globally Speaking
April 1, 1999 Sean van Zyl, EditorThe CICMA and CIAA 99 Joint Conference – held in Toronto in February – focused on the competitive challenges reshaping the p&c insurance industry. The overall message delivered at the event was clear: the process of industry change, mainly as…
Kingsway delivers star performance
April 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterTSE-listed Kingsway Financial Services Inc. (KFS) disclosed an 18% rise in earnings to 86c a share for the 1998 financial year ended December compared with that of the previous year. The return on equity for the year clocked in at…
Canadian insurance earnings plummet
April 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterJanuary ice storm losses, rate cutting and poor investment returns are the major culprits pointing to a 42% drop in property and casualty insurers’ earnings to $1.137 billion for 1998 compared with 1997’s earnings of $1.960 billion, says Paul Kovacs,…
Banks will be hard to regulate, says Cooke
April 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterProperty & casualty insurance is a pure risk product that must be kept separate from the financial, wealth management and investment-based services provided by life insurers and banks, George Cooke, president of Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company, told a…
Lindsey’s lean and mean Hambro
March 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterHambro Insurance Services Group (HIS), a recently acquired subsidiary of Lindsey Morden Group Inc., has sold its 33% interest in Oracle Service Network Corporation — a provider of roadside and other assistance services in the U.S. and Canada — to…
Ontario auto falls again
March 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterPrivate passenger auto insurance rates in Ontario decreased during the fourth quarter of 1998 according to the latest rate information published by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO). This is the 10th successive quarterly decrease since 1996. Of the…
Skills in risk
March 1, 1999 Richard Saylor, a risk management consultant and former risk & iEvery end is a new beginning. This has never been truer than in today’s fast paced world where everyone and everything is constantly being reinvented. As I look at my career in the risk management field, I can see that…
Dispute resolution for the new millennium
March 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterIn response to the growing need for alternative and effective mechanisms in dealing with potential legal disputes, British Columbia’s insurance industry recently launched the Insurance Dispute Resolution Services of B.C. One of the more innovative features of this resolution process…
Reliance launches earnings protection U.S.
March 1, 1999 by Canadian Underwriter-based Reliance National, a subsidiary of Reliance Group, has introduced Enterprise Earnings Protection Insurance (EEPI), the first insurance policy designed to protect publicly held companies against earnings disruption volatility and adverse results. EEPI covers a wide range of circumstances that…
Batten down the hatches FOR 99
March 1, 1999 Lowell Conn and Sean Van ZylReduced profitability, rising underwriting losses, increased competition and higher technology costs are likely to form the stage for the North American property and casualty insurance industry in 1999, according to the vast majority of respondents in an Insurance Information Institute (III) survey conducted at the annually held Joint Industry Forum which recently took place in New York City.
The lights dim on
March 1, 1999 Ted Belton, director of research at RBC Underwriting ManagementThe fair-weather profit years which the property and casualty insurance industry has enjoyed since the mid-1990s is likely to run into a storm in 1999 with companies generating single digit returns on equity (ROE). Projections based on third-quarter StatsCan data…
A turning point in professionalism
March 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterThe risk management profession is coming of age, says Susan Meltzer the incoming president of the Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc. Meltzer will be the fifth Canadian president to take the reins of North America’s most prestigious organization representing the development of risk managers. She is also the first Canadian woman to occupy the presidency chair of RIMS, a task she does not find daunting in the least. Her message: it’s time for risk managers to look ahead.