Insurer Strategies for 2001: balancing the BooksT
November 1, 2000 Sean van Zyl, EditorFollowing a grueling year of devastating performance across the various areas of business – weak rates, rising claim costs, higher expense ratios and volatile investment returns – Canada’s property and casualty insurers may have perhaps turned the corner for the…
Managing assets and liabilities: Methodology vs. Mythology
November 1, 2000 Sean van Zyl, EditorLike druids, witches and warlocks of ancient folklore, financial risk evaluators such as actuaries are generally treated by management of financial institutions with a degree of awe and suspicion. The mathematical risk recipes presented by these modern day wizards may…
Underwriting trends: Canada goes north, U.S. south.
November 1, 2000 Joel Baker, general manager of A.M. Best Co., CanadaAlthough the optimistic whisper of higher premium pricing echoes along the company corridors of both the Canadian and U.S. property and casualty insurance industries, the first half-year underwriting results from both countries hint at caution. While the Canadian industry benefited…
Investment Strategies: Evolving Composition of Bonds
November 1, 2000 Cameron Laird, senior vice president with Scudder Kemper InvestmThe landscape of the Canadian bond market has changed dramatically in recent years, and further change is certain to be on the horizon. The primary driver of this shift has been the rush by all levels of government in Canada…
Insurers and Collision Shops: Driving Partnerships Forwar
October 1, 2000 Vikki SpencerCARSTAR’s annual conference brought insurers and collision shop owners onto common ground to repair the once adversarial relationship that plagued both sides. In the name of improved customer service and hence higher profits, all agreed the time has come to forge new partnerships.
Connecting: Are insurers losing the e-commerce race?
October 1, 2000 Vikki SpencerThe time for discussion is over where e-commerce is concerned, delegates to the recently held E-Strategy “Super Summit” in Toronto were told. Notions that the Internet is a “passing fad” have to be put aside, as consumer expectations push the…
BEHIND THE SCENES: forensic entomology
October 1, 2000 Dael Morris, a forensic entomologist at Insect InvestigationsForensic investigation is hardly an unknown field to the insurance industry. However, an area that seems to garner little attention in claim investigation procedures is forensic entomology — which could save insurers and insureds millions of dollars. Bug investigations? You have to be kidding. But, as the following case study reveals, insects can reveal many secrets in the process of claims investigation.
Early Election?
October 1, 2000 Sean van Zyl, EditorRumors are awash in the political corridors of Ottawa that the ruling Liberal federal government is set to call an early general election, presumably riding on the recent successes achieved through the provincial health accord funding agreements. Should this be…
BUSINESS DISRUPTION: Risk Management for SMEs
September 1, 2000 Sean van Zyl, EditorEstimates suggest that roughly 65% of Canadian small to medium size enterprises (SMEs) engaged in manufacturing currently do not have equipment breakdown coverage, according to research by the Boiler Insurance and Inspection Company of Canada (BI&I). Clearly the owners of…
Walkerton: a risk management nightmare
September 1, 2000 William Blakeney, senior partner at Blakeney Henneberry BakshThe dramatic incident that took place in Walkerton, Ontario during the final two weeks of May, 2000 will go down in history as a tragic example of the suffering and disruption that can occur when municipal and provincial agencies fail to act on system safeguards. The events that led up to the contamination of Walkerton’s water supply present valuable lessons in risk management as well as serious considerations for insurers underwriting municipal risks.
Alternative Risk Transfer: CAPTIVES GAIN GROUND
September 1, 2000 Sean van Zyl, EditorGrowth in the formation of captives for self-insurance and the facilitation of alternative risk transfer (ART) transactions is expected to rise by 5% per annum through to the end of 2005, according to rating agency A.M. Best Company. Specifically, the…
GOING FOR THE NICHE APPLE
September 1, 2000 Mike Wills, leader of Royal & SunAlliance's Specialty SolutionsGlobalisation has created an expanded market in Canada for specialty niche lines of business. Products such as alternative risk financing or equipment maintenance management which have historically been unavailable in Canada either because the market was too small to support such activity, or large insurers were reluctant to break new ground, are now washing up on Canadian shores.