Canadian Underwriter


News InsuranceLegislation / Regulation

How this public insurer plans to save $1 billion a year

November 13, 2018 by Jason Contant

Changes to accident benefits regulations will result in projected net savings of $1 billion annually, British Columbia’s Ministry of Attorney General said Friday. Changes to Insurance Corporation of British Columbia’s (ICBC) accident benefits will cost an estimated $200 million annually.

News InsuranceLegislation / Regulation

What Intact likes about proposed bill on territorial ratings

November 7, 2018 by Jason Contant

Canada’s largest insurer is supportive of one element of a private member’s bill that would rescind an Ontario regulatory bulletin that sets limits on territorial rating factors. Bill 42, the Ending Discrimination in Automobile Insurance Act, was tabled Oct. 15

News Legislation / Regulation

Truly driverless cars now allowed in California

October 31, 2018 Michael Liedtke - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO  – The robotic car company created by Google is poised to attempt a major technological leap in California, where its vehicles will hit the roads without a human on hand to take control in emergencies. The regulatory approval

News InsuranceLegislation / Regulation

Rates likely to rise if pot legalization leads to more impaired driving

October 30, 2018 by Greg Meckbach

If cannabis legalization results in more stoned drivers, auto insurance rates could rise, a comparison shopping provider suggests. Some Criminal Code offences for marijuana possession were taken off the books effective Oct. 17. This means it is no longer a

News InsuranceLegislation / Regulation

Motor vehicles that might lack adequate insurance

October 30, 2018 by Greg Meckbach

Home insurance clients might lack sufficient insurance if they own golf carts or all-terrain vehicles, an insurance lawyer warns. “Someone might be driving a golf cart that they own privately, in a gated community, and they might not have any

News RiskTechnology

Man sues Tesla over crash during autopilot mode

October 30, 2018 Mike Schneider - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ORLANDO, Fla. – A Florida man says the autopilot feature of his Tesla vehicle failed to detect a disabled car on a highway, leading to a collision that left him with permanent injuries, according to a negligence lawsuit filed Tuesday.

News Legislation / Regulation

Legislation puts sustainability of Ontario auto product at risk: Top 5 insurer

October 29, 2018 by Greg Meckbach

The major problems of the Ontario auto insurance product won’t be solved by changing the territorial rating system, a major insurer warns. Two private member’s bills recently tabled at Queen’s Park “have the potential to challenge the sustainability of the

News InsuranceLegalMarkets / Coverages

Why this insurer is ‘shrinking’ its D&O liability business

October 26, 2018 by Greg Meckbach

Lawsuits arising from corporate mergers and acquisitions and “creative theories of liability” are reducing Chubb Limited’s appetite to insure directors’ and officers’ liability. Since 2016, there has been an increase in the frequency of lawsuits against directors and officers, said

News ClaimsEarnings / RatingsInsurance

Root cause of commercial auto woes hard to pinpoint: Insurer CEO

October 25, 2018 by Greg Meckbach

Commercial auto losses have been worse than expected for The Travelers Companies Inc., and company officials are not exactly sure why. “It’s a line that has been challenged from a profitability perspective for a while,” Travelers chairman and CEO Alan

News InsuranceMarkets / Coverages

Welcome news for employee benefit providers in Canada

October 24, 2018 by Jason Contant

Employer medical cost inflation in Canada is trending lower than global averages, which is “welcome news for employers providing employee benefits in Canada,” commercial brokerage Aon said Tuesday. For the second year in a row, medical cost inflation in Canada

News Risk

The cannabis myth that CAA is trying to debunk

October 22, 2018 by Greg Meckbach

A recent experiment in Montreal shows that people who smoked a small fraction of a joint were much riskier drivers than if they drove sober, the Canadian Automobile Association suggests. CAA funded a study at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health

News InsuranceTechnology

Will you soon be selling cyber insurance for automated vehicles?

October 22, 2018 by David Gambrill

Brokers may wind up selling cyber insurance for automated vehicles by 2040. “Cybersecurity is a red-hot topic in the insurance world,” Sami Shaker, a physicist for Kodsi Forensic Engineering, told brokers attending a presentation on automated cars at the 2018