Parametric insurance can help fill a gap in some policies by covering non-damage business interruption, a speaker said Tuesday at AXA XL’s Fast Forward LIVE event in downtown Toronto. Caused by a variety of factors, including severe weather conditions, non-damage…
A recent Ontario accident benefits case has highlighted ongoing confusion about how to identify and apply the proper causation test — including the contentious “but for” clause. The case revolves around whether the “but for” test of causation or the…
A tough Lloyd’s market and California’s worst-ever wildfire led to an underwriting loss for Brit Plc, which Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired in 2015. Fairfax officials faced pointed questions during its recent earnings call from one analyst who suggested…
While Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. is not ruling out the possibility of buying small specialty insurance players, don’t expect the firm to buy any big insurers any time soon. Toronto-based Fairfax, whose holdings include Northbridge Insurance, bought the majority of…
An insurer’s popularity among consumers can differ by brand alone, a recent J.D. Power survey indicates. “There are differences when it comes to products, when it comes to distribution, when it comes to your marketing messaging,” Tom Super, director of…
TRAIL, B.C. – British Columbia’s public auto insurer says about 450 vehicles have been written off since sulphuric acid spilled along a busy commuter route near Trail, B.C., in two incidents last spring. The Insurance Corp. of B.C. says there…
EDITOR’S NOTE: The story has been corrected to show that FICOM’s position before the Financial Services Tribunal was that the financial penalties were deemed to be insufficient to deter brokers from misrepresenting facts. A previous version incorrectly stated that FICOM’s…
A huge hike in auto rates does not mean your client has to be disgruntled. “There are things that insurers can do to soften the blow when [auto] insurance rate actions need to be taken,” Tom Super, director of the…
Amalgamation with another insurer and going into run-off were among the options considered by Economical Insurance directors before the Waterloo, Ont. carrier started the demutualization process in 2015. Mutual policyholders of Economical are scheduled to vote March 20 on a…
The registered owner of a pickup truck could be held liable for injuries to an accident victim even though the at-fault driver of the pickup truck was convicted of assault as a result of a collision, the Court of Appeal…
The pace of the hardening market in commercial lines has come as a surprise to some executives at Canada’s largest property and casualty insurer. “We have seen a shift in commercial lines that is pretty abrupt in the past six…
The Canadian auto insurance industry needs to improve its profitability by about 10 percentage points, executives with Canada’s largest property and casualty insurer suggest. Canada-wide and industry wide, personal lines auto has a loss ratio of about 75%, said Darren…