Real Time Dream
January 1, 2001 Ivor Kaye of Grantech Systems Inc.We are surrounded by sophisticated technology at prices that seemed impossible a few years ago. Yet, the majority of property and casualty insurers continue to operate expensive and outmoded legacy-type computer systems. Internet-based technologies, combined with computer telephony integration (CTI),…
Outsourcing finding efficiency
January 1, 2001 David CarrThe recent advancement of outsourcing within the property and casualty insurance industry – which today has seen the breadth of functions affected ranging across the various areas of the business compared with the past’s narrow application to the investment management…
RIBO adjusts to market change
January 1, 2001 by Canadian UnderwriterDarren Hamilton was elected the incoming president of the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario (RIBO) at the organization’s recently held annual general meeting. In his closing remarks, former president Art Despard acknowledged that Canada’s brokerage market is facing significant change,…
Healthcare: a Tear in the Claims Management
January 1, 2001 Sean van Zyl, EditorIn the few short years between 1991 and 1998, the cost of healthcare as a percentage of auto claims across Canada rose on average by almost a third to the point where amounts paid out by insurers toward vehicle damage/loss…
The Year of Business
January 1, 2001 Sean van Zyl, EditorFirst came the “dot.com startups”, then came the “dot.com crashes”. The year that Internet business is expected to break the backbone of traditional business operators has been widely and inaccurately predicted for some time, speakers at the Insurance Information Centre…
REINSURANCE PERSPECTIVE — from the frontline
December 1, 2000 Vikki SpencerWith most reinsurers adamant that a tough stand will be taken in the upcoming annual treaty negotiations, CU went to the “frontline” to establish a broker perspective of the market mood. Tom Hopkinson, president of Guy Carpenter’s Canadian operations, expects the following:
Reinsurance Strategies
December 1, 2000 Vikki SpencerInadequate rates, worldwide catastrophic losses and consolidation in the primary market created dismal results for reinsurers in the past few years. But could there be a light on the horizon? CU’s survey of Canadian reinsurance CEOs suggests change is in the wind, with rates set to rise this year and companies charting a course for profitability in the future.
The “REAL DEAL”?
December 1, 2000 Sean van Zyl, EditorNot unlike the frustration and confusion expressed by the investment markets during the inconclusive and back-biting legal play that ended the race for of the U.S. presidential election, Canadian primary insurers have waited with baited breath from the middle of…
Has the “Cycle” broken?
December 1, 2000 Steve Hammond, leader of commercial underwriting practices at RoThere is evidence to suggest that the traditional business planning cycle has been bent so far out of shape as to become irrelevant to property and casualty insurance. Faced with the “end of the cycle”, insurers need to find a new barometer.
Legal Rates: Judgement Awaits
December 1, 2000 Sean van Zyl, EditorA controversy which has been simmering for several years now could boil over at any moment with the consequence being higher and more frequent court damage awards being made against insurers, predict senior partners of litigation defense firms. The issue…
Reinsurance outlook: Low Rates & High Losses
December 1, 2000 Glenn McGillivray, head of corporate communication at Swiss ReinA one-on-one interview with Franklin W. Nutter, President of the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA).
REFLECTIONS and CHANGE
December 1, 2000 Sean van Zyl, EditorThe Canadian Risk & Insurance Management Society’s (CRIMS) 25th annual conference – which was recently held in Edmonton, Alberta – centered on “Reflections” as an underlying theme for the event. The Alberta chapter of CRIMS, which organized this year’s event,…