago Northern Telecom shook the Canadian business community when it announced plans to relocate to the U.S., mainly due to the high personal income tax structures in Canada which make it difficult if not impossible to compete against…
Managing web exposures
August 1, 1999 Marcus Snowden, partner at McCague, Wires, Peacock, Borlack & LlWith e-commerce widely predicted to explode into the mainstream world of business in coming years, the lure of “getting into the ‘net game” before it becomes too late is almost irresistible for most companies. In particular, the Internet is expected…
Disaster Loss mitigation: Great Balls of Hail
August 1, 1999 Alan Pang, managing director at the Institute for Catastrophic LOver recent years the largest catastrophic loss payments of most insurers have resulted from prairie hailstorms. During the 1990s, there have been six major storms, each causing catastrophic losses in excess of $50 million. The National Hail Conference, recently held…
could this year be THE BIG ONE?
August 1, 1999 Sean van Zyl, EditorAlan Greenspan only has to mention inflation and interest rates in the same breath to send the investments markets into spasm. His most recent economic brief, presented toward the end of July, knocked off close to 3% of the value…
Counting the PENNIES
July 1, 1999 Sean van Zyl, EditorThe numbers say it all. Canada’s property and casualty insurance industry suffered one of its worst year-on-year performances last year, posting a modest return on investment of 7.1% — nearly half of 1997’s rate of return. Heavy underwriting losses incurred…
Oklahoma tornadoes further catastrophe losses
June 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterArecent tornado that hit Oklahoma has become the worst insured catastrophe in the state’s history, according to preliminary information released by the Property Claim Services (PCS) unit of Insurance Services Office (ISO). The storm system caused $955 million in insured…