Canadian Underwriter


News Brokers

Industry execs see no immediate end to the hard market

November 26, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

Don’t expect the pressure on prices to ease any time soon, brokers learned Monday at the Top Broker Summit in Toronto. “Unfortunately for customers I think it’s got a long run,” Carol Jardine, president of Canadian property and casualty Operations

News InsuranceMarkets / Coverages

Will hard market conditions persist beyond the end of next year?

November 21, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

With insurers’ returns on equity lower than normal, it’s anyone’s guess how much longer your clients are going to see price increases. “Through 2020 we will see rate increases,” said Jim Auden, Chicago-based managing director of North American Insurance at

News Insurance

What industries are being hit harder than others in this market?

November 20, 2019 by Adam Malik

Being a commercial broker in today’s environment is presenting unique challenges as some markets are feeling the effects of a difficult cycle more than others, says one broking leader. The current market isn’t a hard one in a traditional sense,

News Insurance

Intact CEO says odds of upsetting current hard market momentum are “fairly small”

November 7, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

With the Canadian industry experiencing its lowest return on equity in 17 years, Intact’s senior leadership is not foreseeing a soft market in the short term. “To find similar [hard market] conditions, you have to go back to 2002-03,” Charles

News InsuranceRisk

Why now is the time to shine for risk managers

September 24, 2019 by Adam Malik

Facing increasingly difficult market conditions means now’s the time risk managers can prove their true worth, one expert told a recent panel. Steve Pottle, director of risk management at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C., said that as renewal costs

News Insurance

This is what’s putting the industry ‘at a tipping point’

September 20, 2019 by Adam Malik

Technology has been great for the insurance industry. But it’s also been creating problems, specifically creating a difficult market cycle. And it’s not the only reason why one panellist at the recent RIMS Canada Conference said the industry is “at

News BrokersClaimsInsurance

You know why the market is hardening – but do your clients?

August 26, 2019 by Adam Malik

Thanks to premium increases, a byproduct of a hardening insurance cycle, insurance professionals are facing an uphill battle in the eye of public opinion. That’s why Justin Thouin, co-founder and CEO at LowestRates.ca, wants to change how the general public

News Insurance

Hard market could continue beyond 2020: Insurer

July 31, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

Commercial clients hoping for some relief from price increases could be in for a disappointment. “Even with the increases that we have seen in the last two years, many lines of business are still not at acceptable pricing,” Albert Benmichol,

News Brokers

Why this hard market is different than past hard markets

July 19, 2019 by Adam Malik

Cancelled contracts. Price shoppers. Frustrated clients. Brokers are facing no shortage of challenges as the market gets tighter. Younger brokers are entering their first foray into a hard market. But even for those of a certain vintage, this one feels

News Brokers

How do you drive growth in a hard market: Through new or existing clients?

July 12, 2019 by Adam Malik

A pair of brokers have notably different strategies when it comes to finding growth during these days of tightening markets. For Myles Kuharski, commercial lines account executive at Gillons Insurance in Thunder Bay, Ont., the sound of the phone ringing

News Insurance

Why insurers are not calling it a hard market

April 5, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

Your clients may be paying higher rates but hard market may not be the right way to describe it, speakers suggested at a recent insurance  conference. “I don’t personally know if I would call it a hard market yet. What