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News InsuranceMergers and Aqcuisitions

Regulator greenlights Echelon Insurance acquisition

May 31, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

A $166-million deal aimed at getting CAA Insurance some new non-standard auto customers is a done deal. CAA Club Group’s acquisition of Echelon Insurance got final regulatory approval, Echelon Financial Holdings Inc. announced Thursday. The deal officially closed on May

News BrokersInsuranceMarkets / Coverages

Brokers concerned about blanket approach to binding authority restrictions

May 31, 2019 by Jason Contant

With wildfires raging in northern Alberta and Ontario, brokers are reporting some funky outcomes associated with insurers’ binding authority restrictions. Under the restrictions, brokers cannot bind coverage in areas under civil authority, forest fire alerts, flood alerts and certain earthquake

News InsuranceLegislation / RegulationTechnology

Competitive insurance industry urged to collaborate more often

May 31, 2019 by Adam Malik

To get the best out of your collaboration efforts, get outside of your comfort zone. The best companies understand the value of collaboration, said Sven Roehl, co-founder of Cookhouse Lab, an insurtech innovation firm. But they also understand they need

News BrokersInsuranceMergers and Aqcuisitions

BrokerLink makes third acquisition in May

May 31, 2019 by Jason Contant

BrokerLink has made its third acquisition in May with the purchase of Alberta independent insurance brokerage Thomson Schindle Green Insurance & Financial Services Ltd. (TSG). With branches in Medicine Hat, Calgary, Brooks, Bassano and Edmonton, TSG has been providing insurance

News InsuranceTechnology

One way to cut time and effort from handling paper forms

May 30, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

Do your workers spend hours typing information from paper forms into the computer? There are ways of automating this. “Nowadays, you probably have documents coming in and you put them on the scanner. When you are going to put them

News EmploymentLegislation / Regulation

Retirement: How “Freedom 55” may become “Freedom 65+”

May 30, 2019 by Adam Malik

The Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) wants to talk about delaying the traditional retirement age to beyond 65. Many are already choosing to work beyond age 65 anyway, said John Dark, CIA president. “It makes sense to update our country’s

News Technology

Don’t count on self-driving cars being just around the corner

May 29, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

If you are led to believe most of your clients will get around in self-driving cars within a decade, you might want to think again. “Autonomous vehicles will likely not be on our roads for at least another 25-30 years,

News Insurance

You don’t always have to be first in innovation

May 29, 2019 by Adam Malik

If you ain’t first, you’re last. That’s the mantra Ricky Bobby lives by in the movie Talladega Nights as a race car driver. But when it comes to innovation, if you ain’t first, you’re probably better off. It can be

News InsuranceLegislation / Regulation

Pressure builds to end auto insurance monopoly

May 28, 2019 by Adam Malik

Calls to end a provincial stranglehold on auto insurance are growing as business groups, municipalities and the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) have taken up the cause. ICBC, on the other hand, is saying the high claims costs the public

News MGAs

New COO, EVP for Totten

May 28, 2019 by Jason Contant

Paul Meinschenk has joined managing general agency (MGA) Totten Insurance Group as chief operating officer and executive vice president, effective May 31. With 18 years of experience in the insurance industry, Meinschenk was mostly recently vice president of sales and

News InsuranceMarkets / Coverages

Does an earthquake endorsement cover sinkhole damage?

May 28, 2019 by Jason Contant

If a home collapses into a sinkhole, is there coverage under a standard homeowner’s policy or earthquake endorsement? Not under many homeowner’s policies, but possibly under the earthquake endorsement, depending on the policy language and if the quake caused the

News AppointmentsBrokers

This ‘leading practitioner’ in insurance law is now a judge

May 27, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

CORRECTION NOTICE: In an earlier version of this story, Glen L.C. Noel was incorrectly identified as a lawyer representing Lloyd’s in Lawlor v. Royal. In fact, Noel represented Mary Lawlor in that case. Canadian Underwriter regrets the error. Glen L.C.